Cyril Ramaphosa Concludes G20 Summit Following American Withdrawal and Transition Controversy
The leader of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa formally concluded the Group of Twenty meeting in Johannesburg by banging a ceremonial hammer, after rejecting a US proposal for him to hand over duties to a lower-ranking embassy official for the next summit in Florida.
Event Overshadowed by US Boycott
The host nation portrayed the two-day event as a triumph for multilateralism, but it was diminished by a withdrawal of the United States, which has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against white-minority Afrikaners—a claim that has been broadly refuted.
“We have gathered in the face of major obstacles and shown our capacity to unite, even in periods of hardship, to strive for global improvement,” the president declared in his closing speech.
Concluding his remarks, he announced: “This gavel of this G20 summit officially concludes this summit and now proceeds to the subsequent leader of the G20, which is the United States, where we shall reconvene next year.” It represented Ramaphosa’s only mention of the country missing from the gathering of the world’s largest economies.
G20 Declaration Highlights Global Warming and Gender Equality
The G20 issued a declaration on Saturday emphasizing the need to address environmental crises and achieve “equal opportunities for all genders.” The Trump government had withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement on the first day of his new mandate and has overturned numerous measures designed to tackle discrimination based on gender, race, and sexual orientation.
White House Response
US administration representative Anna Kelly accused Ramaphosa of “declining to enable a smooth transition of the G20 presidency.”
“This, combined with South Africa’s push to issue a G20 leaders’ declaration, notwithstanding repeated and strong American opposition, underscores the fact that they have exploited their leadership role to undermine the G20’s founding principles,” she stated.
Handover Protocol Controversy
South Africa had offered to arrange for an equivalent “junior” diplomat to formally hand the G20 presidency to the US at the foreign ministry. Officials had stated it would violate procedure for Ramaphosa to pass it to the US interim envoy.
South Africa’s top diplomat, Ronald Lamola, told reporters: “From us, the ball has moved. We are done. It’s up to them. If they want to come, we are available.”
Future Summit and Additional Absences
The 2026 summit is scheduled to take place at the Trump National Doral Miami golf resort, which is under Trump corporate ownership.
The nation of Argentina, led by President Javier Milei skipped the summit, also refused to endorse the communique. Its foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, said: “Specifically it addresses the longstanding Middle East conflict in a manner that fails to capture its full complexity.”
The G20 document read: “We are committed for a fair, inclusive, and enduring resolution in Sudan and the DRC, the Palestinian territories, Ukraine, as well as resolving additional disputes and wars around the globe.”
G20 Background
The G20 was founded in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in 1999, with 19 countries plus the EU. The African Union was added in 2023.
The Russian leader Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum were also not present at the meeting. The Russian president faces an arrest warrant by the ICC, to which South Africa is a signatory. The Chinese president has assigned attending many international gatherings this year to China’s premier, Li Qiang.
