South African President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to exclude Pretoria from next year’s G20 summit, reaffirming South Africa’s status as a founding member of the group.

 

Washington boycotted the Group of 20 leaders’ summit held under South Africa’s presidency in Johannesburg on November 22-23 this year, with Trump repeating allegations widely discredited, that the host country’s Black-majority government persecutes its white minority.

 

Last week, Trump said that South Africa would not be invited to the summit to be held in Florida next year because it had refused to hand over the G20 presidency to a senior representative of its embassy who was present at the closing ceremony. South Africa, however, said it had handed over the rotating presidency to a U.S. embassy official.

 

In a State of the Nation address yesterday, Ramaphosa said South Africa is and will remain a full, active, and constructive member of the G20.

He also described Trump’s repeated claims that South Africa is committing genocide against Afrikaners as blatant misinformation.