South Africa To Quietly Hand Over G20 Presidency To The US Amid Protocol Dispute

South Africa’s handover of the G20 presidency to the United States will take place this week, but the ceremony will be deliberately modest.

Zane Dangor, the Sherpa of South Africa’s G20 presidency and Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), confirmed that both nations agreed on a low-profile transfer.

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Dangor said the handover is scheduled for Tuesday. “The agreement is that we should do it low-key. It’s not just a South African issue; the US also doesn’t want a very big handover event. So we will hand over at the level of a senior official from Dirco to the US chargé d’affaires.

“That will most likely take place tomorrow (Tuesday),” he told Newzroom Afrika on Monday.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola emphasised that while the United States had the right to be represented at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, its chosen representative to receive the presidency needed to be at an appropriate senior level.

Protocol Tensions Over US Representation at Leaders’ Summit

It was previously stated that South Africa made it clear the US could not send its embassy chargé d’affaires to receive the G20 presidency gavel from President Cyril Ramaphosa on the summit stage.

Clarifying this position, Lamola said the US remained free to field “anyone”, provided the person held sufficient seniority. “We did not deny anyone access.

“The United States is a member of the G20 and if they want to be represented, they can still send anyone at the right level. It is the leaders’ summit. The right level is the head of state, a special envoy appointed by the president of that country, or it could also be a minister,” he said.

Lamola stated that the chargé d’affaires and other US embassy officials were welcome to take part in the proceedings — but not to receive the gavel.

“It’s up to them, but the issue of the handover—the president of the Republic of South Africa will not be handing over to the US chargé d’affaires. We will hand over to the US in the Dirco offices, or anywhere they may want within the borders of the Republic of South Africa,” he added.

US Skips Summit as SA Stands Firm on Diplomatic Norms

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, had confirmed the US would not attend the summit. “No, they are not attending. We have made our position very clear. This is a breach of protocol, what they were suggesting.

“You cannot have a head of state handing over the presidency and leadership of such an important forum for macro-economic and related issues being handed over to a junior embassy official,” Magwenya said.

“It’s a breach of protocol. It has never happened before, and it was never going to happen for the first time here in South Africa.”

Traditionally, a chargé d’affaires is the lowest-ranking head of mission and is typically appointed only when there is no ambassador. Unlike ambassadors, chargés d’affaires do not present credentials to a host head of state and are regarded as temporary or junior-level representatives.

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