“The best is yet to come”—the latest G20 slogan (pictured) was placed next to the 47th US President Donald Trump, after America took over the one-year role of chairman of this informal grouping of 19 leading economies of the world, founded in 1999, on December 1.
Sorry: in the following 12 months, gatherings of the original 19 founding countries of the G20 will be limited to eighteen participants (plus special guests) by a decision of Washington. That with Trump’s public announcement that South Africa (the previous G20 chairman) would not be invited to the summit of leaders of that forum in mid-December 2026 in Miami. https://fortune.com/2025/11/27/trump-south-africa-not-welcome-g20-summit-miami-stop-all-payments-subsidies-effective-immediately/
This “non-invitation” is the first case of its kind in the history of the G20.
In a continuation of the trend, the presentation of the recent G20 forum in Johannesburg was removed from the G20 website overnight. Washington seems determined to drop Republic of South Africa at least for the next 12 months, from the G20 horizon. Namely, invitations for the first meeting of the G20 Sherpas (December 15-16 this year) have already been sent to members, but not to South Africa ( https://www.news24.com/politics/sa-not-invited-to-first-meeting-of-g20-20251202-1021 ).
“South Africa has shown the world that it is not a country worthy of membership anywhere,” US President Donald Trump said in late November after official Pretoria twice turned a deaf ear to Washington’s direct demands related to the G20. (Previous disagreements between the Trump administration and the government in Pretoria are mostly well-known.)
This time, Pretoria secured the unanimous adoption of the G20 final declaration despite the US boycott of the meeting, and Washington’s warning not to formulate a “conclusion” since the US was not attending. Then, Pretoria rejected Washington’s proposal (arrived at the very end of the meeting) that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa hand over the G20 “baton” to a senior US embassy official. The handover took place without much fanfare, a few days later at the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Now, what happens when the US president judges that a country—in this case, South Africa—is “not worthy of membership anywhere” …?
Beyond Pretoria, does anyone react? And then how?
One scenario seems possible.
Namely, in early autumn, the official Pretoria postponed the joint military-naval exercise “Mosi III” with China and Russia (previously announced for November 2025) so that it would not coincide with the G20 Forum. The third joint military-naval manoeuvres of these three BRICS members are planned this time not far from Cape Town and the Cape of Good Hope, in the Atlantic waters of the South African region of the Western Cape. Incidentally, the first “Mosi” was held in 2019 with the participation of the founding members of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and the Republic of South Africa). The second “Mosi” was held at the end of February 2023 off the coast of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal (somewhat around the time of the anniversary of the beginning of Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine).
According to the announcement of Roman Abramov, the Russian Ambassador to South Africa, the Mosi III naval exercises will now be held in early January 2026. (https://afrinz.ru/en/2025/11/russian-ambassador-south-africa-russia-and-chinas-naval-exercises-scheduled-for-january-2026/. And again around the Cape of Good Hope.
Here is an example of “membership”, perhaps also of a new border.
