Poland is expected to take South Africa’s place during the US G20 presidency, according to US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who said Washington has removed South Africa from the table.
It is not immediately clear if the US will push for Poland to be officially adopted as a G20 member or if it will attend as a guest.
Though South Africa is a founding member of the G20, the US, under President Donald Trump, has said it is not a country worthy of a seat at the table with global superpowers.
Rubio said unlike South Africa, Poland has made strides in growing its economy.
“We will invite friends, neighbours and partners to the American G20. We will welcome the world’s largest economies, as well as burgeoning partners and allies, to America’s table. In particular, Poland, a nation that was once trapped behind the Iron Curtain but now ranks among the world’s 20 largest economies, will be joining us to assume its rightful place in the G20,” said Rubio.
“Poland’s success is proof that a focus on the future is a better path than one on grievances. It shows how partnership with the US and American companies can promote mutual prosperity and growth. The contrast with South Africa, host of this year’s G20, is stark.”
Rubio said South Africa entered the post-Cold War era with “strong institutions, excellent infrastructure and global goodwill” under the late president Nelson Mandela but claims all these gains have been eroded by his successors.
“Mandela’s successors have replaced reconciliation with redistributionist policies that discouraged investment and drove South Africa’s most talented citizens abroad. Racial quotas have crippled the private sector, while corruption bankrupts the state,” said Rubio.
“The numbers speak for themselves. As South Africa’s economy has stagnated under its burdensome regulatory regime driven by racial grievance, it falls firmly outside the group of the 20 largest industrialised economies.”
Pretoria believes Trump’s administration will revoke existing visas of senior government officials or reject those who will try to apply.
Rubio repeated the false allegations of white genocide in South Africa to motivate why its invitation has been revoked. He said former South African ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, had taken a hostile posture against the US.
Rubio said South Africa also continued to cosy up with US adversaries, saying it will be barred from participating in the US G20, especially after President Cyril Ramaphosa pushed for the leaders summit to adopt a declaration despite the White House warning against it.
“For these reasons, President Trump and the US will not extend an invitation to the South African government to participate in the G20 during our presidency. There is a place for good-faith disagreement, but not dishonesty or sabotage,” said Rubio.
“The US 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 US will have a seat for it at our table. Until then, America will be forging ahead with a new G20.”
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said South Africa will wait for the UK to take over the G20 presidency in 2027, where they will be “able to engage meaningfully and substantively over what really matters to the rest of the world”.
TimesLIVE also reported that Ramaphosa has made it clear that South Africa would not lobby other countries to boycott the US G20 presidency over its treatment of Pretoria, saying that would be “unconstructive”.
Boycotting the US G20, Magwenya said, would be counterproductive, and South Africa was not keen to see an entire G20 year being wasted simply because the country was not invited.
“We don’t want to do that. That’s not for us to do. It would be unhelpful if the entire year goes to waste and the G20 collapses.”
He said, unlike Trump, who tried to get other countries to snub the G20 leaders summit in Johannesburg, Ramaphosa does not want to “engage in that unwise behaviour” of boycott politics.
“If anything, we will encourage all the members to fully participate and to use their rights to advance the issues that are important and that have been widely agreed on in Johannesburg, regardless of whether the US is comfortable with those issues,” said Magwenya.
“It’s not in our DNA to embark on unconstructive or unhelpful diplomatic campaigns; ours is for the world to remain engaged and seized with the key issues that were surfaced and ventilated at the Johannesburg summit, regardless of whether the US is comfortable with those issues. That’s what we would like to see other members do in our absence from that G20.”
TimesLIVE
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