Staff Reporter

The first-ever G20 Leaders’ Summit held on African soil is underway in Johannesburg, but it has been defined as much by who is missing as by who is present.

Hosted by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Nasrec Expo Centre, the summit is the culmination of a year-long effort to pivot the global agenda towards the priorities of the developing world, despite notable boycotts and high-level absences.

The meeting, representing 85% of global GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population, has been dramatically overshadowed by the eleventh-hour boycott by the United States, with President Donald Trump citing unsubstantiated claims of human rights abuses and an alleged white genocide in South Africa.

While the US will send a lower-level official for the ceremonial presidency handover, the country’s absence has created a vacuum at the table.

Despite the US snub, over 40 countries, including Zimbabwe, and international organizations have confirmed their participation, with South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola calling the turnout a success.

The attendees include a roster of influential leaders.

China is represented by Premier Li Qiang instead of President Xi Jinping while Russia’s delegation is led by Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration, due to President Vladimir Putin’s ICC arrest warrant.

Key European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, are in attendance.

Leaders from major economies, including India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, are also present.

The African Union, a new G20 member, is represented by Chairperson Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.

Notably, the Presidents of Argentina, Mexico, and Nigeria also cancelled their attendance, with high-level representatives sent in their place.

Hosted by the African Presidency, the G20 summit is focused on tackling global inequalities and prioritizing the needs of the Global South.

The four overarching priorities are:
– Strengthening Disaster Resilience and Response: Calling for a scale-up of post-disaster reconstruction finance from international institutions.
– Ensuring Debt Sustainability: Seeking sustainable solutions for tackling high structural deficits and liquidity challenges for low-income countries.
– Mobilising Finance for a Just Energy Transition: Aiming to secure agreement on increasing the quality and quantity of climate finance flowing to developing countries.
– Harnessing Critical Minerals for Inclusive Growth: Prioritizing local communities and source countries amid the global race for vital resources.

The hosts are also pushing to implement key recommendations from the G20 Extraordinary Committee on Global Inequality, including the establishment of a permanent international panel on inequality.

The official discussions are being mirrored by a wave of protests in and around Johannesburg, showing the domestic challenges facing the host nation as an advocacy group Women for Change led a “National Shutdown” on yesterday, urging women to wear black and stage a 15-minute lie-down protest.

This action symbolized the 15 lives lost daily to gender-based violence in South Africa, which has a femicide rate five times the global average.

In response, President Ramaphosa acknowledged the issue as a national crisis, and authorities have declared gender-based violence and femicide a national disaster.

Anti-immigration group Operation Dudula protested high joblessness, citing South Africa’s soaring 31% unemployment rate, one of the highest in the world.

A coalition of climate and wealth inequality activists also organized an alternative summit, “The Citizen,” to decry the G20 as a gathering for the rich.

The trade union Solidarity staged a protest against the alleged marginalization of white South Africans, referencing the country’s affirmative action laws.

The issue has become part of the diplomatic row with the US, though South African officials deny the claims of white genocide, stating that high crime rates affect all ethnicities.