SA assumes its year-long presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) from December 1. President Cyril Ramaphosa will officially launch the rotational presidency, taking over from Brazil, on Tuesday in Cape Town.
The G20 is a forum of the largest economies in the world including China, France, Germany, India, the UK and the US. SA was the only African member until the addition of the AU in 2023.
It also will host the B20 — the G20’s official private-sector engagement group — which brings together global business perspectives to influence G20 deliberations and outcomes. The B20 serves as a platform for businesses to connect, collaborate and forge partnerships that aim to drive economic growth globally.
SA is set to host about 130 virtual and in-person G20 meetings over the next 12 months, with the leaders’ summit scheduled for November in Johannesburg.
The first engagements this month will be a sherpas’ meeting (December 9-10), a joint meeting of sherpas, finance and central bank deputies (December 10) and a finance and central bank governors’ meeting (December 9-12) in Johannesburg.
“Under its G20 presidency, SA seeks 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 UN presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said.
Ramaphosa and Nigerian counterpart Bola Tinubu will co-chair the two-day 11th binational commission in Cape Town from Tuesday. Nigeria and Egypt have been invited to attend and participate in meetings during SA’s G20 presidency. These include the finance and sherpa track meetings as well as all working group meetings, ministerial meetings and the leaders’ summit.
There are 34 agreements and memorandums of understanding between the two countries which cover a “wide range of fields including economic, technical, scientific, social, and tourism”, Magwenya said.
Government of national unity (GNU) partners are scheduled to meet again this week to discuss the implementation of the Basic Education Laws Amendment (Bela) Act, which is a bone of contention among them. An agreement was signed by basic education minister Siviwe Gwarube and lobby groups AfriForum and Solidarity at Nedlac, where it was agreed that clauses 4 & 5 of the act would not be implemented by January for the new school year.
However, Ramaphosa’s office said on Sunday the parallel process at Nedlac regarding the legislation had “no influence on the president’s powers to ultimately take a decision regarding the commencement of the act”.
Ramaphosa signed the bill into law in September, but delayed the implementation of controversial clauses for three months to allow for further engagement.
On Wednesday, 400 candidates will be on the ballot paper to contest the by-elections in the Thabazimbi local municipality in Limpopo that was dissolved two months ago due to political instability. The candidates from 21 political parties will be in the running for power in 12 wards and 11 proportional representation seats.
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