Total disgrace... Afrikaners are being slaughtered: Trump confirms US boycott of South Africa-hosted G20

US President Donald Trump on Friday said no US government officials would attend the Group of 20 summit, which is scheduled to take place this year in South Africa. Trump cited the treatment of white farmers in the country as a reason behind the boycott.

The American leader has previously announced that he would not attend the international event for the same reason. Initially, it was reported that US Vice President JD Vance would be attending the leaders’ summit in Trump’s place. However, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that Vance’s plan was scratched and there will be no American representation at the summit.

“It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa,” Trump said on his social media site. In his post, Trump cited “abuses” of Afrikaners, including violence and death, as well as confiscation of their land and farms.

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The Trump administration’s ire against South Africa

It is pertinent to note that the Trump administration has long accused the South African government of allowing minority white Afrikaner farmers to be persecuted and attacked. Earlier this year, the US restricted the number of refugees admitted annually to the US to 7,500, the administration indicating that most will be white South Africans who claimed to face discrimination at home.

However, the South African government rejected the accusations and maintained that white people in the country generally have a much higher standard of living than its Black residents, even after more than three decades after the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule.

The country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said that he told Trump that the information about the alleged discrimination and persecution of Afrikaners is “completely false”. Despite this, the Trump administration has kept up with its criticisms of the South African government. Earlier this week, during an economic speech in Miami, Trump said South Africa should be thrown out of the Group of 20.

Earlier this year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio boycotted a G20 meeting for foreign ministers because its agenda focused on diversity, inclusion and climate change efforts.

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