South Africa used its presidency of the G20 Social Summit to force an uncomfortable question back into global economics and politics. Can the world still talk about growth without talking about people?
Hosted in Pretoria on November 18-20, the summit arrives as inequality widens, climate pressure intensifies, and economic volatility threatens African economies.
In a crowded global agenda dominated by geopolitics and climate tension, Pretoria carved out a space for voices often locked out of formal diplomacy.
The Social Summit is not new to the G20 architecture, and commonalities can be seen throughout the previous such summits. India’s 2023 presidency first elevated social participation as a core diplomatic pillar, linking inclusive growth to its theme, One Earth, One Family, One Future.
That summit pushed digital public infrastructure, the inclusion of the Global South, and governance reform to the fore. But the roots go further back.
In Saudi Arabia in 2020, the Covid-19 emergency forced leaders to confront the fragility of the global social compact.
The Riyadh Leaders’ Declaration emphasized job protection, stronger social systems and equitable climate adaptation.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile opened the summit with a blunt reminder that multilateralism is under stress. He argued that global challenges now “require enhanced South–South collaboration, strengthened by tangible North–South cooperation”, a message that lands in a country where economic inequality, joblessness and climate shocks are already putting pressure on society.
President Cyril Ramaphosa closed the summit by picking up that thread, warning that a just transition cannot succeed “without the participation, leadership and wisdom of those most affected”.
The UN estimates that more than 600 million people will still live in extreme poverty by 2030, while climate impacts push millions more into vulnerability. For Africa, the continent contributes less than 4% of global emissions yet absorbs the heaviest social and climate costs. Such climate-finance shortfalls threaten the scaling of just-transition projects.
South Africa’s iteration built on the trajectory of India, Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Brazil, but fused these strands into a single, integrated agenda. The 2025 agenda was anchored in five thematic pillars, including digital inclusion and equitable transformation, resilient and inclusive value chains, climate justice and just transition, and fair and sustainable finance.
Delegates also sharpened the climate justice debate. Africa’s leaders reiterated that a just transition must protect jobs, communities and public finances in economies still dependent on coal and heavy industry.
They also pressed G20 members on climate finance shortfalls, noting that the $100-billion annual commitment has never been fully delivered.
Behind these themes sits a broader political project of repositioning Africa as an agenda-setter rather than agenda-taker.
Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni highlighted this when she declared that the summit’s impact “will last a lifetime”, noting that deliberations are aimed at building consensus not just for South Africa, but “for the continent and the world”.
Concrete proposals emerged through the legacy programmes. They range from a Pan-African Sovereign Wealth Fund Initiative to digitally enabled MSME finance for women and youth to a continental creative industries platform and a renewed push on public-private health accelerators.
Civil society’s declaration, delivered on the final day, captured the tone. It sharpened its demands by calling for universal social protection, transparent climate-finance flows and binding gender-equality commitments, signalling the strongest position yet on accountability.
Ramaphosa stressed that the Social Summit’s power lies in its moral authority. “We know that global action will be credible because it is informed by the voices of the people,” he said, For Pretoria, the legitimacy of the G20 increasingly depends on its ability to listen to those outside government corridors.
Declarations may shift political talk of the day, but implementation shifts lives. For many South Africans, the test will be whether global promises filter down to better social protection, climate resilience and economic opportunities at home.
By placing civil society at the centre of G20 diplomacy, South Africa has ensured that global power brokers can no longer ignore the people their decisions most affect.
