A man walks past a billboard with portraits of G20 leaders at the entrance to the G20 Leaders' Summit on November 22. The G20 meeting of heads of state will take place in Johannesburg, but the United States will not be there.
Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images Europe
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Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images Europe
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — President Trump announced that no U.S. officials will attend the G20 summit hosted by South Africa — the current rotating chair of the group of the world's largest economies — in Johannesburg later this month, citing concerns about “human rights.” Vice President J.D. Vance was scheduled to attend in Trump's place.
“It is an absolute disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa. Afrikaners (people descended from Dutch settlers and French and German immigrants) are being killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated,” Trump wrote on Truth Social over the weekend. He has previously said that South Africa should be left out of the G altogether.
Trump has relentlessly criticized South Africa since returning to office.
He ambushed President Cyril Ramaphosa falsely accused his government of seizing white-owned land during a visit to the White House in May; cut aid to South Africa; his administration excluded South African Ambassador to Washington; hit the country 30 percent tariffs; repeated debunked far-right claims of white genocide – and ended up giving priority to Afrikaners accelerated refugee status to the United States (at the same time, the admission of refugees from most other countries ceased).
The South African government has repeatedly tried to correct the White House by providing statistics to refute these claims – such as the fact that black people suffer the most from violent crime and that whites still own the majority of commercial farmland – without success.
Now some white Afrikaners, as well as Afrikaans groups, are shouting on their behalf about what they say are “lies” and “lies” from the US administration.
“We reject the narrative that portrays Afrikaners as victims of racial persecution in post-apartheid South Africa,” said a group of more than 40 prominent Afrikaners in open letter last month. “We are not pawns in America’s culture wars.”
The group included writers, journalists, musicians, university professors and Christian clergy.
“Afrikaners have caused harm in the past and we acknowledge that,” the letter said, referring to the fact that their ancestors – as well as British settlers – colonized the country. Afrikaners later created a system of apartheid that separated the races, prevented the black majority from voting, and brutally suppressed dissent.
“As citizens of post-apartheid South Africa, we are dedicated to building our country. Singling us out as victims of multi-racialism alienates us from our fellow South Africans and damages the relationships that have been built over the last 30 years.”
“Please stop lying”
Max du Preez, an Afrikaner journalist and writer who was among those who signed the letter, told NPR they reject the narrative coming out of the White House as “an abuse of our ethnic identity to advance the interests of the MAGA movement.”
“There is no genocide in South Africa, there is absolutely no persecution of anyone based on race. Our constitution iron-cladly protects the human rights of every citizen,” he said.
“Not one square inch of white-owned land has been confiscated since we became a democracy in 1994,” du Preez added. “Please stop lying about us and using us as pawns.”
Trump has repeatedly said that he especially wants to help white African farmers. But some agricultural organizations that represent them have stressed that their businesses would also suffer if the US imposes sanctions on South Africa.
Christo van der Rheede has represented white farmers for years as head of South Africa's largest agricultural organisation. Now he heads the F.V. Foundation. De Klerk, named after the former Afrikaans President who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela for their role in ending apartheid.
“It is now vital that all South Africans come together and reject President Donald Trump's claims… that Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated. This is simply not true,” van der Rheede said after Trump’s G20 announcement.
He said the US should reconsider its boycott of the G20.
“The G20's role as a key driving force for unifying and building a better and fairer world is critical and it will be very negative for the US and its business interests in South Africa if it continues to base its reasons for refraining on lies,” he added.
Despite resistance from some sections of the Afrikaans community, there are others who are ardent Trump supporters and welcome his stance on South Africa.
For years, some Afrikaner groups traveled to the United States promoting the idea of ”white genocide” and lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
For its part, the South African government issued a subdued statement, noting Trump's announcement.
“We really think this will be one of the most significant G20 meetings to date, albeit without US participation. I think this is something that will affect the United States as a country, not the entire G20,” he said. Crispin Phiri, a spokesman for the Department of International Relations, later told NPR.
Summit The event will be attended by European heads of state and Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend. Its theme, which the US State Department objected to, is “solidarity, equality and sustainability.”
“South Africa is doing very bad things,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X in February. “Using the G20 to promote 'solidarity, equality and sustainability.' In other words: DEI and climate change.”
