Cyril Ramaphosa Wraps Up G20 Summit Amid American Withdrawal and Handover Dispute
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa formally concluded the Group of Twenty meeting in Johannesburg by striking a gavel, following his refusal of a American suggestion for him to transfer authority to a relatively junior embassy official for the upcoming gathering in Florida.
Event Overshadowed by US Boycott
South Africa presented the 48-hour conference as a triumph for multilateralism, but it was overshadowed by a boycott by the US, which has repeatedly accused South Africa of showing bias toward white-minority Afrikaners—a claim that has been widely discredited.
“We’ve met in the face of significant challenges and shown our capacity to unite, even in periods of hardship, to strive for global improvement,” Ramaphosa stated in his final address.
Wrapping up his speech, he noted: “This ceremonial hammer of this G20 summit officially concludes this summit and now moves on 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.
Summit Communique Highlights Global Warming and Gender Equality
The G20 released a statement on Saturday stressing the importance to tackle climate change and achieve “gender equality.” The Trump government had pulled out of the Paris climate agreement on the initial day of his new mandate and has reversed many policies aimed at combating sexism, racism and homophobia.
US Administration Reaction
US administration representative Anna Kelly accused Ramaphosa of “refusing to facilitate a seamless handover of the G20 presidency.”
“This, coupled with South Africa’s push to issue a G20 summit statement, notwithstanding repeated and robust US objections, underscores the fact that they have weaponised their G20 presidency to undermine the G20’s founding principles,” she remarked.
Transition Procedure Disagreement
South Africa had proposed to organize for an similarly ranked official to formally hand the G20 presidency to the US at the foreign ministry. Authorities explained it would breach protocol for Ramaphosa to pass it to the US acting ambassador.
South Africa’s foreign minister, Ronald Lamola, informed the press: “We have done our part. We are done. It’s up to them. Should they choose to engage, we are ready.”
Upcoming Gathering and Additional Absences
The 2026 conference is set to occur at the Trump-owned Doral Miami golf resort, which is under Trump corporate ownership.
Argentina, whose president Javier Milei skipped the summit, also declined to support the declaration. Its diplomatic chief, Pablo Quirno, commented: “Specifically it addresses the protracted Middle Eastern dispute in a manner that fails to capture its full complexity.”
The G20 communique stated: “We will work for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine, as well as resolving additional disputes and wars around the globe.”
Group of Twenty History
The G20 was established following the Asian economic turmoil in 1999, with 19 nations and the European Union. 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 international criminal court, to which South Africa is a member state. The Chinese president has assigned participation in numerous global events this year to China’s prime minister, Li Qiang.