South African President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks at a plenary session on the opening day of the G20 Summit at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 22 November 2025. (Photo: EPA / Thomas Mukoya / Pool) 
The South African Presidency seems to be already looking beyond next year’s G20 in the US, in light of US President Donald Trump’s “punitive” decision to not invite SA to the G20 in Miami, Florida.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Daily Maverick on Thursday, 27 November 2025, that: “We should, by now, accept that at the highest level of political leadership there won’t be a reset of the relationship [with the US], notwithstanding the attempts and numerous efforts we have undertaken to get a reset in the relationship.
“If visas are denied, well, then we will have to move on and look beyond the G20 in the US,” said Magwenya, adding that Pretoria would focus on its good relations with the UK and European countries instead.
Five days after the Leaders’ Declaration from SA’s G20 was adopted without objection by all the members except the absent US, Trump fired another digital missile at SA.
Read more: Sorry we missed you, President Trump, but maybe it was for the best
In a post on his own Truth Social on Wednesday, 26 November, Trump declared that he would not invite SA to the G20 because it had “refused” to hand over the G20 presidency to the acting US ambassador to South Africa at the end of the Leaders’ Summit, in Johannesburg, on Sunday.
The SA government declined to do that because it said it was inappropriate for President Cyril Ramaphosa to hand over the G20 baton to a relatively junior official. Instead, an official of equivalent rank handed over the G20 presidency to acting US Ambassador Marc Dillard at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation offices on Tuesday.
Trump’s latest attack on SA comes after the US boycotted the Leaders’ Summit last week. Before the summit, the US made it clear that it would oppose anything beyond a “Chair’s Statement”.
Despite the US’ stayaway, a Leaders’ Declaration from SA’s G20 was adopted without objection by all the members except the US at the start of the summit on Saturday, 22 November.
In his Truth Social post, Trump added: “South Africa has demonstrated to the World they are not a country worthy of Membership anywhere, and we are going to stop all payments and subsidies to them, effective immediately.”
He reiterated his false claim that a white “genocide” was unfolding in SA.
Read more: ‘Unacceptable’ — Norway’s prime minister decries reason for the US boycott of G20 Summit
Ramaphosa responded to Trump in a statement by Magwenya in which he noted Trump’s “regrettable statement” on SA’s participation in the 2026 G20 meetings, saying SA would continue to participate as a “full, active and constructive member” of the G20.
“South Africa is a member of the G20 in its own name and right. Its G20 membership is at the behest of all other members. South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its membership and worth in participating in global platforms,” read the statement.
Ramaphosa called on other G20 members to reaffirm the forum’s “continued operation in the spirit of multilateralism, based on consensus, with all members participating on an equal footing in all of its structures”.
“It is regrettable that despite the efforts and numerous attempts by President Ramaphosa and his administration to reset the diplomatic relationship with the US, President Trump continues to apply punitive measures against South Africa based on misinformation and distortions about our country,” the statement read.
Working with other G20 partners
SA received broad support for is G20 presidency and priorities from other G20 partners — including that of Western leaders who recognised the significance of the first G20 on the African continent.
In the conclusion of the Johannesburg Declaration, G20 leaders thanked SA for its leadership, and committed to working together under the US’ presidency in 2026, and meeting again in the UK in 2027 and in the Republic of Korea in 2028.
But can the US block SA’s participation? The answer may come sooner than next year as the first US G20 meeting of sherpas to discuss the programme will probably be next month.
Department of International Relations and Cooperation head of diplomacy, Clayson Monyela, says the US cannot block SA. He noted in a post on X that: “In 2022, the G20 rejected calls by some for Russia to be excluded. The G20 decided then that there was no procedure (therefore impossible) to exclude any member.”
Diplomats agree that the decision on who is and who is not a G20 member can only be reached by consensus of all the members. If not, Russia would have been expelled years ago, one said. And so South Africa will not be expelled formally.
The real question, though, is what the other members will do if Trump simply defies the rules — as he has so often defied other rules — and refuses to let South Africa into the Miami Summit, and possibly also all the preparatory meetings?
Would other G20 countries protest? Would they boycott the summit if SA were not admitted? This becomes more doubtful. As some diplomats Daily Maverick spoke to put it, Trump is making other G20 members choose between the US and SA — and that might not end well for SA given the size and heft of the US.
This could evolve into a pivotal moment for multilateralism and for Trump’s relations with the world. In principle it could even jeopardise the G20 itself and cause a rift if some Global South members stand up for SA’s participation in the US G20 — and Global North members don’t. Or perhaps all the other members might decide they don’t want to jeopardise their relations with the US and simply move on, leaving SA to hibernate for a year, and then to resume its participation when its friend, the UK, takes over the G20 presidency from the US in 2027.
Read more: G20 South Africa goes post-Trump as middle powers signal fresh path
Magwenya told Daily Maverick that SA’s “focus now is on working with other partners like France as the incoming president of the G7, and the UK as the 2027 G20 president to carry through the momentum from this year’s G20, in terms of the substantive issues coming out of the G20 2025 Declaration.
“Already, there’s some alignment with both France and the UK in this regard,” Magwenya said.
He added that SA was also “focusing on the functional aspects” of its relationship with the US — like its business relationships with US companies, engagements with US civil society and more “people-to-people exchanges”.
Despite the US G20 no-show, Daily Maverick’s Ferial Haffajee reported that the B20 Summit in SA drew nearly 600 American business leaders and saw a successful handover to the US Chamber of Commerce.
“Ensuring that our investment climate remains conducive for US businesses that invest in our country is important,” Magwenya said. DM