President Cyril Ramaphosa has indicated he is still trying to find a "top-notch" candidate to be the country's next ambassador to the United States.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA) in Boksburg on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said he was taking his time to decide because the US was the country's second-largest trading partner.

"With regards to the US, our ambassador has come back home, obviously it's up to us as a government to work on replacing our ambassador.

"The US is the second largest trading partner to SA, so therefore, we need to have top-class representation in the US and that is something that we are working on," Ramaphosa said.

However, diplomatic relations between Washington and Pretoria are fractured, coming to a head with the recent expulsion of the former ambassador Ebrahim Rasool.

Rasool was declared persona non grata by the US government after making remarks during a webinar in which his remarks were seen as associating President Donald Trump with white supremacy.

But he maintained that his remarks were not directed at Trump.

“I want to say that South Africa is not a military superpower. South Africa is not an economic superpower, but South Africa has the ability again to become a moral superpower," Rasool said.

The US is against a few South African policies including the Expropriation Act, saying they are targeted at a certain race.

South Africa's approach to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel is also one of the things that the US is not happy about.

Asked about whether he will consult the Government of National Unity (GNU) partners, Ramaphosa said "The president appoints ambassadors and it is within his role right to appoint them".

It is unclear when the new ambassador will be named.

kamogelo.moichela@iol.co.za

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