South Africa has rejected sharp criticism from the Trump administration aimed at President Cyril Ramaphosa, with minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni defending the leader’s conduct during the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg.
Speaking to journalists outside the G20 Summit, Ntshavheni said South Africa would not be dragged into petty disputes.
“We are bigger than that, and President Ramaphosa has demonstrated to the world that he is a leader among leaders. He has got this T20 summit to be successful,” she said.
Her remarks came after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt accused Ramaphosa of “running his mouth” when the South African leader revealed that the US would participate in the summit despite an earlier announcing it would boycott the event.
“I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the US and the president of the US earlier today, and that language is not appreciated by the president [Donald Trump] or his team,” Leavitt said during a briefing on Thursday.
Ntshavheni highlighted South Africa’s diplomatic achievements at the summit, saying the country had surpassed Brazil’s previous efforts in social summit innovation and successfully pushed the African agenda to the top.
“Brazil had to consider that they innovated the social summit, but we did one better than them, and there’s consensus on all the things that have been retabled. We’ve pushed the African agenda to the top. If it was not because of the sterling leadership of President Ramaphosa,” she said.
Support for Ramaphosa came from a cross-section of South Africans online.
ANC MP, Khusela Diko said: “Ndirhalela ukuthi rhaaa, but that would be undiplomatic.”
University of Johannesburg professor Mlamuli Hlatshwayo called the White House comments “insulting and undiplomatic” and criticised the US for undervaluing global diplomacy.
ActionSA’s Zwelithini Mtshali said: “Despite my disagreements with Ramaphosa, any attack on his office I consider an attack on South Africa … South Africa is a sovereign state with a democratically elected government whose allegiance rests with its citizens.”
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed that the summit had successfully reached a consensus for the adoption of a G20 Leaders’ Summit declaration.
Speaking on the sidelines at the Nasrec Expo Centre, he explained the unusual scheduling of the adoption.
“[The declaration] has been adopted by the leaders here at the summit. We were edging closer and closer to that unanimous adoption, and now we have a summit declaration adopted … There was a sense that we should actually move to have the summit declaration adopted first as a first order of the day and then proceed with the rest of the day,” said Magwenya.
Magwenya also addressed reports that the US would send a junior embassy official for the G20 handover. He confirmed that South Africa would not breach protocol.
“The President will not hand over to a junior embassy official. It’s a breach of protocol that is not going to be accommodated or allowed in this instance. It is a position of principle. America chose to boycott the summit. That is their choice and that’s their prerogative to do so. But what cannot happen is a breach of protocol being forced,” said Magwenya.
He reiterated South Africa’s commitment to respectful diplomatic engagement, particularly with the US.
“We are a sovereign country. We will always engage with other countries in a respectful and considerate manner as we have always done, particularly with the US, considering all the challenges that we’ve faced in trying to reset that relationship,” he said.
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