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South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has criticised US President Donald Trump’s decision to boycott the upcoming G20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg, saying “boycott politics doesn’t work.”
Trump announced that neither he nor any US official would attend the meeting, citing widely discredited claims that white people are being persecuted in South Africa.
Speaking outside parliament, Ramaphosa said the US’s absence was “their loss” and would not derail the summit, according to AFP. He added that Washington was “giving up the very important role that they should be playing as the biggest economy in the world.”
The G20 summit — scheduled for 22–23 November — will be the first to take place on African soil. South Africa currently chairs the group of the world’s largest economies, with the US set to take over the presidency next year.
Trump has called it a “total disgrace” that South Africa is hosting the summit and has questioned the country’s place in the G20 altogether. He initially said he would send Vice-President JD Vance in his place but later announced that no US representatives would attend.
Over the weekend, Trump repeated his claims that “Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated.” He said the boycott would remain in place “as long as these human rights abuses continue.”
South Africa’s government has dismissed those allegations as “widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence,” stressing that no white farmers have had their land confiscated without compensation.
Responding to Trump’s comments, Ramaphosa said boycotts achieve little. “Boycotting never achieves anything of great impact, because decisions will be taken that will move the various issues ahead,” he said.
Trump is not the only world leader expected to skip the Johannesburg gathering. His ally, Argentina’s President Javier Milei, has also indicated he will not attend and will send Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno instead, AFP reports.
Despite the controversy, preparations for the G20 summit are proceeding as planned, with South Africa expected to use its presidency to highlight global inequality, climate finance, and reform of international institutions.
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