S Africa says not to hand over G20 baton to ‘junior official’ amid spat with US

Johannesburg, Nov 21 (PTI) South Africa has decided not to hand over the annual G20 Presidency to a “junior” US official at the end of the leaders’ summit, even as a White House official cautions Cyril Ramaphosa over “running his mouth” against the US and President Donald Trump.

South African President Ramaphosa adopted a reconciliatory approach on Thursday evening after the US requested accreditation for an eight-member team led by US chargé d’affaires, Marc Dillard, to receive the baton on Sunday.

However, late on Thursday evening, Ramaphosa’s spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, posted a message on social media, saying the president will not hand over the G20 Presidency to a junior official.

“The President will not hand over to a chargé d'affaires. It’s a breach of established protocol. No head of state and government anywhere in the world would do it,” Magwenya told local media.

There was also anger in South Africa about remarks by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, which analysts said was a breach of protocol in insulting the President.

“I saw the South African president running his mouth a little bit against the United States and Donald Trump earlier today, and that language is not appreciated by the president or his team,” Leavitt said in a media briefing on Thursday after Ramaphosa had taken a hard line at the US absence without naming Trump directly.

There is also dissatisfaction in South Africa about Trump continuing his claims of alleged genocide against white farmers in South Africa, which have been disproved by both the South African government and local white leaders.

“I’m not going to South Africa for the G20 because I think their policies on the extermination of people are unacceptable. So I’m not going. South Africa has behaved extremely badly,” Trump said after a meeting with Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia at the White House on Tuesday.  Leavitt confirmed in her briefing on Thursday that the delegation would be present only to receive the G20 Presidency from South Africa at the end of the summit. She also reaffirmed that the US would not be participating in the deliberations at the G20.

But the South African view now is that the US is trying to save face to avoid Ramaphosa’s earlier suggestion that, in the absence of any US representative, he would hand over the Presidency to an empty chair.

Many world leaders have started arriving in South Africa since yesterday to attend the two-day Summit. PTI FH RD RD