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G20: A pivotal moment for SA to prove itself
Mail & Guardian
|M&G 21 November 2025
With the presidents of the United States, China and Russia not coming to the G20 leaders' summit in Johannesburg at the weekend, the eyes of the world will be on President Cyril Ramaphosa, who must rise to the occasion and use South Africa's presidency of the bloc to show the country is ready for the big stage and to take its place in global politics.
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The absence of Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, the leaders of the world’s three most powerful countries, leaves Ramaphosa in pole position to show South Africa is not in the G20 just to make up numbers; that it is not on the menu, but sitting at the table and offering solutions to global challenges.
While it would have given SA’s presidency a major boost if the presidents of fellow Brics member countries attended in person, the host can still deliver one of the best summits in the history of the G20.
This story is from the M&G 21 November 2025 edition of Mail & Guardian.
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