Washington Temporarily Shuts Pretoria Out of the G20

South Africa’s relations with the United States are spiraling downward. “America will be forging ahead with a new G20,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on December 4 — one that does not include South Africa, at least not while Washington holds the group’s presidency.

South Africa has fallen out of Washington’s good graces. Its ruling party since 1994, the African National Congress (ANC), has stifled the economy through mismanagement and corruption. It has also aligned South Africa with China, Russia, and Iran, and consistently attacked Israel.

A Meeting Washington Couldn’t Wait To Miss

At the beginning of December, the United States assumed the presidency of the G20, an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 nations, the European Union, and the African Union. Its members account for 85 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, and it is a central venue for addressing global economic issues.

The Trump administration decided to skip the G20 annual summit in late November, which South Africa hosted as the body’s president. “The G20 should send a clear message that the world can move on with or without the U.S.,” South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said.

Now, it appears that the G20 will be moving on without South Africa. While there is no formal process for removing members from the G20, the United States can decide which countries participate in meetings during its presidency.

Animus on Display in U.S.-South African Relations

Pretoria has been butting heads with Washington during President Donald Trump’s second term. Trump signed an executive order shortly after taking office that halted assistance to South Africa. Rubio declared South Africa’s ambassador to the United States persona non grata after he called Trump a “nativist” and a “racist.” Washington denied a visa to and refused to receive the credentials of the succeeding South African special envoy to the United States.

Rubio called Pretoria’s presidency of the G20 “an exercise in spite, division, and radical agendas that have nothing to do with economic growth,” adding that South Africa “routinely ignored U.S. objections to consensus communiques and statements,” “blocked the U.S. and other countries’ inputs into negotiations,” and “fundamentally tarnished the G20’s reputation.”

Rubio justified South Africa’s future exclusion by noting: “[its] economy has stagnated under its burdensome regulatory regime driven by racial grievance, and it falls firmly outside the group of the 20 largest industrialized economies.”

Rampant Mismanagement and Corruption Stunt South Africa’s Growth

While South Africa accounted for 28 percent of Africa’s gross domestic product when it emerged from apartheid in 1994, that number now stands at 15 percent. Its unemployment rate, 33 percent, is among the highest in the world, and its youth unemployment rate stands at over 60 percent. And even as Johannesburg hosted the G20 summit, the city — and much of the rest of the country — was riddled with potholes, an unreliable water supply, and electricity blackouts.

The ANC’s corruption plays a large part in the country’s inefficiencies. From 2018 to 2022, the Zondo Commission, a massive investigation into state capture, corruption, and bribery, named and shamed nearly 100 ANC officials, but none of them faced prosecutions or significant consequences. A similar commission is operating after allegations that the minister of police was in bed with a gangster whose crimes allegedly include graft, contract fraud, and even attempted murder.

South Africa Must Correct Its Course To Regain Washington’s Trust

Complicating any potential reconciliation is a White House focus on the plight of white people living in South Africa, most of whom are Afrikaners, descendants of Dutch settlers. Yet South Africa’s adversarial foreign policy has much greater ramifications for U.S. national security than the country’s complicated post-apartheid domestic reality. South Africa, for its part, should devote its attention to solving its economic woes, rooting out corruption, and repairing its relations with the United States.

David May is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from the author and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow David on X @DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.