Reserve Bank Governor sends a warning to the United States

South Africa’s Reserve Bank governor warned that the US move to exclude the country from the Group of 20 next year was placing the international gathering at risk.

South Africa has been a member of the bloc since its formation in 1999 and “I cannot think of one country that got told that they cannot come to G-20,” not even sanctioned Russia, Lesetja Kganyago said at a media lunch in Johannesburg on Friday.

President Donald Trump announced this week that he won’t invite South Africa — this year’s G-20 president — to attend next year’s summit in Miami, which the US will lead when it assumes the group’s presidency on 1 December.

Kganyago said that if South Africa is dropped in 2026, it would set a damaging precedent that could see other countries omitted in the future. “The G-20 does not work like that. It’s a consensus forum,” the governor said.

Trump’s announcement reflects his broader beef with South Africa, which he has repeatedly accused, without evidence, of overseeing “genocide” against white South Africans. The US also boycotted last weekend’s G-20 summit in Johannesburg and criticized the country’s handling of the event.

The move to exclude South Africa has raised concerns among other members of the bloc. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Thursday that the G-20 remains “one of the most important multilateral forums we still have.”

It’s not clear how the US might enforce Trump’s ban on South Africa or any other nation’s participation, although presumably the State Department wouldn’t issue visas to officials seeking to attend.

Still, Kganyago said the situation remains fluid and could shift as quickly as Trump’s tariff threats. “There are so many moving parts,” he said. “You are going to see a lot of political posturing and there will surely be a climb-down.”