South Africa says it will still attend next year’s G20 Leaders’ Summit in the US, despite President Trump barring the country and calling for the country’s removal from the bloc.
Trump announced that South Africa would not be invited to attend the 2026 G20 Leaders’ Summit in Miami, Florida, next year.
“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 Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers,” Trump said Wednesday.
“Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will not be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20. South Africa has demonstrated to the world that they are not a country worthy of membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to it, effective immediately.”
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US visas
Trump could deny US visas to South African representatives, thereby barring them from the country and, by extension, the summit.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile told the BBC’s Waihiga Mwaura that they hope delegates won’t be denied visas.
“We are part of the G20, so we will attend until they say no, they are not going to give us visas. You never know with the Trump administration, but we will go.”
No G20 member state can unilaterally ban another from the summit, as the G20 is an informal grouping of states and bodies with no formal mechanism to do so.
No correspondence
Mashatile said he does not understand why the US boycotted the recent G20 summit in South Africa.
Trump said no American official would set foot on South African soil for the high-level international gathering, falsely claiming South Africa had committed genocide against Afrikaners, whom he had offered refugee status from May this year.
“I really don’t understand. I haven’t seen any correspondence except what I heard a week ago: that they’ve pulled out. He may be sending some correspondence to the president, but so far, I haven’t seen anything.
“We are pursuing those discussions; we have not given up on the US,” Mashatile said.
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Insulting SA
On Thursday, the Presidency said South Africa “does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms after Trump announced that Pretoria would be barred from attending the next G20 summit in America.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said South Africa is a member of the G20 in its own name and right.
“Its G20 membership is at the behest of all other members. South Africa is a sovereign, constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms
“South Africa respects the sovereignty of all countries and will never insult or demean another country or its standing and worthiness in the community of nations,” Magwenya said.
Attacking SA
Trump has singled out South Africa for harsh treatment on several issues since he returned to the White House in January, notably making debunked claims of white Afrikaners being systematically “killed and slaughtered” in the country.
He ambushed Ramaphosa in the Oval Office earlier this year, playing a video in which he alleged a campaign against white farmers by the post-apartheid government.
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