Top US diplomat Rubio will not attend G-20 meeting in South Africa
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The news of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio skipping the meeting comes days after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off funding to South Africa.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend an upcoming G-20 meeting in South Africa, the top American diplomat said on Feb 5, days after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off funding to the African country.
South Africa will host a meeting of foreign ministers of the G-20 group of countries on Feb 20 and 21 in Johannesburg. It has the G-20 presidency from December 2024 to November 2025.
Mr Trump said on Feb 2, without citing evidence, that “South Africa is confiscating land” and “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly”. He said he would cut funding until the matter was investigated.
President Cyril Ramaphosa defended South Africa’s land policy after Mr Trump’s threat, saying the government had not confiscated any land and the policy was aimed at ensuring equitable public access to land.
“South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote solidarity, equality, and sustainability. In other words: DEI and climate change,” Mr Rubio said in his post on X, without giving details.
South Africa’s foreign ministry said in response to Mr Rubio’s post that “there is no arbitrary dispossession of land / private property. This law is similar to the Eminent domain laws.”
Mr Trump has complained about South Africa’s land policy.
South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who is close to Mr Trump, also accused South Africa, without evidence, of having “openly racist ownership laws”, suggesting white people were the victims.
The question of land ownership is highly politically charged in South Africa due to the legacy of the colonial and apartheid eras when Black people were dispossessed of their lands and denied property rights.
White landowners still possess three quarters of South Africa’s freehold farmland. This contrasts with 4 per cent owned by black people, who make up 80 per cent of the population compared with about 8 per cent for whites, according to the latest 2017 land audit.
Partly in an effort to redress this imbalance, Mr Ramaphosa in January signed a law allowing the state to expropriate land “in the public interest”.
The Trump administration has attempted to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion programmes across the US government.
Rights groups say DEI programmes help deal with inequities faced by marginalised groups. Mr Trump calls DEI anti-merit. REUTERS
