Pretoria unfazed by US G20 boycott, prioritises global solidarity

The South African Government of National Unity (GNU) has expressed a resolute stance following US President Donald Trump’s announcement that no American government officials will attend the upcoming G20 summit in South Africa.

Despite Trump’s accusations of “human rights abuses” against the Afrikaner population, South Africa remains steadfast in its commitment to hosting a successful summit, emphasising its core themes of "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability".

Trump’s decision, communicated via his social media platform Truth Social, reiterated previous claims of white Afrikaner farmers being “killed and slaughtered” and their land “illegally confiscated.” He declared, "It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa."

"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."

However, officials within the GNU have largely dismissed Trump’s pronouncements as politically motivated and lacking factual basis. Sources close to the Presidency indicate that while the absence of a high-level US delegation is noted, it is not seen as a critical blow to the summit’s objectives or to South Africa’s standing on the global stage.

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, has been vocal in refuting Trump’s allegations. In a recent statement, Lamola described the claims as "regrettable" and "unsupported by fact," directly challenging US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s earlier assertions of Afrikaner persecution.

Lamola underscored the government’s position by citing crime statistics from April 2020 to March 2024, which demonstrate that crime affects all racial groups in South Africa.

"Claims of a 'white genocide' or its euphemism, Afrikaner persecution, are imagined and used for political expediency," Lamola said, presenting concrete data. "From April 2020 to March 2024: 225 people were victims of crime on farms in South Africa, according to the police.

"Many of the victims, 101 were current or former workers living on farms, who are mostly black. 53 of the victims were farmers, mostly white."

These statistics, the GNU maintains, paint a starkly different picture than the one propagated by the Trump administration, highlighting the diverse nature of crime victims in rural areas.

The GNU's confidence in the G20 summit's success is rooted in its understanding of the forum’s informal nature. As an informal gathering of the world’s major economies, the G20 operates on consensus. Expelling South Africa, or significantly diminishing the summit's impact due to one nation's boycott, would require a broad agreement among member states, which is deemed highly improbable.

South Africa has cultivated strong diplomatic alliances, particularly with the European Union and China, both of whom are expected to send robust delegations. These relationships provide a crucial counterbalance to any potential isolation tactics.

Beyond the G20, the diplomatic rift between Washington and Pretoria has been gradually widening. The US has previously imposed tariffs on South African goods and openly criticised South Africa's decision to file a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. These issues, however, are viewed by the GNU as part of a complex and evolving international landscape, rather than insurmountable obstacles to South Africa's independent foreign policy.

A senior official within the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, who preferred to remain anonymous said: "While we value our relationship with the United States, our foreign policy is guided by our national interests and our commitment to international law and multilateralism. The G20 offers a critical platform for addressing global challenges, and we will not allow a single nation's political posturing to derail those efforts."

mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za