SA Chairmanship of the G20 and its interface with domestic, continental and global dynamics

2024 was a big year for South Africa, marking 30 years since the inception of democracy in 1994. This milestone was punctuated by Pretoria assuming the Group of Twenty (G20) Chairmanship in December 2024, which lapses at the conclusion of the G20 Summit constituted by Heads of State and Government on 22 and 23 November 2025. The historic mandate of the G20 is to serve as a deliberative forum to resolve global economic and financial challenges, constituted by 19 developed and developing countries, with the European Union and the African Union completing the membership of this forum.

The Government of South Africa has adopted the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability” as the rallying call for its tenure at the helm of the G20. The triple aims enmeshed in this theme is that of a global compact and commitment to inclusive development within and among nations, promoting equal intra and interstate opportunities for meaningful human participation in economies and ensuring these development gains continue well into future generations. This is an important theme for Africa, the Global South and even the marginalized social groupings found in advanced economies, as the theme speaks directly to the need for concerted partnerships and commitment to achieving the United Nations’ adopted 2030 Agenda of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A 2024 report by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network has revealed that none of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals will be achieved by a majority of the world’s nation-states in 2030, and these unfortunate findings underscore the need for an accelerated global compact to resolve global economic and financial challenges without which global development will continue to regress.

Complex dynamics 

South Africa’s tenure at the helm of the G20 coincides with some complex domestic, continental and global economic, security and financial dynamics.

Domestically, South Africa’s political landscape changed in 2024, with governing powers now shared by multiple political parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU). The coalition government inevitably will take longer to formulate public and foreign policies upon which the co-governing political parties will reach consensus on, as well as the introduction and passing of bills in Parliament. This is evidenced by the draft Medium-Term Development Plan that is to be tabled to Cabinet this week, seven months after the May 29 election and the constitution of the 7th administration. There are already clashes on key (foreign) policies and pieces of legislation within the coalition government, centered on the ideal approach to be taken to continue historical redress in the education sector and private property rights respectively: sections 4 and 5 of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act and the Expropriation Act. Public domestic conflicts on key policy priorities are a sign of political and policy uncertainty for investors, rendering futile the foreign direct investment (FDI) drives at platforms such as the World Economic Forum. Equally, there needs to be consistency within the GNU on domestic development priorities, representing all social groupings that constitute South Africa as a nation. This is key to the survival of the democratic state.

Continentally, South Africa and the African Union (AU) need to ensure collaborative advocacy for global and continental economic and financial environments that facilitates, and are receptive to, investment in African industrialisation and progressive relaxation of tariffs and non-tariff barriers for goods and services exported from various African markets. Such advocacy will directly contribute to the furthering of the aims articulated in Article 3 of the Agreement Establishing the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), whose normative goal is to accelerate intra-African trade, create a common market where African economies mutually feed off each other to drive innovation and productivity across all primary, secondary and tertiary economic sectors, thereby setting a firm foundation for a 21st century African economic miracle akin to that seen in the previously impoverished East and Southeast Asia from the 1960s to the 1990s. As G20 Chair, Pretoria should work with the AU to push the AfCFTA as an attractive investment and innovation destination to multilateral and bilateral financiers and donors alike, setting the scene for a comprehensive pursuit of Aspiration 1 of Agenda 2063, and indirectly affecting (positively) the other six (6) Aspirations. Of course, part of Pretoria and the AU’s agenda needs to include the continuation of advocacy for the reform of the global monetary, finance and trade systems, such that they also enable the development interests of the Global South, as they have done for the Global North since 1945.

Globally, all member nations of the United Nations subscribe to the 17 SDGs. However, the rise of anti-globalist sentiments and movements in the Global North (particularly the biggest economy in the world, the USA), the withdrawal of bilateral and multilateral donor funding for critical UN and other international NGOs, the rise in global and regional conflicts premised on war-effecting expansionist ambitions (Israel-Palestine atrocities, the international war in the Ukraine, the regional conflict in the DRC, Washington interests in annexing foreign territory) are all existential threats to the international community, order and cooperation. Should these alarming global developments persist, the next few years may see the disappearance of international cooperation forums such as the G20, the UN network, Bretton Woods institutions, World Trade Organisation and many others.

It is the responsibility of South Africa to reach consensus domestically on development and policy priorities, and to work with other international players (intergovernmental organisations, governments and corporations) towards reversing the emerging global trend of aggressive nationalism and isolationism. As an international nation-building miracle itself, Pretoria is perhaps the right symbolic leader of an important forum like the G20, and needs to advocate for international solidarity premised on mutual global aspirations of socio-economic progress and human development that has a long-term outlook. A better world is only possible through international cooperation, not fragmentation. Pre-21st century aggressive inter-state relations already delivered two deadly World Wars, colonialism and other forms of domination and subjugation whose legacy the global political economy continues to grapple with.