South Africa Marks US Absent, Blocks Embassy's Bid to Attend G20 Closing Ceremony

• The South African government has announced that the United States will be barred from attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit
• This comes after the United States decided to send a chargé d'affaires to formally receive the G20 presidency from South Africa
• South Africa regards the G20 presidency handover as a major ceremonial moment requiring high-level representation

South Africa has made it clear that the United States will not be permitted to participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit if it insists on sending only its embassy’s chargé d'affaires to accept the presidency gavel from President Cyril Ramaphosa.

US representatives would not attend

Addressing reporters at the summit in Johannesburg on Saturday, 22 November, Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, indicated that the United States would not be attending. He explained that the government had already communicated its stance, stressing that Washington's proposal amounted to a protocol violation. According to Magwenya, it would be inappropriate for a head of state to hand over the G20 presidency to a junior embassy official, given the significance of the forum and the ceremony. He said such a situation had never occurred before in the history of the G20, and South Africa was not prepared to allow it to happen for the first time under its watch.

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He further pointed out that, in diplomatic terms, a chargé d'affaires is regarded as the lowest-ranking head of mission, typically appointed only when a country does not have an ambassador in place. Unlike ambassadors or ministers, chargés d'affaires do not present credentials to a host head of state and are generally seen as temporary or junior-level representatives.

Magwenya said this was precisely why South Africa was concerned, as the G20 presidency handover is considered a high-level ceremonial moment. The Government believed that the US was effectively downgrading its participation by choosing to send a chargé d'affaires to lead its delegation.

United States marked absent

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) spokesperson Chrispin Phiri told journalists at the Nasrec Expo Centre that the department had formally recorded the United States as absent from the G20 Summit. He explained that the US would not be attending the event and that DIRCO had already marked its delegation as absent, noting that the summit would proceed with the focus on participating nations.

DIRCO indicated that the government's priority was on the countries present at the summit, noting that the global community was well represented in Johannesburg. Officials stressed that the absence of certain nations would not detract from the agenda.

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3 More stories about the G20 summit

• Briefly News also reported that the United States of America's protest against attending the G20 Summit is the result of the tensions between the two countries. Trump has accused the South African government of white genocide and seizing white South Africans' farms.
• Agriculture Minister and Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has backed President Cyril Ramaphosa.
• An alleged hijacker in Johannesburg who targeted the official G20 vehicle was shot on Friday, 21 November 2025.

Proofreading by Roxanne Dos Ramos, copy editor at Briefly.co.za.

Source: Briefly News