Diplomatic shuffle as Ramaphosa bumped from France’s G7 — or was he?

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa regularly attends the annual summits of the G7 club of rich industrialised nations. That mark of Western solidarity was particularly important for him this year, amid continuing criticism of the country by United States (US) President Donald Trump.

Trump boycotted SA’s G20 summit last year and didn’t invite the country to the US’ G20 presidency in 2026, despite SA being a founding member of the G20, and some members objecting to its exclusion.

European G20 members rallied around SA. At the 2025 G20 summit, French President Emmanuel Macron privately invited Ramaphosa to the G7 summit, which he would host in June 2026, diplomats told ISS Today.

He also assured Ramaphosa that during his G7 presidency, he would take up some of SA’s key developmental G20 agenda items (which Trump has jettisoned), France’s Ambassador to South Africa, David Martinon, told Daily Maverick.

So it came as a shock when Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya broke the news in March that Macron had been forced to disinvite Ramaphosa because Trump would boycott the G7 summit if Ramaphosa attended.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot publicly denied that France had submitted to US pressure. He said a more “streamlined” summit would be held, and that Macron had instead invited Kenyan President William Ruto, who would co-chair the France-Africa summit with him in Nairobi in May.

Contradictory messages

Ramaphosa himself later contradicted Magwenya, saying he was not aware of any pressure from the US. Then his Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni contradicted her boss by saying “the disinvitation by France to the G7… under the pressure of the US is public knowledge”.

This flurry of conflicting information muddied the waters. But diplomats have since told ISS Today that Magwenya was right. Trump had threatened to boycott the G7 summit if Ramaphosa attended. Macron couldn’t afford to have the leader of the largest global economy absent, especially with so many issues between the US and other members in play.

ISS Today also heard that Ramaphosa had denied any disinvitation “to defuse diplomatic tensions”. Ramaphosa reportedly politely declined Macron’s invitation to the France-Africa summit – not because of the G7 invitation withdrawal – but because of diary pressures and prior commitments, officials said.

Barrot’s explanation was always questionable. The G7 summit host has considerable discretion about who is invited to the meeting. To suggest there was no room at the table for Ramaphosa because Ruto was taking up an African quota of one made no sense.

This was clearly Trump manifesting his peculiar animosity towards SA, which he has expressed in countless ways during his second presidency. And there are also suggestions that the US might have influenced Macron’s decision to invite Ruto, as he and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had a phone call just before it emerged that Ramaphosa had been disinvited.

Asked about the allegations that Trump had pressured Macron to disinvite Ramaphosa, a White House official said that: “After discussion among G7 members, it was collectively determined that Kenya should be invited to the summit,” Politico reported. But it seems unlikely that other G7 members would have insisted that Ramaphosa make way for Ruto.

Zelensky absent

Politico suggested that Macron had also decided not to invite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the G7 summit, to avoid annoying Trump. Zelensky has been invited to the past three G7 summits.

So it would seem Ruto is Trump’s favourite African leader, and Ramaphosa probably his least. During their phone call, Rubio thanked Ruto for publicly condemning Iranian aggression against Gulf states and for Kenya’s contributions to peace and security in Haiti.

By sharp contrast, the Trump administration has criticised SA for its close ties to Iran. And in January, the US pressured Ramaphosa to cancel the participation of three Iranian naval vessels in a joint naval drill called Exercise Will for Peace in South African waters. Russian, Chinese and Emirate warships also participated in what the South African National Defence Force billed as a “BRICS-Plus” exercise.

For France, though, Kenya is also useful. Having been driven out of the Sahel by military juntas amid rising anti-French sentiment in that region and across Francophone Africa, Macron appears to be pivoting to Anglophone Africa for support. This will be the first time the France-Africa summit is hosted in an Anglophone African country, helping him shed some of France’s neocolonialist image.

A feather in Ruto’s cap

And it’s a feather in Ruto’s cap to co-host the France-Africa summit and attend the G7 summit, particularly because he will attend seemingly at Ramaphosa’s expense. Macron is doing him this double favour – giving him an international stage and greater international legitimacy – at a time when his popularity at home is waning, a Kenyan analyst who requested anonymity told ISS Today.

Ruto will nonetheless pay some price, this analyst notes, as many Kenyans share the anti-French, anti-colonial sentiment of Francophone Africa. So he might take some local criticism for all that fraternising with France.

Nonetheless, being in the global limelight at the G7 summit might help Ruto dilute some of the Francophone reflection and be seen as favoured by the wider West. DM

Peter Fabricius is a Consultant at the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Pretoria.

This article was first published by ISS Today.