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.

The ambassadors recorded the message four days after US President Donald Trump signed a decree suspending all donor funding to South Africa as a sanction for what he termed racial oppression and support for “reinvigorating relations with Iran to develop military, and nuclear arrangements”.