🔗 Share this article South Africa's President Brings to a Close G20 Summit Amid US Boycott and Handover Dispute South African President Cyril Ramaphosa officially closed the Group of Twenty meeting in Johannesburg by banging a ceremonial hammer, after rejecting a US proposal for him to hand over duties to a relatively junior embassy official for the upcoming gathering in Florida. Summit Marred by US Boycott South Africa presented the two-day event as a triumph for multilateralism, but it was overshadowed by a withdrawal of the United States, which has repeatedly accused South Africa of discriminating against white-minority Afrikaners—a claim that has been widely discredited. “We have gathered in the face of major obstacles and shown our capacity to come together, even in times of great difficulty, to pursue a better world,” the president declared in his final address. Wrapping up his speech, he noted: “This gavel of this G20 summit officially concludes 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.” It represented Ramaphosa’s only mention of the nation absent from the gathering of the world’s largest economies. Summit Communique Focuses On Global Warming and Gender Equality The G20 issued a declaration on Saturday stressing the importance to address environmental crises and achieve “gender equality.” The Trump government had pulled out of the Paris environmental accord on the initial day of his new mandate and has overturned numerous measures aimed at combating discrimination based on gender, race, and sexual orientation. White House Response US administration representative Anna Kelly accused Ramaphosa of “declining to enable a smooth transition of the G20 presidency.” “This, combined with South Africa’s push to issue a G20 leaders’ declaration, notwithstanding repeated and strong American opposition, highlights the reality that they have weaponised their G20 presidency to weaken the group’s core values,” she remarked. Handover Protocol Disagreement South Africa had offered to arrange for an similarly ranked official to officially transfer the G20 presidency to the US at the foreign ministry. Authorities explained it would violate procedure for Ramaphosa to give it to the US acting ambassador. South Africa’s foreign minister, Ronald Lamola, told reporters: “We have done our part. We are done. The decision is theirs. If they want to come, we are available.” Future Summit and Additional Absences The 2026 summit is set to occur at the Trump National Doral Miami golfing facility, which is owned by the Trump Organization. Argentina, whose president Javier Milei did not attend, also refused to endorse the declaration. Its foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, said: “In particular, it deals with the longstanding Middle East conflict in a manner that does not fully reflect its entire intricacy.” The G20 document read: “We are committed for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ukraine, as well as ending other conflicts and wars around the globe.” G20 Background The G20 was established following the Asian economic turmoil in 1999, with 19 nations and the European Union. The AU was added in 2023. The Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum were also absent from the summit. Putin is wanted 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.