South Africa Defies US Snub, Says It Will Attend 2026 G20 Summit in America

South Africa said on Thursday it would attend next year’s G20 summit in the United States, asserting its right as a full member of the bloc despite Washington’s move to bar Pretoria from the 2026 gathering.

Pretoria’s firm stance came days after the US administration announced that South Africa would not be invited to the summit it is scheduled to host, escalating a diplomatic rift that deepened after Washington boycotted the G20 meeting in Johannesburg at the last minute.

South Africa’s foreign minister said the country “will definitely participate,” adding that membership in the G20 is not contingent on political favour from the host nation.

He said Pretoria remained ready to facilitate a formal handover of the G20 presidency to the United States “at the appropriate and equivalent level,” rejecting claims that South Africa had mishandled the transition process.

Washington had earlier accused Pretoria of failing to cooperate on the handover after the US skipped the Johannesburg meeting, a decision that followed public allegations from US officials that South Africa mistreated its white-minority farmers.

Pretoria dismissed those accusations as unfounded and politically motivated.

The US withdrawal from the Johannesburg summit surprised many diplomats.

American officials had previously indicated that Vice President JD Vance would represent Washington, only for the delegation to be pulled hours before the opening session.

South Africa has characterised the boycott as a diplomatic overreach by Washington, with President Cyril Ramaphosa saying the G20 should not be used as a platform for “boycott politics.”

He insisted that Pretoria would not be pressured over its domestic policies or its foreign alliances.

Relations between the two countries have long been uneven.

Washington has criticised South Africa’s closer alignment with Russia and China, while Pretoria has pushed back against what it sees as U.S. interference. The relationship was further strained when the Trump administration moved to expand immigration pathways for white South African farmers — a policy that Pretoria said misrepresented South Africa’s land reform debate.

The dispute now threatens to overshadow the US presidency of the G20 next year.

Analysts say the exclusion of Africa’s most industrialised economy risks weakening the group’s global legitimacy, particularly after African members fought to secure a stronger voice within international financial institutions.

South Africa is expected to seek further clarification from Washington in the coming weeks, but officials signalled that Pretoria will not relinquish its seat at the table.

gandae@businessdayafrica.org