Social media abuzz as Ramaphosa stands his ground

By Phakamisa Mayaba

As Washington sought to throw another spanner in the works by not just boycotting but openly mocking the G20 summit, the famously ‘wimpish’ President Cyril Ramaphosa had quite clearly had enough.

At a press conference a few days before, he cast aside his normally measured monologues for something that suggested he wouldn’t be taking the assault lying down, leaving no doubt in anyone’s mind that America – to paraphrase the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola – would simply be ‘marked absent’, and things would go on without them.

Ramaphosa, Lamola and the broader GNU would clearly have reached a consensus: earlier efforts in May to appease Trump had fallen on the sensibilities of a man whose personal gripes override all facts or persuasion, and so perhaps it was time to take the gloves off and unleash the Buffalo. Give The Donald a taste of the medicine he really doesn’t like: not being given special treatment.

Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya was among the first to speak out openly. America, he said, ‘chose to boycott the summit. That’s their choice, and that’s their prerogative to do so.’ But then, why spoil things for the nearly 40 countries who’d turned up for the first G20 ever hosted on African soil?

For once, the person who is routinely derided as a ‘sellout’ doing the bidding of capitalist interests was praised on social media, with at least one post saying he had delivered a ‘stunning display of continental assertiveness’ by delivering a ‘fiery response to United States criticism over his country’s expanded G20 guest list’.

Even Reuters was quick to note that the president’s ‘bold tone was a striking contrast to his subdued decorum during his visit to the White House’.

And he later declared: ‘It cannot be that a country’s geographical location or income level or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to. And it basically means that there should be no bullying of one nation by another nation. We are all equal.’

This united front held. So much so that the generally disapproving comments on the socials were tilting between some dislike but (surprisingly) a great deal of support for ‘Cupcake’:

@Gerson: Why do I feel like this the well seasoned president South Africa can ever have (sic)?

@Gabhisa: Cup Cake has shown great diplomacy but firm leadership as G20 President and I[n]ternational leadership. Well done Mr President.

@Lucky Njube: What can Argentina offer the world except for Messi, They are here as Donald Trump agent[s].

This last comment came on the back of Argentina’s rejection of the G20 Declaration, which — breaking from tradition — was adopted at the beginning rather than at the end of the summit.

A post on X by the filmmaker Ofentse Mwaze: ‘Never been so proud of President Cyril Ramaphosa in my Life. He stood up to bullying and represented the Nation of South Africa well at the G20 Summit. The Ankole King !’

Trump’s apparently unilateral decision to boycott the multinational G20 appointment had obviously gravely offended Pretoria, which was set on providing a favourable image of the country, especially against the backdrop of the much-publicised SA-US squabbles. Trump’s dictatorial posts and comments were intended to achieve similar ends — and, for a while, here and abroad, they appeared to do just that.

Right-wing media lapped it all up, and anti-ANC personalities had a field day. Even the cogs in Israel’s omnipresent hasbara machine had something to distract them from the hostile perceptions of the happenings in Gaza.

Mike Sham, host of the social media channel ‘State of the Nation’, who’s also furniture on BizNews, ruffled feathers with this nugget: ‘I’m taking it as a big win. I hope that more presidents pull out of this G20 … I’d be delighted to see this thing as an abject failure and for South Africa to get kicked out of the G20 so that we can earn our place when we get back in.’

This sorority, comprised of apparently gleeful race-baiters and at least one angry billionaire, were thrilled that the world was finally paying attention to ANC stuff-ups. But when Trump overextended his hand by demanding that no decision should be taken the absence of America, he practically lit a match next to a powder keg. From there onwards, the SA government spoke with one voice, driving home the point that in this country the buck stops with Ramaphosa, not Potus.

Confusion struck briefly when the SABC broke the news – and Ramaphosa confirmed – that the US were undergoing a change of heart and did in fact wish to participate. But the US Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, cheekily poured water on this, saying the president was simply ‘running his mouth’ and that the ‘United States is not officially participating in official talks at the G20 in South Africa’, adding that ‘that language is not appreciated by the president or his team.’

She further clarified that the ‘representative of the Embassy in South Africa is simply there to recognize that the United States will be the host of the G20. They are receiving that send-off at the end of the event. They are not there to participate in official talks despite what the South African government is falsely claiming.’

But it was her own language that saw South Africans, wielding the sort of vocabulary best left to booze-addled tavern disputes, flooding social media with clips of that video. Some bright-spark muso even penned a pop song with the comments as lyrics. (It’s not the sort of material we can reproduce here.)

But it was the move to send the aforementioned representative, a charge d’affaires, that prompted Lamola to fight fire with fire. Sternly, he said: ‘We did not deny anyone access. The United States is a member of the G20. If they want to be represented, they can send someone at the appropriate level. This is a leaders’ summit.’

And because the world’s attention was glued to the events taking place at Nasrec in Johannesburg, the moment was ripe for other elements to share the spotlight. In no time, MK Party and Operation Dudula, among others, found themselves clashing with police after they’d staged a protest demanding to speak to Ramaphosa and world leaders.

There were clashes, teargas, some arrests and some manhandling — chaos, to be sure, but not nearly as chaotic and uncertain as what may come from the strained relations between South Africa and the US.

However, what is pretty clear is that if Donald Trump sought to publicly embarrass South Africa, as he so often does with his underlings and reporters, he might have found that the joke is not only on him, but that his blunders provided a rare occasion for (most) South Africans to agree on something. No doubt, that’ll all be gone by Sunday morning – but it sure felt good while it lasted.

Featured image: World leaders at the conclusion of the G20 Summit at Nasrec in Johannesburg, 23 November 2025. Image: SA Presidency on X.

This is an edited version of an article that first appeared on Phakamisa Mayaba’s website, eParkeni. Used with permission.