Leaders from the world’s largest economies gathered Saturday in Johannesburg for the Group of 20 summit, the first ever hosted on African soil and a landmark moment for the continent even as a U.S. boycott over disputed land policies dominated headlines.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa opened the two-day meeting at the Nasrec Expo Centre by stressing solidarity among developing nations and the urgent need for reform of global financial systems. The summit ends Sunday, when South Africa is scheduled to hand the G20 presidency to the United States — an exchange Ramaphosa has said may take place with an empty chair representing Washington.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced this month that no American officials would attend, citing what he called “large-scale killing” of white farmers and alleged discrimination against South Africa’s white minority. Experts, South African officials and fact-checking organisations have repeatedly debunked claims of a “white genocide,” noting that farm attacks, while serious, are part of broader crime patterns and do not target any single racial group.
Despite the absence of the U.S. delegation, more than 35 heads of state and government were present, along with representatives from 42 countries and international organisations, according to South African officials.
What is the G20?
The Group of 20, established in 1999 and elevated to leaders-level meetings after the 2008 financial crisis, comprises 19 countries plus the European Union and, since 2023, the African Union. The bloc accounts for about 85% of global gross domestic product and two-thirds of the world’s population.
South Africa assumed the rotating presidency on 1 December 2024, under the theme “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability.” Pretoria has used its yearlong tenure to push priorities important to the Global South: increased climate finance, debt relief for low-income countries, reform of multilateral lenders and fairer terms for critical-minerals supply chains.
How will success be measured?
Analysts said the summit’s success would be measured less by attendance than by whether those issues gain traction in future negotiations.
“This G20 has put real African and Global South concerns at the centre of the agenda,” said William Gumede, chairman of the Democracy Works Foundation in Johannesburg. “The U.S. boycott is regrettable, but it does not erase the substantive work being done.”
Delegates adopted a leaders’ declaration Saturday that reaffirmed commitments to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, called for scaled-up climate finance and urged faster progress on reform of the international financial architecture.
Who attended and who stayed away?
Notable attendees included Chinese Premier Li Qiang, French President Emmanuel Macron, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Several leaders stayed away for various reasons. Russian President Vladimir Putin, the subject of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant over Ukraine, sent a deputy. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Argentine President Javier Milei also opted out, dispatching lower-ranking officials. Nigerian President Bola Tinubu cancelled after a mass school kidnapping, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum cited scheduling conflicts.
Johannesburg on lockdown
Johannesburg was transformed for the event. Bright floral displays lined motorcade routes from OR Tambo International Airport, and giant G20 banners featuring world leaders fluttered at the venue. More than 3,500 additional police officers were deployed, with the military on standby.
Ramaphosa made headlines earlier in the week when he rolled up his sleeves in overalls to help clean streets in Soweto, a gesture meant to signal national pride.
But the lavish preparations drew criticism amid South Africa’s stubborn economic woes — 32.9% unemployment in the second quarter, youth joblessness above 60% and electricity blackouts that continue to hamper growth.
Protests highlight domestic anger
Thousands of women heeded a call from advocacy groups Friday to wear black and stage a 15-minute “lie-down” at noon to highlight gender-based violence. Official statistics show a woman is killed by an intimate partner every four hours in South Africa — among the highest rates worldwide.
Climate activists held a parallel “People’s Summit” criticising the G20 as a club of the wealthy. A small far-right Afrikaner group staged demonstrations echoing Trump’s rhetoric on land reform.
Roots of the U.S. boycott
The U.S. boycott stemmed from a long-running dispute over South Africa’s land expropriation law, signed in July, which allows seizure of property without compensation in limited circumstances to address apartheid-era disparities. White South Africans still own roughly 70% of privately held farmland three decades after democracy.
Trump has repeatedly amplified discredited claims of systematic violence against white farmers, a narrative popular in some far-right circles but rejected by South African courts, mainstream Afrikaner organisations and independent researchers.
In May, during a tense Oval Office meeting, Ramaphosa showed Trump police data indicating farm murders affect both Black and white victims and represent a tiny fraction of the country’s overall homicide rate — more than 27,000 last year.
The U.S. president nonetheless cut bilateral aid in February and, on 8 November, declared on Truth Social that no American official would travel to Johannesburg.
White House officials later clarified that a low-level diplomat would attend only the brief handover ceremony Sunday.
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola downplayed the snub, saying the summit’s high turnout — including the EU’s top officials and the U.N. secretary-general — demonstrated broad support.
Africa’s moment on the global stage
For many Africans, the gathering evoked memories of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the last time South Africa hosted a global mega-event. Beyond symbolism, analysts said a strong communiqué could bolster momentum for Global South demands at upcoming talks on climate finance in 2026 and World Bank/IMF governance reform.
As delegates negotiated into the night Saturday, the Johannesburg summit served as a vivid reminder that in an increasingly multipolar world, no single power — not even the United States — can dictate the terms of global cooperation.
