Why South Africans Are Protesting the G-20

Just hours after telling journalists that “no country can be allowed to bully another” in reference to the U.S. boycott of the G-20 summit in Johannesburg this weekend, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced at a later press conference that the U.S. may attend after all, after extended negotiations between the two governments. The White House press secretary then shot down the claim, saying the U.S. would only send its acting ambassador to the closing ceremony, and accused Ramaphosa of “running his mouth.” Ramaphosa seems determined to accommodate the Trump Administration after months of antagonism and slander from the White House over a so-called “white genocide” against the white Afrikaner minority population. In May, the Oval Office showdown between Trump and Ramaphosa’s delegation—who attempted to correct the U.S. President’s claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted—was difficult viewing for many South Africans. Read More: Why South Africa Is Torn Over the Trump-Ramaphosa Showdown We watched our President sit through a barrage of conspiratorial and racially charged accusations, as he responded carefully to avoid the looming threat of economic tariffs. The encounter was a painful reminder that despite our founding membership in the BRICS, a bloc meant to disrupt colonial hierarchies between the so-called “first” and “third” worlds, the old geopolitical order will not shift easily. After the meeting, South African and global media widely debunked the white genocide claim, publishing statistics that show that while South Africa does have some of the highest rates of robbery and murder worldwide, problem transcends race and impacts all of us. In fact, it is poor black women who bear the brunt of violence in the country. South Africa is often referred to as the rape and femicide capital of the world, where 15 women are murdered everyday and 117 report cases of rape, according to police statistics. But the White House was undeterred, hitting South Africa with a 30% tariff on all exports, and declaring that they are boycotting the G-20 because of the widely rejected claims that the country is persecuting white Afrikaners. Six months ago South Africans were largely united behind Ramaphosa and sympathetic to the awkward position he found himself in when facing down Trump on his home turf. We were already feeling the impacts of the funding cuts to U.S.A.I.D. made by Elon Musk’s DOGE, with thousands of patients losing access to HIV/AIDS treatment. Ramaphosa had to balance the need to show diplomatic muscle with the impact of his words and actions on real lives. Now the climate of the G-20 is much more divided, with public sentiment turned against Ramaphosa and his government. Distrust of state institutions is at an all-time high, weeks into the Madlanga Commission, a high-level inquiry on allegations that top politicians and police officials were interfering in police investigations in the interests of crime syndicates. Among those named is a lobbyist aligned with Ramaphosa’s 2017 presidential campaign and a family member of the president’s ex-wife. Residents of G-20 host city Johannesburg, who have had to contend with poor service delivery during a years-long governance crisis, have watched longstanding issues like potholes, broken streetlights, and illegal dumping addressed seemingly overnight in preparation for the arrival of global dignitaties. South Africans feel ignored and neglected, and that their needs are not as publicized or urgently attended to as the demands of international diplomacy. South Africa chose the themes of “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” for the summit and its G-20 presidency. It is a sensible choice for a country that is the most unequal in the world. But in the current climate of state malfeasance, poverty, and violence, many South Africans fear that precious resources and attention have been diverted to the G-20 at the expense of ordinary South Africans. On the day that Ramaphosa declared that South Africa will resists attempts by Western nations to bully African countries, he was at a G-20 social summit in the city of Boksburg, east of Johannesburg. I happened to be there too, but away from the fanfare of the global summit. I was on the side of the road, under a bridge at the spot where 31-year-old Gaby Ndaba was found dead in June 2023. Her family was preparing to stage a protest at that site today, to call attention to her unsolved murder case, and the thousands of other South African women who have been victims of femicide and gender-based violence. They hope to take advantage of the world’s attention on South Africa to wrestle attention back from Trump’s lies and distractions, to the real victims of violence in South Africa.