South Africa rejected United States President Donald Trump’s claims of persecution against white Afrikaners on Friday, hours after Trump announced no U.S. officials would attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg later this month.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that “Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated,” adding that it was “a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa.”
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation called Trump’s post “regrettable” and dismissed the allegations as unfounded.
“The characterisation of Afrikaners as an exclusively white group is ahistorical,” said Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola, in a statement. “Furthermore, the claim that this community faces persecution is not substantiated by fact.”
Trump had announced in September that Vice President JD Vance would represent the United States at the November 22-23 summit. However, a source familiar with Vance’s plans told The Associated Press that the vice president would no longer travel to South Africa.
The Group of 20 brings together heads of state from the world’s leading and emerging economies. The summit in Johannesburg will be the first G20 leaders’ meeting held on the African continent.
South Africa has held the G20 presidency since December 2024 under the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability.” The country is scheduled to hand over the presidency to the United States following the summit.
“South Africa’s focus remains on its positive global contributions,” Phiri said. “Drawing on our own journey from racial and ethnic division to democracy, our nation is uniquely positioned to champion within the G20 a future of genuine solidarity.”
Former South African ambassador to Portugal Kingsley Makhubela told broadcaster Newzroom Afrika on Saturday that U.S. embassy officials from Pretoria were likely to attend the summit despite Trump’s announcement.
“I think he meant to say no one will come from Washington to attend this meeting,” Makhubela said. “What they are likely to do is to send an official from the embassy to attend because the decisions that are taken there are taken by consensus.”
Makhubela warned that embassy officials could disrupt proceedings by blocking consensus on summit documents, citing instructions from Washington to object to specific language or add provisions.
Relations between Washington and Pretoria have deteriorated since Trump returned to office in January. The U.S. president has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against white farmers, a claim rejected by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and government officials.
Earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio boycotted a G20 foreign ministers meeting in South Africa. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also skipped the finance ministers gathering.
Trump said he looked forward to hosting the 2026 G20 summit in Miami, Florida.
South Africa’s government has previously stated that farm attacks affect all racial groups and are part of broader crime challenges facing the country, not targeted persecution based on race.
