South Africans Welcome US Secretary of State’s Decision Not To Attend G20 Summit in South Africa

• The United States of America's Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that he will not attend the G20 Summit on behalf of the United States
• He accused South Africa of expropriating private property and using the G20 summit to promote solidarity, equality and sustainability
• South Africans welcomed his decision and many called on him not to set foot in South Africa

Tebogo Mokwena, affiliated with Briefly News, provided local and international political analysis and interviews in South Africa for Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News during his nine years of experience.

JOHANNESBURG — South Africans were unmoved by the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio's decision not to attend the G20 Summit. His decision came after US President Donald Trump announced that he would cut all aid for South Africa.

What did Rubio say?

Rubio tweeted on his @SecRubio X account that he would not attend the G20 summit hosted in Johannesburg in November 2025. He slammed the South African government and echoed Trump's earlier statements, leading to him pausing South Africa's aid.

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"South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. using G20 to promote solidarity, equality and sustainability. In other words: DEI and climate change."

Read the X tweet here:

What you need to know about the US and SA

• Donald Trump lifted the aid ban that he imposed on low-income countries, including South Africa
• President Cyril Ramaphosa responded to the claims Trump made about the government expropriating land from
• Afriforum called on the United States government to punish the African National Congress and not the entire country

South Africans comment

Netizens shared their views on Rubio's tweet.

Neil Higgs said:

"Dear sir. I regret to advise you that you are grievously misinformed."

Lunathi Kilani said:

"Let's be real. This has nothing to do with our Expropriation Bill which is the Act now that President Ramaphosa signed. This is just a gift to Benjamin Netanyahu— plain and simple. It's payback for our principled stance against the genocidal crimes committed by Netanyahu and Israel."

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Malume said:

"South Africa should lose the US embassy and all its consulates."

Maredi Mphahlele said:

"This has nothing to do with RSA. The USA never wants to sit at a table with peer equals."

Julius Malema defends Expropriation after Trump's threats

In a related article, Briefly News reported that Economic Freedom Fighters president Julius Malema defended expropriation without compensation. This was after Donald Trump said he was cutting aid to SA because of the Expropriation Act.

Malema asserted that expropriating land without compensation would proceed, and no threats from the United States would prevent the process. South Africans trolled him.

Source: Briefly News