Ramaphosa Calls Decision “Regrettable”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa criticized President Donald Trump’s announcement that South Africa will not be invited to next year’s G20 summit in Miami. Trump claimed South Africa refused to hand over the G20 presidency to a U.S. Embassy representative during the Johannesburg summit—an event the U.S. chose not to attend.
Clarifying the Handover
Ramaphosa said the G20 presidency instruments were properly transferred to a U.S. Embassy official at South Africa’s foreign affairs headquarters. He noted that although the U.S. skipped the leaders’ summit, American businesses and civil society groups were present.
Trump’s Long-Running Criticisms
Trump has repeatedly accused South Africa’s government of allowing violence against white citizens and farm seizures—claims the South African government has dismissed as baseless and widely discredited. In a Truth Social post, Trump escalated his rhetoric, saying South Africa was “not worthy of membership anywhere” and ordering a halt to U.S. “payments and subsidies.”
South Africa Urges G20 Unity
Officials in Pretoria have called on G20 members to defend the group’s integrity and resist punitive actions driven by misinformation. The Johannesburg summit—the first held on African soil—concluded with a declaration supporting multilateral cooperation on climate action and economic inequality, despite U.S. objections.
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