Tussle between US & South Africa disrupts G20 presidency handover process – Firstpost

The White House said on Saturday that South Africa is refusing to smoothly transfer its presidency of the G20 to the US. The accusation from Washington came as the South African Foreign Ministry said it would hand over the presidency to the US at the “appropriate level”.

Soon after this claim, the G20 issued a joint declaration on the climate crisis, ignoring US objection to it. On Saturday, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had insisted on issuing a G20 leaders’ declaration addressing the climate crisis and other global challenges “despite persistent and strong US objections.”

He said US President Donald Trump was hoping to “restore the legitimacy of the G20 with the US hosting the 2026 year”. Earlier, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said at a press conference on the sidelines of the summit that the US wanted to implement the handover through its embassy charge d’affaires in South Africa.

handover issue

Lamola stressed that the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Department of International Relations and Cooperation, or DIRCO) “wants to distinguish between the handover and the discussions currently taking place” at the summit, which was attended by a number of leaders and their appropriately designated officials.

He clarified that the handover should occur at the head of state level, or at least by a minister “appropriately designated by the President of the United States.” “So now that they have handed over a charge, we have said that DIRCO has equivalent officers in charge, so… we will hand over the charge… at the DIRCO offices any time from Monday.”

Lamola said this “cannot in any way strain relations” as it would be done at the appropriate level. He said, “We will give him equal respect by assuring that the person who… hands over is appropriate, equal, equal to the charge. The only thing we have said is that our President cannot hand over the charge d’affaires at a leaders’ summit with so many heads of state present.”

Relations between the United States and Pretoria have seen considerable tensions since Trump’s return to office. Relations hit an all-time low after the Trump administration alleged that white South Africans were facing discrimination. Established in 1999, the G20 comprises 19 countries and two regional bodies – the European Union and the African Union.

With inputs from agencies.