JOHANNESBURG: The White House has launched a fresh verbal assault on South Africa concerning the G-20 presidency in Johannesburg this past weekend. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly responded to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa after Pretoria declined to permit a U.S. embassy delegation to attend the summit’s closing ceremony.
The U.S. is scheduled to take over the G-20’s presidency next year. However, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson informed reporters at the summit that their president would not perform the ceremonial handover to a junior diplomat. Washington had requested to send the embassy’s chargé d’affaires to the event.
In what is evolving into an increasingly tense exchange of sharp statements between Pretoria and Washington on several G-20-related matters, Kelly conveyed to Digital, “President Ramaphosa initially declared that he would pass the gavel to an ‘empty chair.’ Now, he is refusing to facilitate any smooth transition of the G-20 presidency.”
Kelly further stated, “This, coupled with South Africa’s insistence on issuing a G-20 Leaders Declaration, despite consistent and strong U.S. objections, underscores the fact that they have utilized their G-20 presidency to undermine the G-20’s foundational principles. President Trump anticipates restoring legitimacy to the G-20 during the U.S.’s 2026 host year.”
Discussion took place in the summit over his claims that some White South Africans were experiencing racial discrimination.
Now , has also criticized the G-20, speaking exclusively to Digital, remarking, “How can it be that within the extensive list of items comprising the G-20 Leaders Declaration, there was no room to condemn one of Africa’s most significant human rights crises – the continent-wide jihadi war on Christians?”
He continued, “How can it be that the first G-20 hosted in Africa by an African government overlooks how Africa – from Mozambique to Mali, the DRC, Nigeria, Sudan, and numerous other countries – has become the primary front of Islamist terrorism?
“Just last Friday, over 300 girls and 12 teachers were abducted from a Catholic school in Nigeria,” he added. “Who will speak up for these children and rescue them? The G-20 declaration’s silence on this and other jihadi atrocities across the continent is a moral disgrace, exposing the gathering as a heartless pretense that history will judge severely. God’s condemnation of Cain following his weak defense of ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ stands as an eternal accusation against the leaders of the G-20 – ‘What have you done? The blood of your brother calls out to Me from the ground.'”
Forty-two world leaders and major institutions such as the U.N. are represented at the summit. Only one of them, Italy’s President Giorgia Meloni, has addressed the issue of in the last few days – and she did so on Friday, before the summit began. , she wrote, “We request the Nigerian government to strengthen the protection of Christian communities and all religious communities and to pursue those responsible for these heinous attacks.”
The White House might question the validity of the Leaders’ Declaration produced at the G-20. Ramaphosa conceivably did not realize his microphone was active right at the beginning of Saturday’s proceedings. Journalists in the media center next to the main summit hall overheard him informing leaders that the final 122-point resolution was ready for their endorsement – before they had even discussed it.
As it stands, South Africa has officially recorded the U.S. as “absent” from this G-20 summit. The sole U.S. presence here this weekend was the American flag in the media center.
The final G-20 South Africa Summit was released on Sunday with its only reference to religion, stating, “We condemn all attacks against civilians and infrastructure. We further reaffirm that, in alignment with the U.N. Charter, all states must abstain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state, and that states should cultivate friendly relations among nations, including by promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Digital attempted to contact the South African government but received no reply.