Donald Trump has said the US will not attend the G20 summit in South Africa over widely discredited claims that white people are being persecuted in the country.

The US president said it was a “total disgrace” that South Africa is hosting the meeting, where leaders from the world’s largest economies will gather in Johannesburg later this month.

South Africa’s foreign ministry described the decision by the White House as “regrettable”.

None of South Africa’s political parties - including those that represent Afrikaners and the white community in general - have claimed that there is a genocide in South Africa.