South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa came out in defense of his country during a national address on Thursday, asserting that South Africa would not be bullied.

"We are witnessing the rise of nationalism, protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests, and the decline of common cause," Ramaphosa said during his State of the Nation address in Cape Town.

"This is the world that we as South Africa, a developing economy, must now navigate, but we are not daunted," he said.

"We are, as South Africans, a resilient people, and we will not be bullied," Ramaphosa said to cheers from some lawmakers in parliament.

The South African leader did not make direct reference to the United States or President Donald Trump, who has strongly criticized Ramaphosa's government in recent days.

Declining relations with the US

The comments come amid unraveling diplomatic relations between Pretoria and Washington and a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he would not be attending the Group of 20 (G20) talks, taking place in Johannesburg later this month.

"South Africa is doing very bad things. Expropriating private property. Using G20 to promote 'solidarity, equality, & sustainability,'" Rubio posted on X. "In other words: DEI and climate change."  

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly attacked programs focused on DEI, which stands for diversity, equity and inclusion, since he returned to the White House for his second term.

Rubio's decision to skip the G20 summit comes days after Trump — who is being advised by South African-born Elon Musk — slammed the South African government over an expropriation act signed into law by Ramaphosa last month.

SA land policy a flashpoint

According to the Expropriation Bill, the government may in some circumstances offer "nil compensation" for property where land is expropriated in the public interest.

Trump accused the South African government of confiscating land and "treating certain classes of people very badly" and announced that it was cutting all future funding.

South Africa has rejected these accusations with the country's Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola saying "there is no arbitrary dispossession of land / private property" with South Africa's new land reform law.

"This law is similar to the Eminent domain laws," Lamola said.

With eminent domain laws, Lamola is referring to a law used in the US, as well as in other countries, that allows the state or the federal government to take private property for public use.

The issue of land is a highly emotive one in a country where historically, racist laws saw black families forcibly removed from their land by the apartheid government.

Today, the South African government has to navigate a political tightrope of redressing the injustices of the past while taking into account private land ownership.

Edited by: Louis Oelofse