Donald Trump has said that South Africa will not be invited to G20 events in the United States when it presides over the forum next year, a measure the African nation described as \u201cpunitive\u201d.<\/p>\n
The US president repeated widely discredited claims that South Africa<\/a> is \u201ckilling white people\u201d, extending a diplomatic row between the countries after the US boycotted the summit in Johannesburg last weekend.<\/p>\n Trump posted<\/a> on his Truth Social platform: \u201cAt the conclusion of the G20, South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a Senior Representative from our U.S. Embassy, who attended the Closing Ceremony. Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump had already said in February he was stopping aid to South Africa<\/a>, accusing the government of discriminating against white minority Afrikaners, who ruled the country during apartheid and remain on average many times wealthier<\/a> than black South Africans, including inciting violence against white farmers and confiscating their land.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s government and many of its citizens have repeatedly pushed back against these claims, noting that land expropriation is only allowed under limited circumstances and that South Africa\u2019s high crime rate affects everyone in the country.<\/p>\n A statement released by South Africa\u2019s presidency said Trump\u2019s comments were \u201cregrettable\u201d. It continued: \u201cSouth Africa is a member of the G20<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n \u201cSouth Africa \u2026 will never insult or demean another country \u2026 It is regrettable that despite the efforts and numerous attempts by President 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.\u201d<\/p>\n After the US confirmed it was boycotting the G20 leaders summit, the first in Africa, having also not attended other G20 events in South Africa, it demanded the presidency be handed over to their acting ambassador at the event\u2019s closing ceremony.<\/p>\n However, South Africa rejected this, saying it would be a breach of protocol for Ramaphosa to symbolically give the presidency to a \u201cjunior\u201d diplomat. It hailed the summit as a success for multilateralism<\/a>, with a leaders\u2019 communique that emphasised the importance of tackling issues including climate change and gender inequalities, all of which are anathema to Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Trump and US officials have continued to repeat the false claims about South Africa\u2019s treatment of Afrikaners. In May, it began offering white South Africans refugee status<\/a> in the US, while stopping all other refugee arrivals.<\/p>\n Trump said in his Truth Social post on Tuesday: \u201cThe United States did not attend the G20 in South Africa, because the South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific Human Right Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers.<\/p>\n \u201cTo put it more bluntly, they are killing white people, and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them.\u201d<\/p>\n