South Africa Amplifies Global Voice at G20 Summit

Key Takeaways:

• The US has attacked South Africa’s G20 priorities and core agenda of solidarity, equality, and sustainability.
• Despite this, South Africa has successfully put critical global issues such as debt and inequality on the agenda.
• The country has championed four key themes: debt sustainability, disaster resilience, just energy transition, and leveraging critical minerals for inclusive growth.
• South Africa’s G20 presidency has raised awareness and global discourse on matters crucial to Africa’s development.
• The Stiglitz panel report on inequality and the Manuel panel report on African debt have been major achievements.
• The G20 has achieved mixed results, with some task forces making progress on issues like food security and industrial policy.

Introduction to the G20 Summit
The G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg has been dominated by headlines about the US’s attacks on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s G20 priorities and South Africa’s core agenda. Despite this, South Africa has used its G20 presidency to shine a spotlight on critical global issues such as debt and inequality. These issues could evolve into the country’s greatest G20 legacy, regardless of the formal outcome of the summit. South Africa has battled to persuade other G20 members to adopt its proposed G20 Leaders’ Declaration, but has succeeded in putting critical development issues on the global agenda.

Pushing Africa’s Priorities
Throughout its presidency, South Africa has championed four key themes: ensuring debt sustainability, strengthening disaster resilience and response, mobilising finance for a just energy transition, and leveraging critical minerals for inclusive growth. The Institute for Economic Justice’s executive director, Gilad Isaacs, cited two reports as flagship achievements: a global inequality report produced by a committee under the leadership of Joseph Stiglitz, and a high-level African debt report from an expert panel headed by former finance minister Trevor Manuel. These reports have given global visibility and political momentum to issues of particular importance to Africa and the developing world.

The Inequality Breakthrough
The Stiglitz panel report on inequality has been a significant achievement, making inequality a key policy issue at the G20 for the first time. The report included recommendations such as establishing an independent expert panel on inequality, which would work like the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This proposal could gain traction and have a significant impact, even if it does not appear in the Leaders’ Declaration. The report has also raised awareness and global discourse on matters crucial to Africa’s development, helping to shape the narrative and lay the foundation for future presidencies and global policy processes.

Real Value of the G20
The G20 is not just about the final outcome document, but a collection of all the engagements, meetings, and declarations of G20 ministers and members of panels and committees throughout the year. Sim Tshabalala, head of Standard Bank and chairperson of the B20 finance and infrastructure forum, said the point of the B20 and G20 is to create opportunities for global conversations and move the world closer to consensus. French President Emmanuel Macron could take up key G20 issues when he assumes the G7 presidency next year, and his office has suggested that he will advance issues raised during South Africa’s G20 presidency.

Mixed Results
The formal G20 working groups have achieved mixed results, with some task forces making progress on issues like food security and industrial policy. The Energy Transitions Working Group and the Empowerment of Women Working Group have been fractious and achieved no ministerial declarations. However, the task force on food security has proposed interventions such as building up strategic food buffer stocks, which governments could procure during bountiful times and release into markets when food prices spike. The task force on inclusive economic growth and industrialisation has also made progress, with an agreement on industrial policy that is a first at the G20 level.

The Beginning, Not the End
The end of South Africa’s G20 presidency does not mean the end of its ability or responsibility to promote the issues it prioritised during 2025. The country can still advocate for action on these issues through its further participation in the G20 and in other international and regional forums. Professor Danny Bradlow argued that South Africa should prioritise the financial challenges confronting Africa, including ensuring debt sustainability for low-income countries and mobilising finance for a just energy transition. South Africa needs to convince the G20 to correct the shortcomings in the common framework it devised to provide debt relief to low-income countries. The country should also create an African borrower’s club, independent of the G20, in which African sovereign debtors could share lessons learned about negotiating sovereign debt transactions and responsible debt management.