U.S. President Donald Trump has been critical of his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa.
PARIS — South Africa is alleging that France rescinded President Cyril Ramaphosa’s invitation to the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in June due to pressure from the United States.
Vincent Magwenya, a spokesperson for Ramaphosa, told POLITICO that Paris, which holds the G7’s rotating presidency this year, caved to the demand after Washington threatened to boycott this year’s meeting in Evian-les-Bains if South Africa were invited.
“We’ve accepted the French decision and appreciate the pressure they’ve been subjected to,” said Magwenya. “South Africa will always endeavor to resolve disputes through constructive dialogue.”
Ramaphosa has repeatedly found himself in U.S. President Donald Trump’s firing line, notably over accusations, often unfounded, of violence against white minorities in South Africa.
While South Africa is not a member of the G7, its president has often been been invited to past summits, including in Canada last year.
The French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Thursday that France had faced “no pressure” to exclude South Africa from the G7 summit.
“We chose to organise a G7 summit that is coherant and tightly focused on geo-economic topics,” he told reporters at a G7 ministers summit in Vaux-la-Ville south of Paris.
Asked about the allegations, a White House official said that France had “expressed a desire in January to invite an African nation” to the summit.
“After discussion among G7 members, it was collectively determined that Kenya should be invited to the Summit,” said the official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Earlier Thursday, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters in a briefing that Ramaphosa and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had not been extended invitations to the G7 summit.
Trump and Zelenskyy have had a notably tense relationship, highlighted by a disastrous encounter in the Oval Office in February 2025. But ties between the two appear to have improved over time, notably during a later encounter in Rome and then at a second Oval Office meeting.
The French president’s adviser denied Macron was tailoring invitations to keep Trump happy and said the invitation decisions came down to both priorities — Macron wants the G7 this year to tackle global imbalances and rising tensions between Washington and Beijing — and logistics.
Zelenskyy has attended every G7 leaders’ summit in person since 2023, including last year’s in Canada. Trump left that event early, dashing Zelenskyy’s hope of securing a meeting with the U.S. president.
“We’re not anti-Zelenskyy, nor anti-Ukraine but we have an agenda that we are trying to push forward,” the adviser told the press briefing. “We will find ways so that what’s happening in Ukraine is properly addressed.”
With respect to South Africa, the Macron adviser said that the French presidency of the G7 had instead invited Kenya as “a partner country” to give Paris and Nairobi the opportunity to build diplomatic undertakings the two sides will address at a joint summit in May.
This year’s G7 leaders summit takes place June 15-17. France earlier this year delayed its start by a day to avoid a conflict with a mixed martial arts event planned at the White House on June 14, which is both Flag Day and Trump’s birthday.
Megan Messerly in Washington contributed to this report.