Magwenya was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit held at the Nasrec Expo Centre, in Johannesburg.
“The declaration has been adopted by the leaders here at the summit. We were edging closer and closer to that unanimous adoption and now we have a summit declaration adopted.
“There was a slight change in the programme. Normally the adoption happens right at the end but throughout the day yesterday, during various bilateral talks, there was a sense that we should actually move to have the summit declaration adopted first as a first order of the day and then proceed with the rest of the day,” he said.
The spokesperson explained some of the elements within the declaration particularly as it relates to conflicts across the world.
“What the declaration does, it affirms the centrality of the UN Charter with respect to the peaceful resolution of conflicts and avoiding the use of force in resolving the issues of dispute.
“The declaration highlights, in particular, the four of the gravest conflicts in the world namely: the DRC, Sudan, Ukraine and Palestine.
Facing questions on the absence of the USA, Magwenya highlighted that government has communicated that it will not do the symbolic handover the G20 Presidency gavel to a “junior official”.
Earlier this week, reports surfaced that the USA would send a Charge’ d’ Affaires – an embassy official – to recognise the handover.
“We have communicated that officially [and] we have communicated that publicly. It has never been done before and it’s not going to happen and start now with South Africa.
“The President will not handover to a junior embassy official. It’s a breach of protocol that is not going to be accommodated or allowed in this instance.
“It is a position of principle. America chose to boycott the summit. That is their choice and that’s their prerogative to do so. But what cannot happen is a breach of protocol being forced,” he said.
The spokesperson affirmed South Africa’s commitment to engaging with countries.
“We are a sovereign country. We will always engage with other countries in a respectful and considerate manner as we have always done particularly with the US considering all the challenges that we’ve faced in trying to reset that relationship.
“However, one must also give consideration that you have more than one country. It’s the G20, plus the [African Union], plus the [European Union] therefore we can’t just bend the rules for one country. We need to respect the countries who have been part of the process, who’ve worked tirelessly to make sure that this G20 is a success that it is now.
“We need to move forward,” Magwenya said.