By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
South Africa is ready to host Group of 20 (G20) leaders at the Johannesburg Summit this November, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola said on Monday.
Lamola was giving an update on the progress made to date and on preparations for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.
Lamola said progress has been made since December 2024, with 51 meetings convened over urgent matters the world is grappling with.
He noted that while there are divergent views on certain issues, South Africa’s G20 presidency is receiving “overwhelming support.”
“The ongoing G20 discussions are aimed at advancing South Africa’s overarching priorities,namely: strengthening disaster resilience and response, ensuring debt sustainability for low-income countries, mobilizing finance for a just energy transition, and harnessing critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development,” Lamola said.
“The G20 is for all leaders of the G20 … they are all invited to attend,” Lamola said.
“Obviously the US president, as a member state of the G20, will be invited, but it is up to the US whether they attend or not the G20 in South Africa’s leaders’ summit.”
The remark came as a first contingent of 49 Afrikaners were en route to the US to take up Trump’s offer of special refugee status, extended for alleged racial persecution that he has stated as a reason for snubbing the summit.
“We have to reiterate that from the perspective of the South African government, in terms of the executive orders that have defined the South Africans as refugees, we have stated in the statement we issued on Friday that in line with the international definition, they do not qualify for that status,” Lamola said.
“There is no persecution of white Afrikaner South Africans in South Africa. This has been proven by a number of statistics in our country, including the police reports, which don’t back that assertion of persecution.”
He said violent crime in South Africa affected everyone, irrespective of their race.
“We are glad that a number of organisations, even from Afrikaner structures, have denounced this so-called persecution.”
Lamola said the government encouraged more such discussions to clarify “on the world stage this disinformation that has now taken root”.
He noted that Washington opted to be represented by the charge d’affaires of the local embassy at earlier key meetings of the G20, including the meeting of foreign ministers in February.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio snubbed that meeting for the stated reason that the government was seizing private land, a charge that has been made by Afrikaner pressure groups and taken up enthusiastically by right-wing commentators in the US, as well as the Trump administration.
Lamola noted that there had been some improvement in US engagement in the G20 in that the US secretary treasury, Scott Bessent, met South African officials during a second meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington in late April.
He said it was still a long way from November “and a number of discussions will be ensuing”.
“The G20 process consists of 130 meetings, the whole year, and we participate with a number of countries and the US also participates and leading to that summit, we will as South Africa hand over to the United States.
“One would hope that it will all happen seamlessly and in an ordinary and well-managed manner. So one will see how this whole process will all end up, “he added.