The president insists no foreign government influenced France’s decision to withdraw the invitation.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has dismissed the notion that the US pressured France into disinviting him from the G7 Summit.
The summit – which will be held in Évian, France, in June – is an international forum held annually for the leaders of the G7 member states, including France, the US and the UK.
After being invited by French President Emmanuel Macron in 2025, Ramaphosa has now been uninvited.
Ramaphosa contradicts his spokesperson
His comments came after various media, including news agency AFP and SABC News, reported that his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said the rescindment followed pressure from the US.
“We’ve learnt that due to sustained pressure, France has had to withdraw its invitation to South Africa to attend the G7 meeting,” Magwenya told news agency AFP on Thursday, 26 March.
“We are told that the Americans threatened to boycott the G7 if South Africa was invited.
“So, South Africa will not be participating in this G7 meeting,” he added.
However, speaking to the media on Thursday afternoon, Ramaphosa contradicted his spokesperson.
“My information is that there’s been no pressure from any country – the United States or any other country,” the president said.
He said not being invited to the G7 does not mean you are being “snubbed” or “ignored”.
‘No surprise’
There are so many countries around the world that don’t get invited to the G7, Ramaphosa said.
“And remember, South Africa is not a member. And when we do go, we are invited and we take a message there.”
The president added that South Africa has not attended every G7 summit, and not going to the 2026 edition should never be a surprise to anyone.
Growing tensions between South Africa and the US
Ramaphosa’s disinvitation comes at a time when diplomatic relations between South Africa and the US are in a volatile place, with both countries throwing stones.
Things turned sour after Trump took office last year, when he accused the government of enabling “white genocide“, citing farm killings – a claim rejected by the SA government, civil society and international observers.
Following that, the US president abstained from the 2025 G20 Leaders’ Summit hosted by South Africa, where Ramaphosa was supposed to hand over the summit’s presidency to Trump.
Recently, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula criticised the appointment of Leo Brent Bozell III as US ambassador to South Africa, pointing to the ambassador’s past views on the party.
Mbalula’s criticism of Bozell followed the ambassador’s comments about the South African government failing to address concerns raised by Trump during a speech at a BizNews conference in Hermanus, Western Cape.
Bozell also said he “didn’t care” about South African court rulings regarding the apartheid struggle song “Kill the Boer”, arguing that the chant constitutes hate speech.
The department of international relations and cooperation démarched the ambassador over the remarks and he has since apologised.
In a post on social media platform X, Mbalula said: “It would seem that he is an unrepentant racist and a pathological hater of Black liberation.”
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