Donald Trump has said South Africa will not be invited to G20 events when he chairs the forum next year in the United States, a move the African nation has described as “punitive”.
The US president repeated widely discredited claims that South Africa is “killing white people”, escalating a diplomatic row between the countries after the US boycotted a summit in Johannesburg last weekend.
Trump posted on his Truth social platform: “At the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand over the G20 presidency to a senior representative of our U.S. Embassy who attended the closing ceremony. Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will not receive an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be held next year in the Great City of Miami, Florida.
“South Africa has shown the world that they are not a country worthy of membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them with immediate effect.”
Trump had already said in February that he was freezing aid to South Africa, accusing the government of discriminating against white minority Africans, who ruled the country during apartheid and remain on average several times wealthier than black South Africans, including inciting violence against white farmers and seizing their land.
The government of South Africa and many of its citizens have repeatedly disputed these claims, noting that land acquisition is only allowed in limited circumstances and that South Africa’s high crime rate affects everyone in the country.
A statement issued by the President of South Africa said Trump’s comments were “regrettable”. It continued: “South Africa is a member of the G20 in its own name and authority. Its G20 membership is at the behest of all other members. South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate any other country’s disrespect regarding its membership and the value of participating in global forums.
“South Africa… will never disrespect or insult any other country… It is regrettable that despite efforts and numerous efforts by President Ramaphosa and his administration to reset diplomatic relations with the US, President Trump continues to impose punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country.”
After the US confirmed it was boycotting the G20 leaders’ summit, its first in Africa, and also not attending other G20 events in South Africa, it sought to hand over the presidency to its acting ambassador at the event’s closing ceremony.
However, South Africa rejected this and said it would be a breach of protocol for Ramaphosa to symbolically hand over the presidency to a “junior” diplomat. It hailed the summit as a success of multilateralism, with a communique from the leaders stressing the importance of tackling issues including climate change and gender inequalities, all of which are anathema to Trump’s administration.
Meanwhile, Trump and US officials continue to repeat false claims about the treatment of Africans in South Africa. In May, it began granting refugee status to white South Africans in the US, barring the arrival of all other refugees.
Trump said in his Truth Social post on Tuesday: “The United States did not attend the G20 in South Africa because the South African government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific human rights abuses endured by Africans and other descendants of Dutch, French and German settlers.
“To put it more bluntly, they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken away from them.”
In the last quarter of 2024, South African police recorded 12 murders on farms, including black-owned smallholder plots, out of approximately 7,000 murders nationwide.
Private land ownership is concentrated among the country’s white minority. In a few cases, after lengthy legal processes, land has been returned by the courts to black owners displaced during the colonial and apartheid eras.
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