South Africa appears to be at a crossroads in its waxing and waning relationship with the US following President Donald Trump's controversial decision last week to cut financial aid to the country.Trump said South Africa was pursuing what he called "unjust and immoral practices" against the white minority Afrikaner community and by filing a genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023.

The so-called land question has been a decades-long dilemma for South Africa. A new law seeks to right some of the wrongs of apartheid but has prompted claims from critics that it discriminates against White farmers.

South Africa's G20 presidency was meant to be an opportunity to get rich, powerful nations to pay attention to poorer countries' concerns such as burgeoning inequality, crippling sovereign debt and a lack of progress in the fight against climate change.