LONDON - As UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer prepares to travel to South Africa for the G20 leaders' summit, his government is taking a curious position over debunked claims of a genocide against white farmers.
After President Cyril Ramaphosa visited US President Donald Trump in Washington in May, and the South African team was ambushed with a video presentation containing widely discredited claims about a 'white genocide', eNCA followed up with Downing Street in London.
In early June I asked a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer whether the UK believes there is a genocide happening in South Africa.
The spokesman said he wouldn't make a comment on comments by the Trump administration.
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I pressed the spokesman, insisting I wasn't asking necessarily for a comment on what was being said by the White House.
I made the point that the South African government maintains there is no such genocide - and wondered whether the UK was able to say that it accepts that position.
Again, the Prime Minister's spokesman would not comment at all.
So eNCA followed up in the days that followed with the UK's Foreign Office.
I asked if it really was the position of the UK government that it was not able to say whether it thought there was a genocide currently unfolding in South Africa. Again: no comment was provided.
This very week, eNCA has tried once more to ask the UK government if it is yet prepared to say whether it believes there is a genocide taking place. Still there is no comment forthcoming.
This provides a strange backdrop to relations between South Africa and the UK as the G20 approaches.
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UK government sources have stressed to eNCA that the UK has been fully committed to the South African G20 presidency and has engaged 'comprehensively' throughout this year.
But government sources in London also insist the issue of a genocide in South Africa is not something that has been raised with UK officials by South African counterparts. Up to now, anyway.
One explanation for the UK stance is likely to be that it doesn't want to get drawn into a war of words with Washington or President Trump himself on this topic.
Keir Starmer has made huge efforts to pursue a positive relationship with the US President - offering him a rare second state visit to the UK, for example.
Those efforts have contributed to the UK being able to agree an Economic Prosperity Deal with the US in May designed to boost trade and lower tariffs between the two countries.
The US is the UK's largest export and import partner for services, and its largest export partner for goods, and in 2024 the UK exported £137 billion of services to the United States. So it's a critical relationship for London.
However, with world leaders descending on South Africa for the G20 leaders' summit, and with the backdrop of the US not attending the event, claims made by the Trump administration about the treatment of white farmers are likely to be being discussed.
So it will be interesting to see whether the current UK position - that it is not able to say whether it thinks a genocide is taking place in South Africa or not - is a stance that is maintained through the G20 summit and beyond.
Or will it feel pressure to more explicitly back one of its key allies over claims which have been widely discredited?
- Olly Barratt is eNCA’s correspondent in London