President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed that the United States has reversed its earlier decision to boycott the G20 Leaders’ Summit taking place in Johannesburg this weekend.
South Africa, currently holding the G20 presidency, had been preparing to hand over the role to the United States at the close of the summit, scheduled for 22–23 November at the Nasrec Expo Centre.
Speaking at a European Union leaders’ event in Sandton on Thursday evening, Ramaphosa said Washington had notified Pretoria of a change in position regarding its participation.
The US delegation is now expected to be represented by officials from the American embassy in Pretoria rather than by senior members of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Despite the timing coming just days before the summit, Ramaphosa welcomed the move and framed it as a constructive development. He said South Africa believed that “boycott politics do not work” and that continued engagement remained essential.
“We have received notice from the United States concerning participation in the G20 Leaders’ Summit. This is a notice that is still in discussion. There has been a change of mind about participation in one shape, form, or another,” Ramaphosa said. He added that he was still awaiting clarity on the level and form of US involvement.
“These discussions are ongoing. We need to see how practical it is and what it finally means. However, in a way, we see this as a positive sign,” he said.
Earlier this month, Trump used his social media platform, Truth Social, to criticise the decision to host the summit in South Africa, calling it “a total disaster” and citing discredited claims of violence targeting white farmers.
“Afrikaners, people descended from Dutch, French, and German settlers, are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated,” he wrote. “No U.S. Government official will attend as long as these human rights abuses continue. I look forward to hosting the 2026 G20 in Miami, Florida.”
The South African government has repeatedly dismissed allegations of “white genocide” and illegal land seizures as misinformation aimed at stoking racial division. Official crime statistics show that while farm attacks remain a persistent security issue, victims come from all racial groups.
