I am sometimes annoyed when an African first is mentioned.
I suppose the enduring grievance of the past few hundred years is that African firsts are a product of the deliberate obstruction of African development anyway.
However, I suppose grievance can only take one so far and no further and as such, must be given its proper place.
The G20 leaders will converge on Africa, in our own Johannesburg, under the first African presidency in 2025.
Putting my partly inherited grievance aside, I suppose this is a significant moment.
Most of the injustices and conflicts of the past and the present have an economic cause.
Nations take over other nations and their territories mostly for economic reasons, all other reasons are often just camouflage.
So, the fact that the G20 was established to achieve global economic and financial stability is significant.
SA has been faithful to the grievances of the Global South in how global economics is structured.
The theme of SA’s presidency of the G20 is “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability”.
This theme aligns perfectly with the responsibilities conferred by history on formerly colonised territories.
It is only such territories which could perfectly understand and find so much meaning in the cause of solidarity, equality and sustainability.
As such, SA is proving some sort of hero for the Global South.
Some of the priorities being championed by SA include debt restructuring for low-income countries.
Disaster resilience and just energy transition which require significant funding in the face of global warming and inequality are also prioritised.
The elevation of inequality to the same levels of importance as climate change and global pandemics is a priority.
The long-held grievance of the Global South, which is the harnessing of critical minerals to benefit the countries of origin, an attempt to reverse the extractive nature of global economic structure, is also mentioned.
Perhaps these priorities have irked the US under Donald Trump, considering how its economy seems so dependent on cheap resources from the Global South.
Instead of appreciating the importance of reconfiguring the global economy to infuse justice into its structure, Trump acts as if he is threatened by SA.
The unreasonable resurrection of the lie of white genocide and the subsequent boycott of the G20 summit by the US all point to an unreasonable misunderstanding of the priorities championed by SA.
Perhaps the very idea of making “America great again” has always pointed to an attempt to keep the status quo.
“The richest 10% hold three-quarters of global wealth while one in four people face hunger,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
“Inequality is bad for everyone. It makes the world less stable, fuels conflict and undermines democracy.”
Understandably, Ramaphosa’s words might not inspire much confidence considering how SA has failed to quell inequality under the ANC’s long reign and under his presidency.
However, the global economy and its constituent economies cannot take inequality for granted, or as an integral part of the global economy.
Inequality represents a significant weakness in the global economic structure.
In fact, it represents an unforgivable failure to use the talents and latent capabilities of vast sections of the global community.
However, inequality cannot be dealt with mechanically. Rather it must be the result of sustained investments in the right global economic structure.
As much as the G20 does not have the ability to enforce its resolutions, its impact is still significant.
It fosters global co-operation particularly at a time when geopolitical upheavals threaten it.
So global economic co-operation recognises economic activity as perhaps the most foundational of human activities, and provides a great counterbalance to this.
As much as the mandate of the G20 seems to expand into areas such as climate change and crisis management, these are also intertwined with the global economy.
So, the US’s dishonest boycott of the G20 Summit should not be a cause for much concern.
Even the dramatic pullout of some presidents, such as the presidents of China and Argentina, should not diminish the importance of the G20 Leadership Summit.
Instead, the US’s treatment of SA for much of 2025 has placed much global attention on SA.
The concerted effort to cast SA in a poor light might achieve the opposite in the end.
SA’s global standing, despite our deep-seated problems, has improved noticeably in 2025.
If we pull off a great G20 summit, that profile will be enhanced further.
If we also successfully reform our economy and our government, we will be the first African superpower soon enough.
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