By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will tonight, Sunday, 30 November 2025, address the nation following the country’s Presidency of the G20 and hosting of the Leaders’ summit in Johannesburg.
The G20 summit has been widely praised by world leaders, including Indian President Narendra Modi, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and French President Emmanuel Macron, as one of the most successful G20 meetings—the first ever held on the African continent.
However, his address tonight comes after US President Donald Trump announced that South Africa would not be invited to next year’s G20 summit in Florida.
In a brief statement, presidency said, “President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation following country’s presidency of G20 and successful hosting of the leaders summit in Johannesburg.”
Trump has announced he will block South Africa from attending next year’s G20 summit, as relations between the two nations continue to sour.
With no senior US officials attending the summit, Ramaphosa ended the two-day meeting last weekend without passing on the gavel, as per tradition, to the next country taking the presidency.
“This gavel of this G20 Summit formally closes this summit and now moves on to the next president of the G20, which is the United States, where we shall see each other again next year,” Ramaphosa said in his closing remarks on Sunday.
While Trump sent an official from the US embassy in South Africa at the last minute, he claimed Ramaphosa refused to hand the gavel to that person.
On Wednesday, Trump also repeated that the US had not attended the summit because, he said, the South African government had refused to “acknowledge or address the horrific Human Right Abuses endured by Afrikaners, and other descendants of Dutch, French, and German settlers”.
The US is South Africa’s second-largest single-country trading partner after China. In 2024, total goods and services trade between the two countries reached an estimated $26.2bn, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative.
In a statement issued by Ramaphosa’s office on Thursday, Trump’s decision was noted as “regrettable”.
“South Africa is a member of the G20 in its own name and right. Its G20 membership is at the behest of all other members.
“South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democratic country and does not appreciate insults from another country about its worth in participating in global platforms. South Africa will never insult another country or its standing in the community of nations.”
The Group of 20 comprises 19 leading economies plus the European Union – and, now, the African Union. Countries within the group meet throughout the year, but an annual summit is also held, hosted by the country holding the presidency of the group.