ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri spared no words to express how the ANC was fed-up with Trump.
The ANC has dropped its diplomatic restraint, lashing out at US President Donald Trump for what it calls “false, inflammatory and racially charged” remarks about South Africa.
The party says it will not be bullied by a man “driven by prejudice, not principle”, after Trump reignited claims of “genocide” of Afrikaners and announced that no US official would attend the upcoming G20 summit in Johannesburg.
Trump’s boycott sparks political backlash
His decision – delivered via Truth Social platform on Friday – has drawn fierce backlash from the ruling ANC party, which accuses Trump of peddling imperial nostalgia and aligning with global far-right movements.
Trump’s announcement meant US Vice-President JD Vance would no longer attend the summit, from 22 to 23 November at Nasrec.
In his post, Trump said: “It is a total disgrace that the G20 will be held in South Africa. Afrikaners are being killed and slaughtered and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated.”
After treading carefully in the past regarding the ANC’s posture on the US-SA relations in the light of Pretoria’s tariffs talks with Washington, ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri spared no words to express how the ANC was fed-up with Trump.
“We will not be bullied, defined, or distracted by imperial nostalgia masquerading as concern,” Bhengu-Motsiri said.
She accused Trump of siding with racist and right-wing movements across the world.
“His latest comments on South Africa are an extension of this world view, one that sees African progress as a threat,” she said.
“The ANC will not allow such divisive and regressive ideology to define Africa’s image or dictate its future.”
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Experts and opposition weigh in
An international relations expert at North-West University Potchefstroom campus, Jan Venter, said Trump is intent on isolating South Africa so that it becomes a “state that lives in shame”.
Venter said it bothered Trump that South Africa’s foreign policy was rapidly aligning with America’s enemy, China, while quickly drifting away from the US.
DA MP and party spokesperson on international relations and cooperation Ryan Smith said they had consistently warned the ANC that South Africa needs a foreign policy rooted in genuine non-alignment, that is fact-based and in line with our national interest which has yet to be defined under the government of national unity.
While many Afrikaners have signed a petition distancing themselves from claims of genocide against Afrikaners and land expropriation, the DA did not explicitly distance itself from these statements.
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