The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has again stirred controversy with new comments targeting South Africa. While speaking to journalists in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Salman, Trump claimed that South Africa has “Acted Wrongly” and accused the country of “exterminating people.” His remarks have sparked reactions across diplomatic circles, especially as both countries prepare for the upcoming G20 summit.
Trump was responding to a question from reporters about the forced relocation flights taking Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa. Instead of addressing the concerns raised in the question, he turned his attention to South Africa’s government, criticising its policies and accusing it of genocide—claims that experts and officials have repeatedly dismissed as false.
The US president went further to announce that he would not attend the G20 Leaders’ Summit scheduled to take place in South Africa. He insisted that his decision was based on what he described as South Africa’s “extermination policies,” comments that echo previous claims he has made since returning to the White House in January.
“I’m not going to South Africa for the G20 because I think their policies on the extermination of people are unacceptable. So I’m not going. South Africa has behaved extremely badly,” Trump told journalists.
The South African government has previously dismissed similar claims, saying they are not backed by facts. President Cyril Ramaphosa, speaking earlier this week in Cape Town, responded calmly to concerns about Trump’s planned boycott. He said the G20 Summit would continue successfully even without the participation of the United States.
“We will take fundamental decisions and their absence is their loss,” Ramaphosa told reporters. He added that the United States risks giving up “the very important role” it plays as the world’s largest economy by refusing to attend such international meetings.
Trump also announced that no American official would travel to South Africa for the summit. He accused the country of committing genocide against white Afrikaners, a claim that many international organisations, researchers, and human rights bodies have repeatedly described as incorrect and misleading. Earlier this year, Trump introduced a special refugee programme targeting Afrikaners, claiming they were unsafe in South Africa. In May, the first batch of about 50 Afrikaners arrived in the US on a chartered flight.
The South African government strongly criticised Washington’s decision to prioritise refugee applications from white South Africans. In October, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) spoke out against the move. Its spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, said the US decision was based on narratives that have been widely debunked.
Phiri added that the claim of “white genocide” in South Africa “is widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence,” warning that such policies disregard South Africa’s constitutional system and undermine legitimate immigration processes.
This is not the first time Trump has directed harsh words at South Africa. Earlier in the year, he confronted Ramaphosa in the Oval Office and showed him a video suggesting that the South African government was persecuting white farmers—a video critics said was misleading and taken out of context.
The Trump administration later released a document indicating that the US refugee system would remain largely closed in 2026, despite millions of people around the world living in dangerous conditions and hoping for asylum. However, the policy created special space for white Afrikaners, a decision South Africa described as unfair, discriminatory, and based on inaccurate information.
South Africa and the US have also clashed over Pretoria’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The South African government has maintained that it filed the case to protect human rights and uphold international law, while the Trump administration criticised the move.
As the diplomatic tension continues, analysts say relations between the two countries may face more pressure in the coming months, especially with global attention on the G20 summit. For now, South Africa insists it will not be distracted and will continue preparing to host world leaders—whether or not the United States attends.
