US excludes South Africa from G20 summit

South Africa on Thursday responded to a US lawyer about its participation in G20 events under the presidency of Washington, saying it is a full member of the forum and expects to be treated equally.

The United States this month took over the presidency of the group of top economies after largely boycotting South Africa’s tenure, including the November summit, in an escalation of the months-long standoff with Pretoria.

In a scathing attack Wednesday on Pretoria’s G20 election, Foreign Secretary Marco Rubio repeated President Donald Trump’s declaration a few weeks ago that he would not be invited to next year’s G20 events, including the Miami summit.

Asked about the statement, President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters: “We have not received it in writing yet and we will deal with it when it comes.”

South Africa was a “full member of the G20” and its presidency had been described as an international success, he added.

“All we want, really, as South Africa is to be treated as an equal, sovereign country, a country that respects other countries, a country that promotes the success and prosperity of other countries,” he said.

The G20 group of nations includes the world’s leading economies as well as the European Union and African Union regional blocs. It accounts for 85 percent of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of its population.

Rubio said in a post on Substack that South Africa’s G20 was an exercise in “radical agendas” that ignored US objections.

“The United States will not extend an invitation to the South African government to participate in the G20 during our presidency,” he said.