United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stated he’ll skip Group of 20 (G20) talks in South Africa amid an escalating spat between Washington and Pretoria over a controversial land expropriation regulation.
Rubio’s announcement on Wednesday got here days after US President Donald Trump threatened to chop assist to South Africa over its passage of laws permitting the seizure of land with out compensation in sure circumstances.
South Africa, which holds the G20 presidency till November 2025, is ready to host a gathering of international ministers from February 20-21 in Johannesburg.
“South Africa is doing very unhealthy issues. Expropriating personal property. Utilizing G20 to advertise ‘solidarity, equality, [and] sustainability.’ In different phrases: DEI and local weather change,” Rubio stated in a put up on X.
“My job is to advance America’s nationwide pursuits, not waste taxpayer cash or coddle anti-Americanism.”
I’ll NOT attend the G20 summit in Johannesburg.
South Africa is doing very unhealthy issues. Expropriating personal property. Utilizing G20 to advertise “solidarity, equality, & sustainability.” In different phrases: DEI and local weather change.
My job is to advance America’s nationwide pursuits, not…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) February 5, 2025
Rubio’s announcement was greeted with dismay by critics of the Trump administration.
“This present of weak point hurts our nationwide safety and economic system whereas benefiting China,” Andrew Bates, who served as White Home senior deputy press secretary underneath the administration of former US President Joe Biden, stated in a put up on X.
“If you happen to’re not on the desk, you’re on the menu.”
Ian Chong, an affiliate professor of worldwide relations on the Nationwide College of Singapore, stated Rubio’s announcement aligned with the Republican Get together’s distrust of multilateral worldwide establishments within the Trump period.
“The world just lately noticed the Trump administration withdraw from the Paris Local weather Accords, World Well being Group, and withhold funding for sure organisations within the UN system,” Chong informed Al Jazeera.
“Rubio not attending the G20 is according to this pattern. Be aware that in Trump’s first time period, america withheld appointments to the appeals physique of the World Commerce Group. That successfully stalled the WTO appeals mechanism.”
On Monday, Trump accused the administration of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa of “confiscating land” and mistreating “sure lessons of individuals”, prompting a rebuttal from Pretoria.
Ramaphosa stated the regulation was not a “confiscation instrument” however a part of a “constitutionally mandated authorized course of” that will guarantee public entry to land in an “equitable and simply method”.
Underneath the regulation signed by Ramaphosa final month, the federal government could seize land with out compensation the place it’s “simply and equitable and within the public curiosity”, resembling in circumstances the place a property is unused, and the place it has been unable to succeed in an settlement with the proprietor.
Ramaphosa and his African Nationwide Congress have defended the laws as essential to alleviate enormous disparities in land possession stemming from the legacy of the racist system of apartheid.
The federal government has but to expropriate any land underneath the regulation.
The Democratic Alliance (DA), South Africa’s principal opposition occasion and a member of the ANC-led nationwide unity authorities, has opposed the regulation, warning that it undermines property rights and will scare off international funding.
Nevertheless, the DA, which attracts most of its assist from white, Indian and Colored (multiracial) South Africans, has expressed “deep concern” about Trump’s menace to chop assist and stated it’s a false impression that land could be seized “arbitrarily”.
Land possession is a delicate and polarising situation in South Africa because of the historical past of Black folks being pressured off their lands and denied entry to property.
Whereas Black South Africans make up greater than 80 p.c of the inhabitants, they personal simply 4 p.c of privately owned farmland, in accordance with a authorities audit carried out in 2017.
White South Africans, who’re principally descended from British and Dutch settlers, maintain about three-quarters of the land regardless of making up slightly greater than 7 p.c of the inhabitants
Trump’s menace to chop funding to the African nation comes as his administration has positioned a freeze on almost all international help and put most workers of the US Company for Worldwide Improvement (USAID) on administrative go away.
Washington allotted about $440m in help to South Africa in 2023, in accordance with the newest authorities knowledge.