Ramaphosa rejects Trump's threat to ban South Africa from 2026 G20 summit

(Patria) - South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday rejected US President Donald Trump's threat to exclude Pretoria from next year's G20 summit, confirming South Africa's status as a founding member of the group, Reuters reported.

Washington boycotted the G20 Leaders Summit, held under South Africa's presidency in Johannesburg on November 22-23, with Trump reiterating widely discredited accusations that the government of the black-majority host country is persecuting its white minority.

Trump said last Wednesday that South Africa would not be invited to the summit to be held in Florida next year because it refused to hand over the G20 presidency to a senior official from its embassy who was at the closing ceremony.

Pretoria says it handed over the rotating presidency to an official from the US embassy.
"South Africa is and will remain a full, active and constructive member of the G20," Ramaphosa said in a State of the Nation address on Sunday.

He also described Trump's repeated claims that South Africa is committing "genocide against Afrikaners" - descendants of Dutch settlers - and seizing land from white citizens as "clear disinformation."

Ramaphosa noted that, despite the diplomatic spat, US companies and civil society groups actively participated in G20-related events in Johannesburg in November.

"We value these constructive connections and will continue to work within the G20," he said, signalling Pretoria's intention to maintain dialogue.