The United States has doubled down on South Africa’s exclusion from next year’s G20, citing that South Africa’s economy has stagnated under a burdensome regulatory regime driven by racial grievance and that it falls firmly outside the group of the 20 largest industrialised economies.

In a statement released on Wednesday, 3 December, the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says America’s hosting of the G20 in 2026 will usher in a new dispensation, focusing on three key themes: removing regulatory burdens, unlocking affordable and secure energy supply chains, and pioneering new technologies and innovation.

Earlier this week, DIRCO confirmed that South Africa has been left off the guest list for the first G20 Sherpa meeting in Washington, on 15 and 16 December, marking a diplomatic snub shortly after the US took over the G20 presidency on 1 December.

In his statement, Rubio says the US will welcome the world’s largest economies, as well as burgeoning partners and allies, to America’s table, and South Africa is not on the list.

He says, instead of South Africa, Poland will assume its rightful place in the G20, as they have shown that a focus on the future is better than what he calls South Africa’s politics of racial grievance.

“South Africa entered the post-Cold War era with strong institutions, excellent infrastructure, and global goodwill. It possessed many of the world’s most valuable resources, some of the best agricultural land on the planet, and was located around one of the world’s key trading routes. And in Nelson Mandela, South Africa had a leader who understood that reconciliation and private sector-driven economic growth were the only path to a nation where every citizen could prosper.

 

Sadly, 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.

 

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.”

Rubio also accuses the ANC of scapegoating citizens, rather than taking responsibility for its failings.

“As President Trump has rightly highlighted, the South African government’s appetite for racism and tolerance for violence against its Afrikaner citizens has become embedded as core domestic policies. It seems intent on enriching itself while the country’s economy limps along, all while South Africans are subject to violence, discrimination, and land confiscation without compensation. Its former Ambassador to the United States was openly hostile to America. Its relationships with Iran, its entertainment of Hamas sympathisers, and cosying to America’s greatest adversaries move it from the family of nations we once called close.”

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.”

“South Africa focused on climate change, diversity and inclusion, and aid dependency as central tenets of its working groups. It routinely ignored U.S. objections to consensus communiques and statements. It blocked the U.S. and other countries’ inputs into negotiations. It actively ignored our reasonable faith efforts to negotiate. It doxed U.S. officials working on these negotiations. It fundamentally tarnished the G20’s reputation.”

“For these reasons, President Trump and the United States will not be extending 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.”

Rubio concludes that while the United States supports the people of South Africa, it cannot support the radical “ANC-led government”.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of Cosatu’s 2nd annual charity golf fundraiser on Thursday morning, President Ramaphosa said the country had not officially been informed yet that it will not be invited to the G20, although he expects South Africa to participate as a fully fledged member.

South Africa is a fully fledged member of the G20 and should be treated as an equal, sovereign nation that fosters the success and prosperity of other nations. pic.twitter.com/7qpnrJkgQs

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) December 4, 2025