South Africa hosts this weekend the G20 summitwhich is celebrated for the first time in an African countrywith the expectation of turning it into a milestone for the Global Southwhich has earned him the frontal opposition of USA. “South Africa has made this G20 revolve around three major themes: solidarity, equity and sustainabilityy Donald Trump He is not a friend of any of them,” he explains to EL PERIÓDICO Gilbert Khadiagaladirector of the Department of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.
South Africa has brought to the table debates that rarely take center stage at these meetings: unequal access to finance, debt reform, climate vulnerability and the need for a just energy transition for Africa. But all that momentum could come to nothing because of American boycott. The unfounded accusation of what Trump calls “genocide against whites” It has served as a political argument to increase pressure against South Africa and distance itself from an agenda that clashes with Washington’s priorities.
The White Housewho initially said he would not attend, has finally opted to send a low profile delegation who will only attend take over the presidency of the G20, which will be held in Miami in 2026, and to which many fear that South Africa will even be invited. This gesture culminates months of escalating tensions and fuels fear that the final declaration will fail and that any progress, especially in financial matters, will be blocked later. Khadiagala recalls that, for the Government, “this G20 had to go well because it is not only a South African G20; it is also an African G20 and a G20 of the Global South”a message that summarizes the magnitude of what is at stake.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa defends the first African G20 with an agenda focused on the Global South / LEON NEAL / AFP
South Africa as a scapegoat
““As much as South Africa is doing a great job, it risks being undermined by the United States.”agrees in conversation with this newspaper Menzi Ndlovuanalyst of the African consultancy Signal Risk, in Johannesburg to attend the big event. The G20, remember, still depends on the political weight of Washington, which “has effectively undermined South Africa’s leadership”creating “a very real risk” that the advances “will be vetoed by the US.”
Ndhlovu considers that the tension has an eminently ideological background. “The US sees South Africa through the prism of its domestic politics”he explains, framing the country in Trump’s battle against diversity and inclusion policies. The American president uses it as a false warning of a supposed regression in the rights of whites. Added to this is the South African complaint before the International Court of Justice against Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu by genocidewhich has intensified Trump’s animosity. According to Ndhlovu, this makes South Africa a target of pressure “both for ideological reasons and to deter other states that cannot be treated in the same way.”
The balance with the BRICS
South Africa, despite being a member of the BRICShas tried to separate his role at the head of the G20 from the agenda of the bloc that he makes up Brazil, Russia, India and China. Even so, Washington’s distrust of the growing influence of these booming economies weighs in the background of this diplomatic fight.
The presence of the BRICS leaders will be uneven. The Indian Prime Minister is expected to attend, Narendra Modiand the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. On the other hand, the Russian president will not be there, Vladimir Putinwho is under an international arrest warrant. The biggest surprise is the absence of the Chinese president, Xi Jinpingwho will send a delegation but will not participate in person. The Argentine president will not travel either, Javier Mileydetermined to underline its distancing from the BRICS, and which is limited to following in Trump’s wake.
An African G20
The G20 African agenda seeks to recognize the structural challenges of the continent: the difficult adaptation to climate change and forced displacements, international pressure to accelerate the green transition without sufficient financial support and problems of access to credit due to unfair ratings that penalize African economies for their size, despite having positive debt repayment histories. African nations demand new combined financing mechanisms and greater aid in the face of climate disasters of which the West is the main cause with greater acceleration rates of rising temperatures, deforestation and pollution.
The debt reform It is another fundamental piece. South Africa denounces that the G20 Common Framework has been slow and insufficient for countries such as Zambia, Ethiopia or Ghana, and proposes clearer criteria and a more equitable distribution between private creditors, governments and multilateral organizations. It is their way of trying to transform the G20 into a space capable of addressing long-term structural problems, not just specific crises.
However, if South Africa is excluded from the next meeting, that long term becomes complicated. “It is unlikely that South Africa will be invited next year; Washington says it is not interested in a G20 that looks like a G100, where any country can enter,” warns Khadiagala.
Shield agreements
The domestic dimension also matters. For the recently re-elected president Cyril Ramaphosa It is an opportunity to claim the recovery of South Africa. The one that in the 90s was a key piece of the peace negotiations after the end of the apartheidnow takes the reins of a Government afflicted by the inefficiencyeager for a showcase like the G20 to unleash the muscle of an economic renewal after a decade of stagnation, corruption y talent drain. The Government maintains that the country is regaining confidence, recovering investments and repairing key infrastructures, as a symbol that the nation can right its course and once again exercise regional leadership.
With this panorama, South Africa seeks to shield progress with alliances between willing partners—among them the European Union, but also India, China or Brazil—to protect the agreements reached from the United States’ demarcation. But even those alternative routes could fall short. Both experts warn that, if Washington decides to exercise its veto power in international organizations, the real impact of the first African G20 could evaporate before the end of the year.
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