{"id":263671,"date":"2025-11-27T12:43:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/za\/2025\/11\/27\/us-cant-exclude-south-africa-from-the-g20-global-support-rallies-behind-sa-after-trumps-ban\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T12:43:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:43:00","slug":"us-cant-exclude-south-africa-from-the-g20-global-support-rallies-behind-sa-after-trumps-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/za\/2025\/11\/27\/us-cant-exclude-south-africa-from-the-g20-global-support-rallies-behind-sa-after-trumps-ban\/","title":{"rendered":"'US can't exclude South Africa from the G20': Global support rallies behind SA after Trump's ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Tensions between Pretoria and Washington DC reached a high this week after US President Donald Trump announced that South Africa would be barred from the 2026 G20 summit and face the immediate suspension of all US financial support.<\/p>\n

However, several politicians and foundations weighed in on the matter, defending South Africa’s right to be at next year’s G20 Summit.<\/p>\n

The FW de Klerk Foundation issued a definitive statement on Thursday, asserting that South Africa is an equal, sovereign member of the G20 and that the nation “will not be bullied out of global forums by misinformation”.<\/p>\n

The Foundation\u2019s statement, issued by Ismail Joosub, directly confronted President Trump\u2019s justification for the punitive action, which was based on allegations that the South African government ignores “horrific human rights abuses endured by Afrikaners and other descendants”.<\/p>\n

This comes after Trump had posted on Truth Social that South Africa was “killing white people and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them”.<\/p>\n

The FW de Klerk Foundation declared that Trump\u2019s claims regarding “genocide” and state-sanctioned land seizures were “wholly false allegations” and a “torrent of disinformation”.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese statements are not only factually incorrect; they are diplomatically untenable,\u201d the Foundation stated. \u201cG20 membership is not determined by the host country… no single state – including the United States – has the authority to unilaterally expel another.\u201d.<\/p>\n

It added that the G20 is a consensus-driven forum, not a “private convention where invitations can be withdrawn on a whim”.<\/p>\n

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said Trump “seeks to decimate the G20”.<\/p>\n

“The US is only presiding over the G20 next year. It doesn\u2019t have the authority to unilaterally exclude any member from participation.”<\/p>\n

Sibal added that Trump is “abusing” the word genocide “very selectively”, stating that there is an open racial tone in what he is saying.<\/p>\n

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Trump seeks to decimate the G20. <\/p>\n

The US is only presiding the G 20 next year. It doesn\u2019t have the authority to unilaterally exclude any member from participation. <\/p>\n

Is abusing the word genocide very selectively. There is regrettably an open racial tone in what he is saying. https:\/\/t.co\/Edyarro604<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kanwal Sibal (@KanwalSibal) November 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The EFF also spoke out on the issue, suggesting that Trump’s ban is a tantrum.<\/p>\n

“Despite the US\u2019s absence, South Africa successfully secured a full Leaders\u2019 Declaration, something Trump believed would collapse without American participation. When the time came for the handover of the Presidency, South Africa conducted it in a diplomatic, low-key manner appropriate to the situation, and the handover did in fact occur.<\/p>\n

“What Trump is now angry about is not that the handover did not happen, but that it did not take place with the pomp and senior-level recognition he expected after snubbing the summit. It is this sequence of self-inflicted diplomatic embarrassments: refusing to attend, changing his mind too late, being ignored by other world leaders, and seeing South Africa deliver a successful summit without him, that has now produced Trump\u2019s tantrum and the absurd suggestion that he has the power to uninvite South Africa from the G20.<\/p>\n

German Ambassador to South Africa posted that “South Africa is needed at the table”, adding “iMzansi ifuneka etafuleni labaholi”, which reiterates his point about South Africa being needed at the G20.<\/p>\n

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The EFF\u2019s Statement on Trump\u2019s \u201cBan\u201d on South Africa From G20 2026<\/p>\n

-Despite the U.S\u2019s absence, South Africa successfully secured a full Leaders\u2019 Declaration, something Trump believed would collapse without American participation. When the time came for the handover of the\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/liBMR9AIz9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) November 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\ud83c\uddff\ud83c\udde6 is needed at the table<\/p>\n

iMzansi ifuneka etafuleni labaholi pic.twitter.com\/WOAl2ptQm6<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Andreas Peschke (@AmbPeschke) November 27, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This defence follows an initial late-night response on Wednesday from President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s administration. Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed that South Africa would continue to participate as a full, active, and constructive member of the G20.<\/p>\n

The diplomatic conflict started when the United States chose not to attend the G20 Leaders\u2019 Summit in Johannesburg, despite being invited to all meetings held under South Africa\u2019s presidency. The US later changed its mind. <\/p>\n

Weeks ago, President Trump had already announced he would skip the Johannesburg summit, arguing that South Africa “shouldn\u2019t even be in the G\u2019s anymore” because it was “going in the wrong direction”.<\/p>\n

It is believed that relations were already strained by South Africa\u2019s stance on global conflicts, its close ties with the Russian Federation and China through the BRICS bloc, and its decision to bring a genocide case against Israel at the ICJ.<\/p>\n

Trump claimed that South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a senior representative from the US Embassy. Magwenya clarified that because the United States was absent from the summit, the instruments of the G20 Presidency were duly handed over to a US Embassy official at the headquarters of South Africa\u2019s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).<\/p>\n

The US government has taken several punitive steps recently, including boycotting the summit and revoking the visa of former international relations minister Naledi Pandor. Furthermore, a bill in the US Congress, the AGOA Extension and Bilateral Engagement Act (AGOA 2.0), has been tabled that would extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for two years but specifically exclude South Africa, linking trade benefits to alignment with US strategic interests.<\/p>\n

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