- By Ajeet Kumar
- Sat, 08 Nov 2025 08:54 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that no US government official would attend the Group of 20 summit in South Africa later this month.
Trump said he made the decision amid "human rights abuses" taking place in the country. "It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa. Afrikaners (People who are descended from Dutch settlers, and also French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated," Trump said in a Truth Social post.
Why Trump boycotted G20 Summit
Trump has claimed Afrikaners face persecution based on their race in the Black-majority country, allegations the South African government has denied. "No US Government Official will attend as long as these Human Rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida!." Trump said.
The president last month set the lowest cap on record for US refugee admissions and said those people admitted would be focused largely on white Afrikaners.
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US Vice President JD Vance, who was expected to attend the Group of 20 world leaders in Johannesburg in Nov 22-23, was no longer going, a source familiar with the matter said. South Africa's foreign ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump has taken issue with South African domestic and foreign policies - ranging from its land policy to its case accusing Israel of genocide in the US ally's war in Gaza.
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio also boycotted a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in South Africa, which has the G20 presidency from December 2024 to November 2025. The United States is set to take over the G20 presidency from South Africa.
Trump confronts South Africa's Ramaphosa with false claims of white genocide
Earlier in May this year, Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with explosive false claims of white genocide and land seizures during a tense White House meeting that was reminiscent of his February ambush of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world, but the overwhelming majority of victims are Black.
Trump played on a television that is not normally set up in the Oval Office - showed white crosses, which Trump asserted were the graves of white people, and opposition leaders making incendiary speeches. Trump suggested one of them, Julius Malema, should be arrested.
The video was made in September 2020 during a protest after two people were killed on their farm a week earlier. The crosses did not mark actual graves. An organizer of the protest told South Africa's public broadcaster at the time that they represented farmers who had been killed over the years.
(With inputs from agencies)