US President Donald Trump said on Friday that no US government official will attend the Group of 20 (G20) summit in South Africa later this month, citing what he described as "human rights abuses" occurring in the country. "It is an absolute disgrace that the G20 Summit is being held in South Africa," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. "The Afrikaners (people descended from Dutch settlers, as well as French and German immigrants) are being slaughtered and killed, and their lands and farms are being illegally confiscated." "No American Government Official will be attending as long as these Human Rights abuses continue," Trump added. "I look forward to hosting the G20 for 2026 in Miami, Florida." A source familiar with the matter said that US Vice President J.D. Vance, who had been expected to attend the leaders' meeting in Johannesburg on 22-23 November, will no longer be participating. Trump had previously ruled out his own attendance in July, saying at the time that he would send another US representative. The Trump administration has long accused the South African government of allowing the persecution of and attacks on the country's white Afrikaner minority farmers. While the administration has reduced the annual refugee intake to the United States to just 7,500 people, it has indicated that most of those admitted would be white South Africans who, it claims, face discrimination and violence in their homeland. The South African government has said it was surprised by the accusations, noting that the country's white population generally enjoys a much higher standard of living than its black citizens, more than three decades after the end of the apartheid system. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said he told Trump that the information regarding the alleged discrimination and persecution of Afrikaners was "totally false," according to the Associated Press. Nevertheless, the US administration has continued its criticism. Earlier this week, Trump said in a speech in Miami that South Africa should be expelled from the G20. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also boycotted a G20 foreign ministers' meeting earlier this year because its agenda focused on diversity, inclusion, and climate change efforts. Trump has objected to South Africa's domestic and foreign policies, from its land reform policy to its case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. The United States is scheduled to take over the G20 presidency from South Africa.
