JOHANNESBURG: Tensions have escalated between Washington and Pretoria as the White House criticized South Africa during the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg this weekend. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly expressed discontent after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa declined a request from the U.S. to include a delegation from the U.S. embassy in the summit’s closing ceremony.

Looking ahead to next year, when the U.S. will assume the G20 presidency, complications arose when Ramaphosa’s spokesperson announced that the South African leader would not hand over the ceremonial gavel to a less senior diplomat. The U.S. had proposed that the embassy’s chargé d’affaires participate in the ceremony.

This incident adds to a growing list of disputes between the U.S. and South Africa regarding the G20. Kelly told Fox News Digital that President Ramaphosa initially threatened to hand the gavel to an “empty chair” and is now obstructing a seamless transition of the G20 leadership.

During the summit’s opening session, President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the attendees in Johannesburg on Saturday, November 22, 2025. (Misper Apawu/AP Photo/Pool)

Kelly further criticized South Africa for attempting to advance a G20 Leaders Declaration despite strong U.S. opposition, suggesting it reflects an effort to manipulate the G20 presidency against its foundational values. She mentioned that President Trump is eager to restore the G20’s credibility when the U.S. hosts in 2026.

In a dramatic move, Trump withdrew U.S. participation from the summit, citing allegations of racial discrimination against white South Africans.

Now South Africa’s Chief Rabbi, Dr. Warren Goldstein, has also lashed out at the G20, speaking exclusively to Fox News Digital, saying, “How can it be that in the long wish list of items that make up the G20 Leaders Declaration, there wasn’t space to condemn one of the greatest human rights crises in Africa – the continent wide jihadi war on Christians?”

He continued “How can it be that the first G20 hosted in Africa by an African government ignores how Africa — from Mozambique to Mali, the DRC, Nigeria, Sudan and so many other countries — has become the central front of Islamist terrorism?

Members of St Leo Catholic Church hold a procession to mark Palm Sunday in Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria, on April 13, 2025.  (Adekunle Ajayi/Getty Images)

“Just Friday, more than 300 girls and 12 teachers were kidnapped from a Catholic school in Nigeria,” he added. “Who will speak up for these children and save them? The silence of the G20 declaration on this and other Jihadi atrocities on the continent is a moral disgrace, revealing the gathering to be a heartless charade that history will judge harshly. God’s condemnation of Cain following his feeble defense of “am I my brother’s keeper?” stands as an eternal accusation against the leaders of the G20 — “What have you done? The blood of your brother calls out to Me from the ground.”

42 world leaders and major institutions such as the U.N. are represented at the summit. Only one of them, Italy’s President Giorgia Meloni, has addressed the issue of Christian persecution in the last few days – and she did that Friday, before the summit started. Posting on X, she wrote, “We ask the Nigerian government to strengthen the protection of Christian communities and all religious communities and to pursue those responsible for these heinous attacks.”

The White House could question the validity of the Leaders’ Declaration produced at the G20. Ramaphosa conceivably didn’t realize his microphone was open right at the beginning of proceedings Saturday. Journalists in the media center next door to the main summit hall could hear him telling leaders that the final 122-point resolution was ready for them to endorse – before they had discussed it.

The U.S. flag at the G20 media center in South Africa on Nov. 22, 2025 (Paul Tilsley for Fox News Digital)

As it stands, South Africa has officially marked the U.S. as ‘absent’ from this G20 summit. The only U.S. presence here this weekend was the American flag in the media center.

The final G20 South Africa Summit Leaders’ Declaration was released on Sunday with the only reference to religion, noting, “We condemn all attacks against civilians and infrastructure. We further reaffirm that in line with the U.N. Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state and that states should develop friendly relations among nations, including by promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

Fox News Digital reached out to the South African government but did not receive a response.