JOHANNESBURG – Leaders from the world’s largest economies will convene in Johannesburg on 22 and 23 November for a historic G20 summit marking the first time the influential gathering has been held on African soil, despite a notable boycott by the United States.

The summit comes at a time of heightened global instability and escalating tensions between South Africa and the Trump administration, which announced it would not send any officials to the meeting.

President Donald Trump called South Africa’s G20 presidency a “total disgrace” earlier this month, continuing his harsh criticism of the country since returning to office in January. The US leader has imposed 30% tariffs on South Africa—the highest in sub-Saharan Africa—while making false claims about a “white genocide” in the country.

South Africa’s presidency of the Group of 20 represents a milestone for the continent. Founded in 1999, the G20 comprises 19 countries plus the European Union and African Union, representing 85 percent of global GDP and about two-thirds of the world’s population.

While South Africa remains the only individual African nation in the group, the African Union gained membership in 2023, strengthening continental representation.

The summit will be hosted at the Nasrec Expo Centre, the country’s largest purpose-built conference venue, strategically located on the edge of Soweto township as a symbol of post-apartheid “spatial integration.” The venue regularly hosts major events, including the ruling African National Congress annual convention, and sits adjacent to the stadium that hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup final.

Under the theme “Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,” South Africa has outlined ambitious priorities including strengthening disaster resilience, ensuring debt sustainability for low-income countries, financing a “just energy transition,” and harnessing critical minerals for inclusive growth.

The host nation, ranked by the World Bank as “the world’s most unequal country,” commissioned a team led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz to analyse global wealth inequality. The expert panel has called for creating an intergovernmental body to address what it terms an “inequality emergency” affecting 2.3 billion hungry people worldwide.

Beyond the US boycott, other notable absences include Argentine President Javier Milei, a Trump ally who is sending his foreign minister instead. Russian President Vladimir Putin will also skip the gathering, continuing his pattern from recent summits.

Pretoria has dismissed the American absence as Washington’s “loss,” maintaining optimism for a successful summit despite the diplomatic slight.

The summit has drawn attention to Johannesburg’s complex reality as a city of contrasts. Home to nearly six million people according to official July estimates, the metropolis formed during a gold rush in the late 1880s now hosts Africa’s richest square mile while struggling with crumbling infrastructure and chronic mismanagement.

President Cyril Ramaphosa criticised the city’s disrepair in March, demanding immediate improvements. The African Development Bank responded with a $139 million loan approval in July for infrastructure upgrades.

South Africa’s presidency concludes a cycle of “Global South” leadership following Brazil, India, and Indonesia. The hosting duties will transfer to the United States, where Trump has indicated plans to dramatically scale back the platform, questioning whether it should continue beyond its original financial scope to include the working groups and social issues it has embraced over the years.

The president has even questioned whether South Africa should remain “in the Gs any more,” raising broader concerns about the G20’s future direction and membership.

As world leaders prepare to gather in Africa’s economic hub, the summit represents both a historic opportunity for South African diplomacy and a test of the G20’s resilience amid shifting global power dynamics.

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