JOHANNESBURG 

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday congratulated Donald Trump on his inauguration for a return term as US president.

“Congratulations to President @realDonaldTrump on the occasion of your inauguration as the 47th President of the United States of America. I look forward to continuing the close and mutually beneficial partnership between our two nations across all areas of our cooperation,” Ramaphosa wrote on X, making him the first African leader to congratulate Trump on the platform.

In a November telephone call with Trump, Ramaphosa extended South Africa’s well wishes and congratulated his winning another term after four years out of power.

“During our telephone call, we both agreed on the need to strengthen our trade and political ties,” he said at the time on X.

Ramaphosa also said South Africa looks forward to hosting Trump at a G20 heads of state summit to be held in the country later this year.

South Africa in December officially assumed the G20 presidency, the first-ever African country to lead the group of powerful nations.

“The G20 is an important formation. Our economy is rather small but we are part of the G20, so we are hitting way above our own weight by dint of the positioning we have in the world, and also the many positions we have taken and strength of our economy as well,” Ramaphosa told reporters at the time.

South Africa has the continent’s largest economy, followed by Egypt and Algeria.