The South African (SA) government says President Cyril Ramaphosa stood his ground to ensure the success of the G20 Leaders’ Summit at the Nasrec Expo Centre in Johannesburg.
This follows claims by the White House Press Secretary accusing Ramaphosa of suggesting that the United States (US) had reversed its decision and chosen to attend the summit.
Pretoria reportedly refused to bow to pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration to hand over the G20 Presidency to a junior staff member at the US Embassy in SA.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says Ramaphosa’s handling of the situation demonstrates strong and principled leadership.
“We are big than that and Ramaphosa has demonstrated to the world that he is the leader among leaders. He has gotten this G20 summit to be successful. Brazil had to concede that they innovated the Social Summit, but we did one better and there is consensus with all the things that have been tabled. We have pushed the African agenda to the top. If it was not the sterling leadership of Ramaphosa, we would be here.”
–SABC–
