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The leader of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa formally concluded the Group of Twenty meeting in Johannesburg by striking a gavel, after rejecting a American suggestion for him to hand over duties to a lower-ranking embassy official for the upcoming gathering in Florida.

Event Overshadowed by American Absence

South Africa presented the two-day event as a triumph for multilateralism, but it was diminished by a withdrawal of the United States, which has consistently alleged South Africa of showing bias toward white-minority Afrikaners—a claim that has been widely discredited.

“We’ve met in the face of major obstacles and shown our capacity to unite, even in periods of hardship, to pursue a better world,” the president declared in his closing speech.

Wrapping up his speech, he noted: “This ceremonial hammer of this G20 summit formally closes this summit and now proceeds to the subsequent leader of the G20, which is the United States, where we shall reconvene next year.” This was Ramaphosa’s only mention of the nation absent from the assembly of major global powers.

G20 Declaration Focuses On Climate Change and Equal Rights

The G20 released a statement on Saturday emphasizing the need to tackle climate change and achieve “gender equality.” The Trump government had withdrawn from the Paris environmental accord on the first day of his new mandate and has reversed many policies designed to tackle sexism, racism and homophobia.

White House Response

US administration representative Anna Kelly accused Ramaphosa of “declining to enable a seamless handover of the G20 presidency.”

“This, coupled with South Africa’s push to issue a G20 leaders’ declaration, notwithstanding repeated and strong American opposition, highlights the reality that they have exploited their leadership role to undermine the G20’s founding principles,” she stated.

Handover Protocol Disagreement

South Africa had offered to arrange for an similarly ranked official to formally hand the G20 presidency to the US at the diplomatic headquarters. Officials had stated it would violate procedure for Ramaphosa to give it to the US interim envoy.

South Africa’s top diplomat, Ronald Lamola, told reporters: “We have done our part. We are done. The decision is theirs. Should they choose to engage, we are ready.”

Future Summit and Additional Absences

The 2026 summit is set to occur at the Trump-owned Doral Miami golf resort, which is owned by the Trump Organization.

The nation of Argentina, led by President Javier Milei did not attend, also declined to support the communique. Its foreign minister, Pablo Quirno, commented: “In particular, it deals with the protracted Middle Eastern dispute in a manner that does not fully reflect its entire intricacy.”

The G20 communique stated: “We will work for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Palestinian territories, Ukraine, as well as ending other conflicts and wars around the globe.”

G20 Background

The G20 was founded in the wake of the Asian economic turmoil in 1999, with 19 nations and the European Union. The AU was incorporated last year.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Xi Jinping and Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum were also not present at the meeting. The Russian president faces an arrest warrant by the ICC, to which South Africa is a signatory. The Chinese president has assigned participation in numerous global events this year to China’s premier, Li Qiang.