South Africa Condemns Trump’s G20 Boycott and False Claims
South Africa has strongly criticized former U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to boycott the G20 leaders summit held in South Africa, and his repeated, unsubstantiated claims regarding the treatment of white South Africans. The dispute stems from Trump’s assertions that the South African government is perpetrating human rights abuses against Afrikaners and allowing the seizure of their farms.
The South African presidency released a statement calling Trump’s comments “regrettable,” emphasizing the nation’s sovereignty and its rightful place within the G20. The statement asserted that south Africa’s G20 membership is steadfast by consensus among all member states and that the country “will never insult or demean another country.” It further lamented that despite efforts by President cyril Ramaphosa to improve diplomatic relations with the U.S., Trump continues to impose “punitive measures” based on “misinformation and distortions.”
The U.S. not only skipped the G20 summit - the first held in Africa - but also previously abstained from other G20 events hosted in South Africa. Following the summit, the U.S. requested that the G20 presidency be symbolically transferred to their acting ambassador during the closing ceremony. South Africa rejected this request, deeming it a breach of protocol to have President Ramaphosa hand over the presidency to a “junior” diplomat.
South Africa rather celebrated the summit as a success for multilateralism, highlighting a leaders’ communique focused on tackling issues like climate change and gender inequalities – priorities frequently enough at odds with Trump’s governance.
Trump and U.S. officials have consistently repeated claims about the mistreatment of white south Africans.In May 2025, the U.S. began offering refugee status to white South Africans while simultaneously halting all other refugee arrivals. In a recent Truth Social post,Trump stated,”The United states did not attend the G20 in south Africa,because the South African Government refuses to acknowledge or address the horrific human Right abuses endured by Afrikaners,and other descendants of Dutch,French,and German settlers…To put it more bluntly,they are killing white people,and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them.”
However, these claims are disputed by data. According to South african police records from the last quarter of 2024, 12 murders occurred on farms – including those owned by black smallholder farmers – out of a total of nearly 7,000 murders nationwide.
While private land ownership remains largely concentrated among South Africa’s white minority, land restitution to black owners displaced during the colonial and apartheid eras has occurred in limited cases, following protracted legal battles. South Africa’s government maintains that land expropriation is only permitted under specific legal circumstances.
