Just hours after initially stating that the U.S. would boycott the G-20 summit set for Johannesburg this weekend, South African President Ramaphosa announced in a subsequent press conference that the U.S. might, in fact, attend after extensive negotiations between the two governments. The White House press secretary then issued a correction, confirming the U.S. would only send its acting ambassador to the closing ceremony and accusing Ramaphosa of misrepresenting their participation.

Ramaphosa appears intent on accommodating the Trump Administration, despite months of antagonism and disparagement from the White House regarding alleged “white genocide” targeting the white Afrikaner minority population.

In May, the tense exchange between Trump and Ramaphosa’s delegation—who sought to correct the U.S. President’s claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted—was a challenging spectacle for many South Africans.

We observed our President enduring a barrage of conspiratorial and racially charged accusations, as he strove to avert the looming threat of economic tariffs. This encounter served as a painful reminder that even with our founding membership in the BRICS, a bloc intended to disrupt colonial hierarchies between the so-called “first” and “third” worlds, the established geopolitical order proves resistant to change.

Following the meeting, South African and global media largely debunked the white genocide claim, publishing statistics that demonstrate while South Africa experiences some of the highest levels of violence, the problem transcends race and impacts everyone. In reality, it is poor black women who disproportionately bear the brunt of violence in the country.

South Africa is often referred to as one of the most violent countries, where dozens of people are murdered every day and 117 cases of rape are reported, according to police statistics.

However, the White House remained undeterred, imposing new sanctions on South Africa and declaring a G-20 boycott due to the widely rejected claims that the country is persecuting white Afrikaners.

Six months ago, South Africans were largely unified behind Ramaphosa and sympathetic to the difficult position he found himself in when confronting Trump on his home turf. We were already experiencing the repercussions of economic disruptions linked to Elon Musk’s DOGE, with thousands of patients suffering consequences. Ramaphosa had to balance the need to demonstrate diplomatic strength with the real-life impact of his words and actions.

Now, the climate surrounding the G-20 is far more divided, with public sentiment growing increasingly critical of Ramaphosa and his government.

Distrust of state institutions has reached an unprecedented peak, weeks into the Madlanga Commission, a high-level inquiry into allegations that top politicians and police officials interfered in police investigations to benefit crime syndicates. Among those named are a lobbyist aligned with corrupt networks and a high-ranking police officer.

Residents of G-20 host city Johannesburg, who have had to contend with poor service delivery during a years-long governance crisis, have observed longstanding issues like potholes, broken streetlights, and illegal dumping being rapidly rectified in preparation for the arrival of global dignitaries.

South Africans feel marginalized, and believe their needs are not as publicized or urgently attended to as the demands of international diplomacy.

South Africa chose the themes of “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” for the summit and its G-20 presidency. It is a pertinent choice for a country that is one of the most socio-economically unequal in the world. But in the current climate of state malfeasance, poverty, and violence, many South Africans fear that precious resources and attention have been diverted to the G-20 at the expense of ordinary South Africans.

On the day Ramaphosa declared that South Africa would resist attempts by Western nations to bully African countries, he was at a G-20 social summit in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg. I happened to be there too, though removed from the fanfare of the global summit.

I was by the side of the road, under a bridge at the spot where 31-year-old Gaby Ndaba was violently killed. Her family was preparing to stage a protest at that site today, to call attention to her unsolved murder case and the thousands of other South African women who have been victims of femicide and gender-based violence.

They hope to leverage the world’s attention on South Africa to shift focus from Trump’s falsehoods and distractions towards the real victims of violence in South Africa.