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South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has called it “regrettable” that US President Donald Trump has announced South Africa will not be invited to next year’s G20 summit, set to be held in Miami, Florida.
Trump claimed on social media that South Africa had refused to hand the G20 presidency to a US embassy representative during last week’s Johannesburg summit.
“Therefore, at my direction, South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20,” he wrote.
Although G20 members do not require an invitation to attend, participation could be blocked through visa restrictions.
Presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya said South Africa’s leadership now accepted there would be no “reset” in relations with the US despite efforts to rebuild ties.
“If visas are denied, we will have to move on and look beyond the G20 in the US,” he said adding that South Africa was focused on working with other G20 members to build on progress made in Johannesburg.
Trump boycotted the summit over a widely debunked claim that South Africa’s white minority is facing widespread killings and land seizures.
Ramaphosa said the US had been expected to join G20 meetings but had “elected not to attend”. He noted that some US businesses and civil society groups were present.
Since the official delegation did not arrive, South Africa handed over G20 presidency instruments to a US embassy official in Pretoria, a low-key process that appears to have further angered Trump.
The former president has repeatedly criticised South Africa’s domestic and foreign policies. On Wednesday he again alleged, without evidence, that the government was “killing white people” and allowing farms to be “randomly taken”. The South African government has consistently rejected such claims as false and unsupported.
Ramaphosa said it was unfortunate that Trump continued to “apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions”.
In his Truth Social post, Trump also said South Africa had “demonstrated they were not a country worthy of membership anywhere” and announced an immediate halt to “all payments and subsidies”.
South African officials have called for solidarity from other G20 nations and urged them to defend the integrity of the group and the rights of all member states.
The Johannesburg summit — the first G20 gathering hosted in Africa — ended with a joint declaration supporting “multilateral co-operation” on climate mitigation and reducing economic inequality. The declaration passed despite objections from the US, which has accused South Africa of “weaponising” its leadership of the group this year.
