South Africa responded Thursday to a US bar on its participation in G20 events under Washington's presidency by saying it was a fully-fledged member of the forum and expected to be treated equally.

The United States took over this month the presidency of the group of leading economies after largely boycotting South Africa's tenure, including the November summit, in an escalation of a months-long standoff with Pretoria.

In a blistering attack on Wednesday of Pretoria's G20 run, Secretary of State Marco Rubio repeated President Donald Trump's statement a few weeks ago that it would not be invited to G20 events in the coming year, including a summit due in Miami.

Asked about the statement, President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters: "We are yet to receive it in writing and we will deal with

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