The US took over the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 last week, after boycotting the summit that President Cyril Ramaphosa hosted in Johannesburg.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio seemed to confirm on Wednesday that South Africa would not be able to take part in any G20 engagements next year.

Rubio accused South Africa of executing “politics of grievance”, and the ANC-led Government of National Unity sowing “spite, division, and radical agendas that have nothing to do with economic growth”.

The US secretary said that “the United States supports the people of South Africa, but not its radical ANC-led government, and will not tolerate its continued behaviour”.

“When South Africa decides it has made the tough decisions needed to fix its broken system and is ready to rejoin the family of prosperous and free nations, the United States will have a seat for it at our table. Until then, America will be forging ahead with a new G20.”

In June 2025, the United States made demands related to farm attacks, land expropriation, BEE, and “Kill the Boer” as preconditions to mend relations with South Africa.

This information was shared by a South African delegation of Afrikaner leaders who met with senior White House officials.

The delegation included FF+ leader Corné Mulder, Southern African Agri Initiative chairman Theo de Jager, and National Employers’ Association CEO Gerhard Papenfus.

They met with senior White House officials, including representatives from the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council.

During the meeting in Washington, DC, the United States officials communicated the Administration’s official position regarding South Africa.

This included the necessary preconditions for the normalisation of bilateral relations between the United States and South Africa.

One of these preconditions has to stop all Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies and except USA entities from such policies.

South Africa will not bow to US pressure

However, responding to Secretary Rubio’s remarks, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said on Thursday that South Africa will not bow to US pressure to change its policies on race.

“Secretary Rubio, the world is watching. It is growing weary of double standards,” Lamola wrote in an open letter to Rubio. “We do not seek your approval for our path.”

It was one of South Africa’s strongest responses yet to an onslaught of U.S. criticism this year, although Lamola underlined that he remained open to dialogue.

Relations between Washington and Pretoria have reached a low in recent months as Trump has repeatedly made false claims about a “white genocide” in South Africa and criticized the country for its policies aimed at addressing racial inequality.

White people make up only about 7% of South Africa’s population but still hold the vast majority of land and wealth three decades after the end of apartheid, an explicitly racist system of white minority rule.

The government now has policies that reward companies for hiring and promoting Black people, in an attempt to address the imbalance. It also passed a law this year allowing the state to expropriate land in certain circumstances, although no white land has been “seized” as Trump claims.

“Our policies of redress are not a political invention. They are the fulfilment of a promise made to all South Africans as we emerged from the darkness of apartheid,” Lamola wrote.

A spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to Rubio’s statement earlier on social media, saying that South Africa would take a break from the G20 while the U.S. is at the helm.

“About this time next year, the UK will be taking over the G20 presidency. We will be able to engage meaningfully and substantively over what really matters to the rest of the world,” said Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.

“For now, we will take a commercial break until we resume normal programming,” he wrote. – BusinessTech