G20 Summit | Leaders of Africa must come together

The article is a transcript from SABC's coverage of the final day of the G20 Leaders Summit in South Africa 2025, held at the Nazareth precinct on a Sunday morning. It highlights ongoing closed sessions, bilateral meetings—including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) summit—and the adoption of the leaders' declaration from the previous day, emphasizing multilateralism, value addition in mineral-producing countries, and sustainable development. In an interview, Dr. Oscar Fanhiran, a senior research fellow at the University of Johannesburg, discusses India's commitments from a prior event, including strengthened partnerships with South Africa focused on education, skills training for digitization and AI, leveraging India's software expertise and Africa's critical minerals. He stresses the need for beneficiation to ensure Africa benefits from its resources rather than serving as a mere export market, urging African unity via the African Union (AU)'s G20 inclusion and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to counter divide-and-rule tactics, such as former U.S. President Donald Trump's selective engagements. Fanhiran calls for structural changes like resolving conflicts in regions like eastern DRC and Sudan to enable progress, praises South Africa's leadership in hosting the first G20 on the continent, and notes emerging investments (e.g., €12 billion from the EU for just transition, $10 billion from China for technology) alongside domestic South African economic improvements like job creation, logistics enhancements, and a budget surplus. On climate change, concerns are raised about Trump's skepticism and past U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, especially post-COP30's lack of fossil fuel cuts, but the global community is portrayed as uniting against unilateralism, with the declaration affirming multilateral cooperation. The U.S. absence is noted, with speculation of a negative reaction from Trump, though South Africa's permanent G20 seat via the troika ensures continued involvement. Overall, the summit underscores Africa's strategic importance, potential for tangible benefits from global partnerships, and the imperative for African leaders to act strategically for a brighter future.