The United States put pressure on France to disinvite the South African president to the G7 summit in the French town of Evian in June, the South African presidency told AFP Thursday.
It marks the latest episode after months of fractured ties over a range of issues, from South Africa’s genocide case against US ally Israel to President Donald Trump’s disputed claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted.
“We’ve learnt that due to sustained pressure, France has had to withdraw its invitation to South Africa to attend the G7 meeting,” Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson to the president, told AFP.
“We are told that the Americans threatened to boycott the G7 if South Africa was invited,” he said.
“So, South Africa will not be participating in this G7 meeting,” he added.
Trump has clashed repeatedly with the South African government, hitting the country with high tariffs, berating Ramaphosa in the Oval Office over discredited claims of a “white genocide” and boycotting a G20 summit in Johannesburg in November.
Trump slapped 30-percent tariffs last year on most South African exports — the highest for sub-Saharan Africa. The US Supreme Court has since overruled Trump’s tariff policy.
The US president has also criticised South Africa’s racial justice policies, enacted to address historic inequalities left by the legacy of colonial rule and apartheid but condemned by the American leader as discriminatory against whites.
The Trump administration has additionally clashed with Ramaphosa’s government over South Africa taking Israel to the International Court of Justice for allegedly committing genocide in its war in Gaza.
Since snubbing last year’s G20 summit, South Africa has been excluded from the work of the group, for which Washington holds the rotating presidency this year.
It was during that G20 in South Africa that French President Emmanuel Macron personally invited Ramaphosa to take part in the G7, Pretoria recalled.
The Group of Seven industrialised nations often widens its work to other invited countries such as this year Brazil, India and South Korea. South Africa was invited in this way to the G7 organised by Canada in 2025.
“This will have no impact on the strength and close nature of our bilateral relationship with France,” the presidency spokesperson said.
“Notwithstanding all of these developments, South Africa remains committed to engage constructively with the US,” he said.
“The diplomatic relationship between USA and South Africa predates the Trump administration and they will outlive the current White House term of office.”
– New ambassador to US –
Pretoria earlier this month summoned the new US ambassador to explain “undiplomatic remarks” about South African racial policies and court decisions.
In his first public address, conservative envoy Brent Bozell labelled an apartheid-era chant “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer” as “hate speech” and criticised policies meant to empower black South Africans.
While controversial in South Africa, courts have ruled it does not constitute hate speech and should be considered in the context of the struggle against white-minority rule that ended in 1994.
The new ambassador appeared to later backtrack, saying the US government respected the independence and findings of South Africa’s judiciary.
Washington in March last year expelled Pretoria’s ambassador Ebrahim Rasool after he criticised Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
A replacement has yet to be named.
On Thursday, the presidency spokesperson said Ramaphosa was “getting closer to appointing the South African ambassador to the US who will form part of the team that’s currently engaging with US counterparts”.
AFP
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