Ntshavheni says US attitude towards South Africa has nothing to do with G20

Despite tensions between South Africa and the United States (US) government, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says this tension has nothing to do with the G20.

US President Donald Trump has revealed that he will not be attending. He told a conference in Miami last week that terrible things are happening in South Africa.

An important trade partner

But Ntshavheni said the US remains an important trade partner to South Africa.

She briefed the media in Pretoria on Thursday.

“The US-South Africa relations have got nothing to do with the G20, the G20 is a multilateral platform with the top 20 countries in the world being part of that formation.

“So, South Africa has its own bilateral relations with the US, and we have indicated that we deem that relationship as strategic and as important to us; they are one among our leading trade partners.

“To demonstrate our commitment to that relationship, that is why the negotiations are ongoing; there are other countries that have not been given room to engage with the USA, and we have been given room to explain, and there are improvements,” she said.

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Trump attendance of G20

Despite this, Ntshavheni said Trump’s boycott of the G20 summit in Johannesburg will not affect the meeting.

“I do not know why we want to worry about absence, no absence actually, their absence gets us to get a declaration consensus.

“It’s neither here nor there for us the leaders of the world are coming and remember the US did not go to the G7 they went to take a photo and left…for us their absence is not unique to South Africa, and they can say all sorts of things, but we are hosting the G20 a number of leaders and countries are participating fully, and we are confident that we will achieve a declaration,” she said.

Ntshavheni said government will host another media briefing next week, where further details about the summit preparation will be given.

Shutdown

Meanwhile, Ntshavheni said government would like to partner with the organisers of the planned GBVF Shutdown. This is a protest meant to take place a day before the G20 leaders’ summit.

“We are a noisy country; there is nothing new, and we like attention, so there is nothing new. So, we continue to deal with our noise the best way that we know how to.

“We appreciate the purple movement call and concerns around the continuation of GBVF and as government we partner with everybody, and we want to partner with them.

“We call them to join the movement to fight GBVF in line with the national strategic plan that was agreed in 2018 and in line with the declaration by the President of GBVF as a pandemic in the country, and it’s an important drive to get civil society aware, also to get communities aware,” she said.

It is not clear if this protest will affect the G20 leaders’ summit, which will take place a day after this proposed shutdown.

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