US President Donald Trump has announced that the United States will not attend the upcoming G20 summit in South Africa, over widely discredited claims that white South Africans are being persecuted.
Trump described South Africa hosting the meeting as a “total disgrace,” referring to the summit where leaders of the world’s largest economies are set to convene in Johannesburg later this month.
South Africa’s foreign ministry called the US decision “regrettable,” emphasising that none of the country’s political parties, including those representing Afrikaners and the broader white community, have claimed that a genocide is taking place.
On his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump wrote, “It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa. Afrikaners (descendants of Dutch settlers, as well as French and German immigrants) 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.”
Previously, Trump had suggested that South Africa should not be a G20 member at all and indicated he would send Vice President JD Vance in his place. However, the White House has now confirmed that no US official will attend.
The South African foreign ministry responded, stating, “The South African government wishes to state, for the record, that the characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical.
“Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution is not substantiated by fact.”
Since returning to office in January, Trump has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against its white minority.
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In May, he confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa over the issue during a meeting in the Oval Office.
The Trump administration has granted Afrikaners refugee status on the grounds of an alleged “genocide,” and recently announced plans to prioritise white South Africans in refugee admissions, even as overall refugee intake is capped at a record low.
South Africa’s government has called these claims “widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence,” noting that few South Africans have taken up the offer. A South African court in February described the genocide claims as “clearly imagined.”
The G20, founded in 1999 following the Asian financial crisis, brings together nations representing more than 85% of the world’s wealth.
Its first leaders’ summit took place in 2008 to promote international cooperation amid global economic turmoil. Today, the annual summit, including representatives from the European Union and African Union, focuses on economic stability and global challenges.
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