South Africa is making history by hosting the G20 summit for the first time on African soil, but the landmark event faces significant challenges both internationally and domestically. The summit, taking place in Johannesburg under the theme "solidarity, equality and sustainability," has been overshadowed by a US boycott and warnings from the Trump administration.
International Tensions and Domestic Unrest
US President Donald Trump has decided to boycott the event where South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was scheduled to formally hand over G20 leadership to him. The United States has additionally cautioned South Africa against issuing a joint declaration at the conclusion of the summit, creating diplomatic friction around what should be a celebratory occasion for the host nation.
Domestically, the situation appears equally challenging. Nationwide civic disobedience has been coordinated by women's rights charities, nationalist groups, and trade unions. These organisations are using the international spotlight to highlight critical issues the government has failed to address, including femicide, immigration policies, and persistently high unemployment rates.
Indigenous Communities Challenge Summit's Inclusivity Theme
The credibility of an African G20 summit themed around inclusivity faces a symbolic threat from the continued exclusion and marginalisation of South Africa's oldest communities. Khoisan Chief Zenzile expressed his concerns directly to Sky News, standing before the First Nations Heritage Centre in Cape Town.
"There is a disingenuous thread that runs right through many of these gatherings, and the G20 is no different," Chief Zenzile stated. "I am very concerned that the many marginalised sections of society - youth, indigenous people, are not inside the front and centre of this agenda."
During the interview, construction sounds echoed around the curated indigenous garden as South Africa's Amazon headquarters was being built nearby. After years of government sidelining in deals involving construction on sacred Khoisan land, Chief Zenzile negotiated directly with developers to build the heritage centre and sanctuary while retaining permanent land ownership.
Land Reclamation and Community Agency
Approximately ninety minutes from Cape Town's centre, Khoi-San communities have taken decisive action by seizing 2000 hectares of land they claim historically belongs to them. The settlement called Knoflokskraal represents a state where they exercise full agency, independently addressing infrastructure gaps around water and electricity supply that the provincial government refuses to provide to residents it categorises as 'squatters'.
"We are - exactly today - here for five years now," revealed Dawid De Wee, president of the Khoi Aboriginal Party, during a tour of the settlement. "There are more or less around 4000 of us. The calling from our ancestral graves sent us down here, so we had an urge to get our own identity and get back to our roots."
Dawid confirmed plans to expand their reclamation efforts to recover additional land stolen from them by European settlers in the 1600s across the Cape Colony. This movement occurs against the backdrop of South Africa's ongoing contentious land reform issues, where a white minority still owns most of the land despite the end of Apartheid.
At the World Tribal Alliance gathering on Cape Point's most south-western tip, Khoi-San Queen Eloise offered perspective on the G20's limitations. "G20 is a politically-based gathering - they are coming together to determine the future of people politically," she explained. "The difference is that we will seek what Mother Earth wants from us and not what we want to do with technology or all those things politically."
As world leaders convene in Johannesburg to discuss global solidarity and sustainability, South Africa's indigenous communities continue their struggle for recognition, land rights, and meaningful inclusion in the nation they've inhabited for millennia.
