President Donald Trump and President Cyril Ramaphosa. (file photo)

President Donald Trump said on Friday that no US government official will attend this year’s G-20 summit in South Africa. He attributed the reason behind this to the treatment being meted out to white farmers in South Africa.

Trump had already announced that he would not attend the annual summit of heads of state of the world’s leading and emerging economies. Vice President JD Vance was to attend in place of Trump, but now he will still not go there for the summit.

mistreatment of african people

Trump said on his social media site, it is completely shameful that the G-20 will be held in South Africa. In his post, Trump cited the mistreatment of African people, including violence and death as well as the confiscation of their land and farms.

facing discrimination and violence

The Trump administration has long accused the South African government of allowing minority white African farmers to be persecuted and attacked. However, it has limited the number of refugees admitted to the US each year. The administration has indicated that the majority of these are white South Africans who have faced discrimination and violence in their country.

standard of living of white people

The South African government has said that it is surprised by the allegations of discrimination, because the standard of living of white people in the country is generally much better than that of black residents. Whereas this happened more than three decades after the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule.

President Cyril Ramaphosa gave clarification

The country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that he has told Trump that the information about alleged discrimination and oppression of African people is completely false. Nevertheless, the administration has continued to criticize the South African government. During a speech in Miami earlier this week, Trump said South Africa should be kicked out of the G-20. Earlier this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio boycotted the G-20 meeting of foreign ministers because its agenda focused on diversity, inclusivity and climate change efforts.