🔗 Share this article

The leader of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa officially closed the Group of Twenty meeting in Johannesburg by striking a gavel, after rejecting a US proposal for him to transfer authority to a lower-ranking embassy official for the upcoming gathering in Florida.

Event Overshadowed by American Absence

The host nation portrayed the two-day event as a triumph for multilateralism, but it was diminished by a withdrawal of the United States, which has consistently alleged South Africa of showing bias toward white-minority Afrikaners—a claim that has been widely discredited.

“We’ve met in the face of major obstacles and demonstrated our ability to come together, even in times of great difficulty, to pursue a better world,” Ramaphosa stated in his closing speech.

Concluding his remarks, he announced: “This gavel 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.” This was Ramaphosa’s sole reference of the nation absent from the assembly of major global powers.

Summit Communique Focuses On Climate Change and Equal Rights

The G20 issued a declaration on Saturday stressing the importance to tackle climate change and achieve “equal opportunities for all genders.” The Trump government had withdrawn from the Paris environmental accord on the first day of his second term and has reversed many policies aimed at combating discrimination based on gender, race, and sexual orientation.

US Administration Reaction

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly claimed the president of “refusing to facilitate a seamless handover of the G20 presidency.”

“This, coupled with South Africa’s effort to release a G20 leaders’ declaration, notwithstanding repeated and robust US objections, highlights the reality that they have weaponised their G20 presidency to weaken the group’s core values,” she remarked.

Handover Protocol Controversy

South Africa had offered to arrange for an equivalent “junior” diplomat to formally hand the G20 presidency to the US at the foreign ministry. Officials had stated it would violate procedure for Ramaphosa to pass it to the US interim envoy.

South Africa’s foreign minister, Ronald Lamola, told reporters: “We have done our part. We are done. The decision is theirs. Should they choose to engage, we are ready.”

Future Summit and Additional Absences

The 2026 conference is scheduled to take place at the Trump-owned Doral Miami golfing facility, which is owned by the Trump Organization.

Argentina, whose president Javier Milei did not attend, also declined to support the declaration. Its foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, commented: “In particular, it deals with the longstanding Middle East conflict in a manner that fails to capture its entire intricacy.”

The G20 document read: “We will work for a fair, inclusive, and enduring resolution in Sudan and the DRC, the Palestinian territories, Ukraine, as well as resolving additional disputes and global hostilities.”

G20 Background

The G20 was founded in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in 1999, with 19 nations and the European Union. The AU was incorporated last year.

The Russian leader Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and Mexico's leader Claudia Sheinbaum were also absent from the summit. The Russian president faces an arrest warrant by the ICC, to which South Africa is a signatory. The Chinese president has assigned attending many international gatherings this year to China’s prime minister, Li Qiang.