Ofure Akhigbe
South Africa has condemned US President Donald Trump’s decision to bar it from the 2026 G20 summit, describing the move as punitive and driven by misinformation that undermines global cooperation.
The condemnation followed Trump’s announcement that South Africa would not be invited to next year’s meeting, which he plans to host at his golf resort in Miami. Tensions between both countries have intensified since the United States skipped the G20 summit held in Johannesburg last week.
In a statement issued late Wednesday, the South African presidency insisted that the country’s G20 membership is not subject to unilateral decisions by any single state. “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,” the statement said, vowing continued participation in all G20 processes.
Trump justified the decision by citing what he described as “horrific human rights abuses” against white farmers in South Africa, as well as Pretoria’s refusal to symbolically hand over the G20 presidency to the United States at the close of the Johannesburg summit.
South Africa formally transferred the G20 presidency on Tuesday at a low-key foreign ministry event, after declining to do so at the summit to a US embassy representative, insisting that Washington be represented “at the right level.”
Trump has repeatedly targeted South Africa since returning to the White House in January, including reviving his controversial and widely discredited claims of a “white genocide” in the country.
“It is regrettable that despite the efforts and numerous attempts by President Cyril Ramaphosa and his administration to reset the diplomatic relationship with the US, President Trump continues to apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country,” the presidency said.
Relations between both nations have also been strained by South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
In a further escalation, Trump recently imposed a 30 per cent tariff on South African goods, the highest applied to any sub-Saharan African country.
The G20 consists of 19 countries alongside the European Union and the African Union, representing about 85 per cent of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population.