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SA will host the G20 meeting of foreign ministers in Johannesburg later this week. US secretary of state Marco Rubio will not attend after he expressed disapproval with SA’s G20 theme: “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability”.
“The agenda will stand,” Lamola said of US objections, adding all G20 nations had previously agreed on it. “We will not be defocused by this issue with the US.”
SA is not hugely dependent on US aid, but some fear the country’s preferential trade status under the US African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) could be next.
SA has projected itself as non-aligned in geopolitical conflicts, and has sought not to tie its interests too closely to those of the main superpower rivals — the US, EU, China and Russia — vying for influence on the continent.
It resisted Western pressure to isolate Russia over Ukraine, and took the risk of upsetting the US, Israel’s close ally, when it brought the ICJ case over the war in Gaza.
Lamola said SA would continue to seek talks with the US, “but we have to face reality that we have to plan for all scenarios”.
He reiterated that SA’s land reform policy and its genocide case against Israel at the ICJ were “non-negotiable”.
Reuters
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