{"id":102495,"date":"2025-11-29T12:18:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=102495"},"modified":"2025-11-29T12:18:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T10:18:00","slug":"south-africa-pushes-back-as-trump-threatens-g20-ban-and-cuts-to-us-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/south-africa-pushes-back-as-trump-threatens-g20-ban-and-cuts-to-us-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa Pushes Back as Trump Threatens G20 Ban and Cuts to US Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read | 29 November 2025<\/p>\n

\"\"

\ud83d\udcf8 File photo: Tensions rise between Pretoria and Washington as diplomatic relations strain following President Trump\u2019s threat to bar South Africa from the 2026 G20 Summit and halt US funding.<\/p><\/div>\n

South Africa finds itself at the centre of an escalating diplomatic storm after US President Donald Trump announced that the country would be barred from next year\u2019s G20 Summit in Miami and that all American financial support would be halted with immediate effect. His remarks, accompanied by renewed accusations of human rights abuses against white South Africans, have been firmly rejected by Pretoria.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Islam International<\/em>, political analyst Nteboheleng Tsehla described Trump\u2019s behaviour as \u201cclassic bullying\u201d, adding that the US president remains \u201cignorant to all the facts that have been presented to him.\u201d Tsehla emphasised that the South African delegation had even been shown a misleading video during their visit to the White House, yet Trump \u201crefuses to listen to any of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With South Africa being a founding member of the G20, Tsehla stressed that Trump does not have the authority to decide who attends the summit. \u201cAmerica cannot naturally make that decision,\u201d she said. \u201cThey did not want to bow down to me and then they should not come. It\u2019s simply not how the G20 works.\u201d She noted that other G20 leaders were satisfied with South Africa\u2019s hosting and are unlikely to support unilateral actions from Washington.<\/p>\n

While the threat of exclusion is politically alarming, the more immediate concern is Trump\u2019s declaration that all US funding to South Africa will stop. Tsehla acknowledged that the impact would be significant, particularly on health programmes. However, she noted that the South African economy is intertwined with American business interests, making an abrupt funding halt complex. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be hard to just cut off any sort of funding directly or indirectly,\u201d she explained, adding that the situation may push South Africa to explore new investment avenues in Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n

Addressing why South Africa appears uniquely targeted, Tsehla argued that the country\u2019s continental influence plays a major role. \u201cSouth Africa is the most influential African country,\u201d she said. \u201cAnything the world wants to start off in Africa, they bounce off in South Africa.\u201d She believes Pretoria\u2019s refusal to bow to pressure has emboldened other African nations and unsettled Washington.<\/p>\n

As for the future of the relationship, Tsehla was frank: \u201cAs long as President Trump continues to be ignorant and follow lies and propaganda, the relationship will continue to be strained.\u201d Despite South Africa\u2019s efforts to remain civil and engaged, she warned that repairing ties may be unlikely \u201cfor as long as he believes what is not true about South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on The Daily-Round<\/em> <\/a>with ANnisa Essack and Nteboheleng Tsehla.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read | 29 November 2025 South Africa finds itself at the centre of an escalating diplomatic storm after US President Donald Trump announced that the country would be barred from next year\u2019s G20 Summit in Miami and that all American financial support would be halted with immediate effect. His remarks, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":102496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995,4997],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa","category-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Trump-vs-Ramaphosa.jpg?fit=480%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-qF9","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 11:44:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}