Pretoria is pushing back against the decision by Washington to send its chargé d’affaires, Marc Dillard, to the handover ceremony during the G20 leaders’ summit.
The Sunday Times understands this communication was sent to minister of international relations and cooperation Ronald Lamola this week by the US embassy. The notice to Pretoria came after the US Note Verbale, which threatened Pretoria against making any declaration without the US.
The notice seen by the Sunday Times states that Dillard will head the US delegation.
The support staff will include plenary delegates Stephanie Bunce, Ariana Sailer, Rubani Trimiew, Jeffrey Ladenson, Victoria King, David Schneider and Heather Wright, who are all staffers in the US embassy.
President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed during a media briefing with EU leader Ursula von der Leyen that the US had sent the communication to Pretoria over Dillard’s attendance.
He said Pretoria was in discussions with its US counterparts.
“We have received a notice. A notice that we are still in discussions with them over a change of mind about participating in one shape, form or other in the summit, so the discussions are ongoing. This comes at a late hour before the summit, so we do need to engage to see how practical it is.”
Ramaphosa said this was a positive sign, adding that boycott politics never work. He said the US, as the biggest economy, needs to attend the G20 summit.
“It’s pleasing to hear that there is a change of approach so we are still discussing how this will manifest.”
It’s not something we are going to entertain because the president can’t hand over to an embassy official. These people are insulting us, and we are still measured in our public pronouncement, and the reason we are measured is because we understand that this process is bigger than one country.
— Insider
He said the US had seemingly moved away from Dillard only attending the conference and Washington was now communicating that he would be receiving the handover.
High-ranking government officials told the Sunday Times that South Africa has taken offence over the decision by the US to send a junior diplomat.
They said Pretoria was pushing back against this, claiming the international relations and cooperation department was engaging with the US embassy.
“It’s not something we are going to entertain because the president can’t hand over to an embassy official. These people are insulting us, and we are still measured in our public pronouncement, and the reason we are measured is because we understand that this process is bigger than one country,” the insider said.
“Even though it’s the largest economy, this process is much bigger than one country, and we do understand that how the US is projecting itself towards other countries and the rest of the world is not a permanent thing. It’s temporary. We are not going to get ourselves into a big knot. At some point, the era of Trump will be over and the US will renormalise itself and renormalise its relationship with the rest of the world, South Africa included.
“Even the so-called boycott has no legitimacy. After that, you then make attempts to collapse the summit in your absence. At the end of the day, South Africa is a sovereign country. No matter how much we want to trade and maintain a positive relationship with the US, we cannot be treated like some kind of colony,” they said.
Ramaphosa said the US was a member of the G20 and had every right to attend. He said the US’s seat at the G20 will still remain and will hopefully be occupied.
“You should know that because it’s a gathering of G20 leaders, there are a lot of logistics that go into getting the leaders to come to the venue and to participate, and how they will speak, their speaking order, and all that. So those are matters that had not been pre-planned because they pulled out. So we need to understand precisely how all that will pan out.
“The US has a right to participate in the G20, and much as they notify us at the 11th hour, we still need to engage with them to understand fully what their participation at the 11th hour means and how it will manifest.”
On Wednesday, the Sunday Times revealed that the US had written to Pretoria, warning against making a G20 declaration without its presence at the leaders’ summit this weekend.
This was seen as a last-ditch attempt by the US to undermine South Africa’s G20 presidency. Negotiations have been ongoing between Pretoria and other G20 member states to agree on a summit declaration.
The Sunday Times understands that the US has made attempts to bully allies to not agree to a leader’s declaration during the summit.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the absence of the US is of no consequence to the declarations, adding the G20 is a consensus-based organisation.
“We have a summit that is being attended by the 19 countries that are members of the G20, plus the EU and the AU. We need to respect those countries that have remained committed to the process of a successful G20 year.”
Magwenya said the commitment by the member states was not anti-US but rather a commitment to the process and the principles of the G20, adding it would be a commitment of the individual governments to their own citizens and the rest of the world.
He said the G20 should not be looked at as the world versus the US.
“This is a principled issue. We are not in a contest with the US, or any country for that matter. This is about 85% of the world’s GDP and 75% of global trade. This is about the present and future of our world collectively. So if one country decides that this year it’s going to abandon its responsibility, the rest of the world is not going to do that. The issues that are being discussed are global issues. South Africa, as the president of the G20, has the responsibility to facilitate the process, that is all,” he said.
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