SA's Role in the G20: A Symbolic Leadership or Real Influence?

The article by Dr. Clyde N.S. Ramalaine critically examines South Africa's hosting of the G20 summit in Johannesburg in November 2025, framed by President Ramaphosa as an 'African moment' to advance Global South priorities like debt sustainability, illicit financial flows, and institutional reform. However, Ramalaine argues that South Africa's role is largely symbolic rather than structurally influential, due to the G20's origins as a crisis-response forum dominated by G7 economies, with emerging nations like South Africa included merely for representation. Historically, the G20 evolved from the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, expanding from G7 to include systemically important emerging markets, but retaining a hierarchy where South Africa, as a non-foundational invitee, holds limited leverage—its GDP is only 0.6% of global output. The summit highlighted tensions between aspiration and reality: South Africa projected moral authority and pan-African leadership, but faced 'outside snubbing' (e.g., US and Argentina downscaling participation) and 'inside snubbing' (e.g., China and Russia attending selectively, with Putin and Lavrov absent, signaling BRICS rebuke). Continental dynamics were selective, excluding nations like Rwanda due to historical tensions (e.g., over DRC conflicts), revealing performative exceptionalism that prioritizes national prestige over inclusive unity. Outcomes were constrained by G20's consensus-driven, informal structure, likely resulting in a non-binding Chair’s Report rather than a unanimous Leaders’ Declaration, with dissent from absent powers like the US persisting. Ramalaine notes domestic challenges—high inequality and unemployment—undermine South Africa's capacity, and future hosts like a potential Trump-led US could dilute achievements. Implications underscore a recurring flaw in South African foreign policy: rhetorical ambition yields visibility but not enduring power in a forum governed by material dominance, serving as a cautionary tale of symbolic overreach in entrenched global hierarchies.