South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. This will be the first time an African economy leads the G20 for a rotational, one-year term. Image: Flickr of South Africa Government.
South Africa is set to take centre stage tomorrow as President Cyril Ramaphosa will discuss the country’s new role as the incoming President of the Group of Twenty (G20).
He is expected to outline South Africa’s ambitions when it leads the group of the world’s largest economies.
The G20 is a forum of the largest economies in the world who meet regularly to discuss the most pressing issues facing the global economy.
This comes after the recent G20 Rio Leaders’ Summit in Brazil, where Ramaphosa officially accepted South Africa’s responsibility for the G20 Presidency for 2025.
This will be the first time an African economy leads the G20 for a rotational, one-year term.
As South Africa assumes the G20 Presidency on December 1, Ramaphosa said food security will be one of the high-level priorities of South Africa’s G20 Presidency.
In November, Ramaphosa, while speaking at the working session on social inclusion and the fight against higher and poverty, said it was only through an integrated and comprehensive system of social support that the G20 will be able to assist the most vulnerable in society.
He further added that South Africa fully supported the Brazilian Presidency’s focus on social inclusion and the fight against hunger at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
“As the G20, we need to ensure that the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals remains at the forefront of international financing decisions. We need to ensure that long outstanding commitments are met,” he said.
“And we need to ensure that new, at-scale, affordable and accessible funding is mobilised to support sustainable development. We must leave no one behind,” Ramaphosa said.
Vincent Magwenya, the spokesperson for The Presidency, said South Africa would, under its G20 Presidency, seek to provide strategic direction in establishing a more equitable, representative and fit-for-purpose international order, in-line with the main multilateral processes under the United Nations.
South Africa will at the end of its term, hand over the G20 Presidency to the US in November 2025.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance (DA) submitted a letter to Ramaphosa outlining its list of key proposals on South Africa’s approach to its hosting of the G20 Summit.
This submission includes some of the DA’s desired outcomes for South Africa’s G20 Presidency to ensure that we achieve maximum benefit from this window of immense international opportunity for all South African citizens.
DA deputy spokesperson on international relations and cooperation, Ryan Smith, said the DA was calling for the re-establishment of the G20 Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC), which now comprises DA ministers Steenhuisen, Siviwe Gwarube, Solly Malatsi, and Dion George, to serve as South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU) foreign policy engine room.
“Our G20 Summit is South Africa’s very first step into the international arena as a state under the direction of a plurality of parties and voices, and this more holistic representation of South African society within our national government must now reflect in our international engagements,” Smith said.
He also said as the IMC undertakes to provide policy guidance and recommendations to cabinet regarding the substantive and logistical preparations of South Africa’s G20 Presidency, this committee must also serve as the platform where the GNU foreign policy can be developed and ratified in conjunction with the G20 theme, using the Constitution and the GNU Statement of Intent as its policy compasses.
“We as the DA advocate for a foreign policy that is both principled in its adherence to, and promotion of, the South African constitution while being pragmatic in its pursuit of international trade and cooperation, which are in our country’s national interest,” Smith said.
“This must be undertaken in a manner that is cognisant of South Africa’s role as a regional power, a representative of both the global south and developing nations, and a crucial interlocutor between Africa and the world.”
The DA said it has also called for increased private sector involvement and expertise in South Africa’s G20 Summit, especially within the Think 20 (T20) and sector-specific Sherpa Track engagements, to specifically address the dire need for the reform of South Africa’s public healthcare and education systems.
As the country steps up to host the summit. Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero said the metro can “step up” and fix dilapidated infrastructure before hosting world leaders in the city in 2025.
“The City of Johannesburg, together with the City of Tshwane are co-hosts of the G20. When it arrives, we should make sure that […] our infrastructure can handle the challenges that Johannesburg is faced with,” Morero said.
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