In a significant escalation of diplomatic tensions, former US President Donald Trump has declared that South Africa will be barred from the upcoming G-20 summit and that the United States will cease all financial support to the nation. This bold move marks a new low in the already strained relationship between Washington and Pretoria.
A Firm Decision and Its Justification
Through a post on a social media platform, Trump made his position unequivocally clear. South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in Miami, Florida. He justified this drastic step by repeating unsubstantiated claims that South Africa is committing genocide against White Afrikaners and seizing land without offering compensation. He further criticized the country's handling of a recent global summit, stating that South Africa had shown it was not worthy of membership in such forums.
Accompanying the summit exclusion is a financial sanction. President Trump announced his plan to stop all payments and subsidies to South Africa, effective immediately. This threat comes after he had already suspended aid to the country via an executive order back in March, though the full scope of the new financial cuts remains unclear.
The Boiling Point in US-South Africa Relations
The current crisis has been building for months. The friction reached a boiling point in May when Trump reportedly ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a visit to the White House. The US President presented a video that he claimed supported his theory of white farmers being targeted. This incident severely derailed President Ramaphosa's diplomatic mission, which was aimed at mending ties and persuading Trump to abandon this conspiracy theory.
More recently, the US boycotted the G-20 meeting held in South Africa over the weekend and sent a diplomatic note warning Pretoria against adopting the leaders' declaration. Defying this warning, South Africa proceeded to approve the document shortly after the meeting began. In a further sign of discord, South African officials rejected a US request for its chargé d'affaires, Marc Dillard, to attend the leaders' summit for the ceremonial G-20 handover, insisting that President Ramaphosa would not engage with a lower-ranking official.
Potential Fallout and Global Implications
South African officials had been anticipating a move to block them from the Miami summit and remain concerned that the US might attempt to expel the country from the G-20 entirely. However, any change in G-20 membership would require a consensus among all member nations, a precedent set when the African Union was admitted as a full member ahead of the 2023 summit in India. This requirement for unanimous agreement could serve as a significant check on unilateral US action regarding South Africa's membership status.
The decision to cut off all payments and the very public exclusion from a major international summit represents a profound hardening of the US stance. It signals a deepening diplomatic rift that could have lasting consequences for bilateral cooperation and South Africa's position on the global stage.
