The non-profit FW de Klerk Foundation says Pretoria is an "equal" member of the group and must not be bullied out of global forums

Several politicians and groups have come out in defense of South Africa's participation in next year's G20 Summit after US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Washington would block Pretoria from attending.

Tensions between Pretoria and Washington reached a high this week after Trump's announcement, including the immediate suspension of all US financial support to Pretoria.

The FW de Klerk Foundation issued a definitive statement on Thursday, asserting that South Africa is an equal, sovereign member of the G20 and that the nation "will not be bullied out of global forums by misinformation".

The Foundation's statement, issued by Ismail Joosub, directly confronted President Trump's justification for the punitive action, which was based on allegations that the South African government ignores "horrific human rights abuses endured by Afrikaners and other descendants".

This comes after Trump had posted on Truth Social that South Africa was "killing white people and randomly allowing their farms to be taken from them".

The FW de Klerk Foundation declared that Trump's claims regarding "genocide" and state-sanctioned land seizures were "wholly false allegations" and a "torrent of disinformation".

"These statements are not only factually incorrect; they are diplomatically untenable," the Foundation stated. "G20 membership is not determined by the host country... no single state - including the United States - has the authority to unilaterally expel another." It added that the G20 is a consensus-driven forum, not a "private convention where invitations can be withdrawn on a whim".

READ MORE: African nation not 'worthy' of membership 'anywhere' - Trump

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said Trump "seeks to decimate the G20".

"The US is only presiding over the G20 next year. It doesn't have the authority to unilaterally exclude any member from participation."

Sibal added that Trump is "abusing" the word genocide "very selectively", stating that there is an open racial tone in what he is saying.

The EFF also spoke out on the issue, suggesting that Trump's ban is a tantrum. "Despite the US's absence, South Africa successfully secured a full Leaders' Declaration, something Trump believed would collapse without American participation. When the time came for the handover of the Presidency, South Africa conducted it in a diplomatic, low-key manner appropriate to the situation, and the handover did in fact occur.

"What Trump is now angry about is not that the handover did not happen, but that it did not take place with the pomp and senior-level recognition he expected after snubbing the summit. It is this sequence of self-inflicted diplomatic embarrassments: refusing to attend, changing his mind too late, being ignored by other world leaders, and seeing South Africa deliver a successful summit without him, that has now produced Trump's tantrum and the absurd suggestion that he has the power to uninvite South Africa from the G20."

German Ambassador to South Africa posted that "South Africa is needed at the table", adding "iMzansi ifuneka etafuleni labaholi", which reiterates his point about South Africa being needed at the G20.

This defence follows an initial late-night response on Wednesday from President Cyril Ramaphosa's administration. Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed that South Africa would continue to participate as a full, active, and constructive member of the G20.

The diplomatic conflict started when the United States chose not to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg, despite being invited to all meetings held under South Africa's presidency. The US later changed its mind. 

Weeks ago, President Trump had already announced he would skip the Johannesburg summit, arguing that South Africa "shouldn't even be in the G's anymore" because it was "going in the wrong direction". It is believed that relations were already strained by South Africa's stance on global conflicts, its close ties with the Russian Federation and China through the BRICS bloc, and its decision to bring a genocide case against Israel at the ICJ.

Trump claimed that South Africa refused to hand off the G20 Presidency to a senior representative from the US Embassy. Magwenya clarified that because the United States was absent from the summit, the instruments of the G20 Presidency were duly handed over to a US Embassy official at the headquarters of South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO).

The US government has taken several punitive steps recently, including boycotting the summit and revoking the visa of former international relations minister Naledi Pandor. Furthermore, a bill in the US Congress, the AGOA Extension and Bilateral Engagement Act (AGOA 2.0), has been tabled that would extend the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) for two years but specifically exclude South Africa, linking trade benefits to alignment with US strategic interests.

First published by IOL