US President Donald Trump said Friday that no American official will attend the G20 Summit in South Africa, accusing SA of “human rights abuses” against the Afrikaner population.
Trump has not provided any evidence of the “abuses”, while the South African government has bent over backward to correct his perception. Nothing has come of continuous attempts at engagement with Trump by South Africa as he continues to state his misconception as fact.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump criticized South Africa for the “killing and slaughter” of Afrikaners — those descended from Dutch, French and German settlers — and the “illegal confiscation” of their farms and land.
“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” Trump wrote.
“Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. No US Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue.”
He added that he looks forward to hosting the 2026 G20 Summit in Miami, signalling his intent to bring the gathering to the US if he is in office.
Trump’s remarks came amid growing attention to the summit, which South Africa is scheduled to host from November 22 to 23 as part of the rotating presidency of the world’s largest economies.
Meanwhile, South Africa’s International Relations Department has responded by repeating its position that the characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical. In its statement, the department also noted that claims that this community faces persecution is not substaniated by fact.
Earlier this week Trump mixed up South Africa and South America in a media briefing about South America. He tried to cover his error by going on a rant about South Africa and its treatment of Afrikaners.
In response to that statement, International Relations departments’ Chrispin Phiri said maintaining a constructive relationship with the United States remains a priority for South Africa.
Phiri’s statement came against the backdrop of comments for US President Donald Trump in which he said South Africa should be removed from the G20 and that he will not attend the country’s upcoming summit.
“South Africa shouldn’t even be in the G’s anymore, because what’s happened there is bad,” Trump told the American Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday.
“I’m not going … I’m not going to represent our country there. It shouldn’t be there,” he added, referring to the G20 Summit planned for November 22-23 in Johannesburg
Trump’s remarks came as he confused South Africa and South America in a briefing on South America. After he erroneously refered to South Africa when he meant South America, the went off on a tangent on South Africa before returning to the topic of the briefing.
Phiri stressed that SA’s efforts seek to rebuild trust and highlight shared interests in global forums like the G20 under the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability.”
Trump has repeatedly accused South Africa of confiscating land and treating “certain classes of people very badly,” calling it “a massive human rights violation.”
Trump issued Executive Order 14204 in February, directing federal agencies to facilitate the resettlement of white South African Afrikaners, described as “victims of unjust racial discrimination,” and to cut US aid to South Africa.
