In the most recent development in a breach that began over his allegations that South Africa is mistreating White Afrikaners, President Donald Trump declared that no US officials will attend this month's Group of 20 summit in South Africa.
Trump said on social media that Afrikaners "are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated," calling the G20's location in South Africa "a total disgrace." As long as these violations of human rights persist, no official from the US government will be present.
In September, Trump declared that Vice President JD Vance would attend the gathering of international leaders in Johannesburg in his place. A person acquainted with the vice president's intentions said that he did not intend to attend the Nov. 22–23 event in response to the president's social media post.
Trump's post was deemed "regrettable" by South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, which also stated that the assertion that Afrikaners are subject to "persecution is not substantiated by fact."
According to a statement from the department, South Africa is "uniquely positioned to champion within the G20 a future of genuine solidarity" because of its "own journey from racial and ethnic division to democracy."
When Trump surprised President Cyril Ramaphosa in the White House in May with a video allegedly supporting his assertions that White farmers are being targeted, his conflict with South Africa reached a breaking point.
Ramaphosa's trip to Washington, which was meant to improve relations with the US and convince Trump to cease spreading the conspiracy theory about a campaign against White South Africans, was interrupted by the incident.
According to a January report from Statistics South Africa, the average income of White families which would include Afrikaners and a sizeable English speaking minority is nearly five times greater than that of Black families, three decades after the end of White rule, which saw Black people subjugated and excluded from commercial and political life.
In the meantime, during the past 20 years, fewer farmers have been killed. This is true despite the fact that over 27,000 people are killed in South Africa each year, with young men in low income neighbourhoods like largely Black townships accounting for a disproportionate share of the victims. Since apartheid ended, the state has not taken any land.
Shortly after his second inauguration, Trump began attacking South Africa. Trump erroneously claimed that a new land expropriation law violated people's rights, so in February he signed an executive order stopping aid. Additionally, Trump has falsely claimed that White Afrikaner farmers in South Africa are the targets of a genocide.
White Afrikaners, a minority that Trump's administration argues is targeted under Black ownership and employment equity laws meant to remedy racial injustices resulting from decades of apartheid rule, have been awarded refugee status.
During a speech earlier this week in Miami, where the US will host the G20 in 2026, Trump expressed his opinion that South Africa shouldn't be included in the group of advanced economies at all.
Trump declared, "South Africa shouldn't even be in the G20 anymore because what's happened there is bad."
