Nairobi — President Donald Trump has announced that South Africa will not receive an invitation to the 2026 G20 Summit, scheduled to take place in Miami, Florida, intensifying a diplomatic standoff that has simmered for weeks following Washington’s boycott of the 2025 G20 Summit in Johannesburg.
In a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform, President Trump accused the South African government of “horrific Human Rights Abuses” against white farmers, repeating claims that South African authorities and Afrikaner leaders have strongly rejected as unfounded.
“They are killing white people and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them,” Trump wrote, adding that mainstream media organisations were ignoring what he called “genocide.”
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He further alleged that South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a senior U.S. representative at the close of the leaders’ summit.
“South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20, which will be hosted in the Great City of Miami, Florida next year,” he declared.
Trump also said the U.S. would halt all payments and subsidies to South Africa “effective immediately.”
In response, the Presidency of South Africa issued a statement rejecting Trump’s remarks as “regrettable,” “misinformed,” and “demeaning.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa said the 2025 G20 Summit–which the United States chose not to attend–had been widely recognised as one of the most successful in recent years, with leaders affirming the importance of multilateral cooperation.
According to Pretoria, the official instruments of G20 leadership were handed over to a U.S. Embassy representative at South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation headquarters, meeting diplomatic requirements after Washington skipped the summit.
“South Africa is a member of the G20 in its own name and right,” the Presidency said.
“South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth.”
The statement emphasized that Trump’s claims about the killing of white South Africans were “misinformation and distortions”, noting that Ramaphosa’s administration had made repeated efforts to restore constructive diplomatic relations with Washington.
Tensions escalated earlier in November when Trump first announced that no U.S. government officials would attend the Johannesburg summit, calling it 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,” he wrote.
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South Africa’s government has consistently rejected these claims, pointing to national crime data that shows attacks on farmers–white and Black–are part of broader rural insecurity, not targeted racial persecution.
Prominent Afrikaner organisations have also dismissed assertions of systematic “genocide.”
On November 23, at the conclusion of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, President Ramaphosa formally closed the meeting by striking the traditional gavel.
South Africa declined a U.S. request that he hand over the ceremonial leadership to a junior embassy representative–an unusual proposal in G20 practice.
The summit, hailed by participants as a major success, was overshadowed only by the absence of the United States, which had accused Pretoria of racial discrimination against white farmers, claims widely criticised as inaccurate.
South Africa says it will continue to participate in G20 processes and expects the group’s members to uphold the principles of multilateralism, collaboration, and equality.
“South Africa will continue to participate as a full, active and constructive member of the G20,” the Presidency said.
“We call on all members to reaffirm multilateralism and consensus.”
For now, the rift between Washington and Pretoria appears set to deepen, with both sides signaling no intention of backing down
