In light of recent statements by the United States presidency declaring that South Africa will not be invited to the 2026 G20 summit in Miami, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) issues the following statement:
1. South Africa remains a full member of the G20
The G20 is structured as an informal forum of 19 member states (plus the EU and the African Union), and South Africa remains permanently listed among those members.
2. Any attempt to exclude a full member is illegitimate and undermines the integrity of multilateral forums.
The G20 has no provision allowing one member, even the host, or a host’s government, to unilaterally bar another member from participation. Such an act is inconsistent with the group’s informal but codified membership norms.
3. The move is a politically motivated act of coercion, not a procedural decision.
The decision appears tied to political and racialized accusations rather than to any credible procedural norm. At a time when working-class people globally face deepening inequality, austerity, and economic crisis, using economic forums as tools of political retribution undermines prospects for genuine international solidarity.
4. SAFTU rejects the notion that the G20 summit, convened under such arbitrary exclusion, can offer solutions to working-class crises.
The G20 remains a club of ruling-class states, designed to coordinate global capitalist policies. Its track record does not suggest meaningful relief for workers, and even less so when it operates under the dynamics of geopolitical coercion and exclusion.
5. We call on all G20 member states to affirm procedural integrity, reject arbitrary exclusions, and restore the full participation of all members, including South Africa.
Any failure to do so sets a dangerous precedent: that powerful states can unilaterally rewrite rules when convenient. This devolves multilateral forums into instruments of power politics.
6. For workers’ movements: our commitment must be to independent, class-based international solidarity, not to the G20.
We stand against imperial encirclement, exclusion, and political manipulation. Our struggle is rooted in working-class unity beyond state diplomacy, in linking the exploited across national boundaries, building solidarity, and advancing socialist alternatives based on worker control, redistribution, and social justice.
For these reasons, SAFTU condemns the U.S. decision to bar South Africa from the 2026 G20 summit as both procedurally illegitimate and politically reactionary. We reject any narrative that treats the G20 as a legitimate vehicle for solving the crises confronting workers and the oppressed globally. Instead, we reaffirm our commitment to class-based internationalism, rooted in solidarity, justice, and the struggle for systemic transformation beyond elite-managed multilateral forums.
A statement was issued on behalf of the SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For media inquiries, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
newtonm@saftu.org.za
0785164094
Media Officer
Asive Dyani
0719019564
