International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola says the US has no right to exclude South Africa from the G20, reiterating that South Africa is a founding member of the G20.

It comes after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday confirmed that South Africa would not get an invitation to Miami.

Rubio lashed out at South Africa’s G20 Presidency, accusing the country of blocking America, adding that South Africa no longer qualifies to be at the G20.

Rubio accused the ANC government of driving stagnation through burdensome regulations and racial-based policies. Further, Rubio says South Africa’s Presidency of the G20 was an exercise in “spite, division, and radical agendas that have nothing to do with economic growth.”

But in an open letter to Rubio yesterday, Lamola defended the country’s leadership of the forum, its domestic transformation efforts, and democratic progress since apartheid.

He also reiterated that allegations of racism, violence and land seizures were unfounded.

“South Africa is a founding member of the G20, no single member of the G20 has a unilateral right to exclude South Africa from the G20.”

Lamola says South Africa’s G20 Presidency was built on the belief that treating Africa and the Global South as equal partners and honestly addressing issues that impede their growth is not an act of charity, but a strategic imperative for a stable, prosperous world.

He also rejected the notion that South Africa blocked the US’s participation.

“It is a matter of public record that the United States chose not to attend our G20 meetings. Given that absence, the notion of our “sabotaging” consensus is not just incorrect, it misunderstands the very purpose of a forum like the G20. Our role as host was not to force agreement, but to create the conditions for it: a table of equals, governed by the spirit of Ubuntu.”

Lamola corrects Rubio as the Secretary of State still refers to the ruling ANC.

“South Africa today is governed by a ten-party Government of National Unity, not the ANC alone. Ours is a vibrant, contested, and living democracy, a definitive repudiation of the tyranny of a single race that once ruled us.

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. That promise is enshrined in our Constitution, a document born from what many called a miracle of negotiation, or to borrow from your Supreme Court Justice, the late Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the best Constitution in the world.”

Lamola also firmly rejects the allegation that the government is “tolerating violence” against Afrikaners and farmers and taking their land.

“This could not be further from the truth. In the farming sector you highlight, where Afrikaner farmers continue to dominate and power the country’s food security, along with other farmers, we have made progress. South Africa’s farming sector has more than doubled in value terms since 1994. It saw significant growth from 2000 onward under the democratic government. South Africa is now the only African country in the top 40 global agricultural exporters, and exports are reaching record levels, just under US$14 billion in 2024, and set to surpass this figure in 2025. No country with land grabs and invasion would reap such success.”

The Minister added that the world is growing weary of double standards.

“It is tired of lectures on democracy from those who seem to have forgotten that democracy, at its best, must listen as much as it speaks.”

“We do not seek your approval for our path. Our path is our own, chosen by our people and guided by our sovereign laws. But we do seek, and we will always extend, a hand of respectful partnership.”