Politics South Africa outraged by Trump's disinvitation from G20 summit
South Africa's presidency has expressed outrage at US President Donald Trump's threat not to invite the country at the southern tip of Africa to the G20 summit in the USA.
27.11.2025, 12:26
SDA
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that his country did not approve of such insults and punitive measures. South Africa will therefore continue to participate as a member of the G20.
"South Africa is an independent member of the G20 in its own right," said a statement from the Office of the President. "South Africa is a sovereign, democratic constitutional state and does not accept insults from other countries regarding its membership and eligibility to participate in global platforms."
Trump accuses South Africa of genocide
The previous day, Trump had written on the Truth Social platform that, on his instructions, South Africa would not receive an invitation to the December 2026 meeting in Miami. The Republican once again accused South Africa of committing "genocide" against white farmers. Experts and South Africa's government strongly disagree with the allegation of genocide. In this context, the USA also boycotted this year's G20 summit, which took place last weekend in the South African economic hub of Johannesburg.
Trump criticized South Africa for refusing to symbolically hand over the annually rotating G20 presidency to a high-ranking representative of the US embassy at the end of the most recent G20 summit. South Africa says it duly handed over the G20 presidency to a US embassy official, as no senior US politicians traveled to Johannesburg.
Trump also announced that the US would stop all payments and support to the country with immediate effect.
South Africa feels insulted and punished by the USA
Ramaphosa called it "regrettable" that Trump was imposing "punitive measures against South Africa" based on misinformation and distortions, despite numerous efforts by South Africa to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The USA had decided on its own initiative not to attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg. The meeting was nevertheless considered a success by the other G20 states and reaffirmed the importance of multilateralism, according to the statement from the President's Office.
The group of leading industrialized and emerging economies (G20) comprises 19 states, the European Union and the African Union. The countries include the major Western democracies such as the USA, Germany and the UK, as well as authoritarian states such as Russia and China.
