Introduction
Ebrahim Rasool (born 15 July 1962, Cape Town, South Africa) is a South African politician who also served as the South African Ambassador to the United States. between 2010 and 2015. He was replaced by H.E. Ambassador Mninwa Mahlangu who presented his credentials to President Barack Obama on Monday, 23 February 2015. Ebrahim Rasool was the Premier of the Western Cape province from 2004 to 2008. He is a member of the African National Congress.Whilst he was Premier Rasool launched an aggressive series of anti-gang policies that targeted gang members economic interests and stepped up police investigations into alleged gang leaders. Following the arrest of gang leader Quinton ‘Mr Big’ Marinus Rasool and then Western Cape Provincial Minister of Community Safety and political ally Leonard Ramatlakane started receiving death threats allegedly from the Chinese Triads. This led Ramatlakane to controversially spend R347,716 of public money on security improvements to his home.
On 14 July 2008, Rasool was recalled from the position of premier by the National Executive Committee of the ANC, as the ANC leadership had grown tired of giving preference to the large Muslim and Cape Coloured populations in the Western Cape. His successor was Economic Development and Tourism MEC Lynne Brown.
In July 2010, Rasool was appointed South Africa's ambassador to the United States.
Controversy
In 2010 before being deployed to the United States an investigation was launched into allegations that Rasool was paying a political reporter in a mainstream newspaper to write articles that portrayed him favourably. This investigation is currently stalled due to material witnesses refusing to cooperate with the investigation.