South Africa in the G20: a guide for Model G20 delegates

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South Africa is one of the 19 countries in the G20, alongside the European Union and the African Union, and calls itself a founding member. It held the 2025 presidency and hosted the first G20 summit in Africa. In 2026 it is absent from the US-hosted meetings because the US chose not to invite it, a decision South Africa disputes. This guide reflects official sources as of mid-October 2026.

At a glance

System: a parliamentary republic (Constitution of 1996). The National Assembly elects the President, head of state and of the national executive. Pretoria is the administrative capital; Parliament meets in Cape Town.
Leader: President Cyril Ramaphosa, re-elected on 14 June 2024, heads a Government of National Unity formed that month by "a total of eleven parties".
People and economy: about 63.5 million people (Stats SA, mid-2026) and GDP of about US$427 billion (IMF, 2025), the smallest of the 19 member economies and Africa's largest.
G20 presidency: 2025, with the summit in Johannesburg on 22 and 23 November.
Ministers (October 2026): Ronald Lamola (International Relations and Cooperation) and Enoch Godongwana (Finance).

South Africa's G20 story

Ramaphosa told the Johannesburg summit that, "As a founding member of the G20", South Africa had sought to keep "the development priorities of the Global South and the African continent" on the agenda. The Declaration noted: "For the first time, G20 Leaders have convened in Africa."

The theme was "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability". The Declaration also invokes the African philosophy of Ubuntu, often translated as "I am because we are". The four priorities were disaster resilience, "debt sustainability for low-income countries", finance for a just energy transition, and processing critical minerals "at the place of extraction", known as beneficiation.

South Africa's foreign ministry (DIRCO) gave its own account of the results on 27 November 2025: a G20 Critical Minerals Framework, a G20 Africa Engagement Framework running to 2030, and an inequality report by a committee chaired by Joseph Stiglitz, which proposed an International Panel on Inequality, not mentioned in the Declaration.

The leaders present adopted the Declaration at the start of the summit. The US did not attend, and Argentina said it could not endorse the text. The White House said South Africa had "weaponized" its presidency; South Africa said it valued "the spirit of consensus, collaboration and partnership that defines the G20".

What South Africa wants from the G20

These are the government's positions; other members disagree with some. In February 2026 Ramaphosa listed the Global South's priorities as "inclusive growth, debt relief, climate action, reform of global governance institutions" and processing critical minerals at source.

Debt relief. Ramaphosa says "Many countries, especially in Africa, spend more on debt than they do on health or education or infrastructure development." Lamola backs a new African Credit Rating Agency and a proposed borrowers' club.
Climate finance. Higher "quality and quantity of climate finance to developing economies", and support for "country platforms like the Just Energy Transition Partnership". South Africa's own partnership had US$13.7 billion in pledges by December 2025.
Value from minerals. The Declaration says critical minerals should drive "value-addition and broad-based development, rather than just raw material exports."
Fairer institutions. The Declaration welcomes "a 25th chair at the IMF Executive Board" for Sub-Saharan Africa, and Lamola says "permanent seats for Africa in the Security Council are long overdue".
Inequality. With Brazil, Norway and Spain, it asked the UN in September 2026 to back an International Panel on Inequality.
Fair trade. Without naming a country, Ramaphosa warned of "A world in which trade is used as an instrument of coercion." Lamola cites forecasts that the EU's carbon tax on imports could cost Africa "as much as US$25 billion" in GDP.

Alliances and groupings

BRICS: a member, and host of the 2023 summit. The BRICS New Delhi Declaration of September 2026 underscores "the status of South Africa as a G20 founding country and a full-fledged member".
IBSA: a forum with India and Brazil, whose chair South Africa took on in November 2025.
Africa: the African Union (the AU's list gives 1994 as the date of joining the OAU or AU), the Southern African Development Community and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). The AU joined the G20 in 2023.
Europe: not in the EU, but the European Commission calls the EU "South Africa's main trading partner"; they signed a Clean Trade and Investment Partnership in November 2025.

South Africa and India

India's foreign ministry says India "was the first country to sever trade relations with the apartheid Government (in 1946)". It adds that the Red Fort Declaration, signed during Nelson Mandela's visit in March 1997, made South Africa "India's first strategic partner". Ramaphosa was Republic Day Chief Guest in 2019, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met him in Johannesburg on 23 November 2025 (India's foreign ministry, April 2026).

Trade: US$18.01 billion in 2024-25 (April to March). India buys more than it sells: gold, steam coal and copper ores come in, and vehicles and pharmaceuticals go out.
No free trade agreement: an India-SACU preferential trade agreement has been discussed.
People and cheetahs: about 1.7 million people of Indian origin live in South Africa, which sent India 12 cheetahs in February 2023.

Recent developments

Left out of 2026: on 26 November 2025 President Donald Trump wrote that "South Africa will NOT be receiving an invitation to the 2026 G20". The US cited South Africa's domestic policies and conduct as host; Ramaphosa's office says it is a member "in its own name and right". In April 2026 Godongwana said South Africa "will not be part of the G20 for the whole of this year".
The land law dispute: a February 2025 White House order criticised South Africa's Expropriation Act and said the US shall not provide aid or assistance to South Africa. South Africa says the Act allows expropriation only for "a public purpose or in the public interest", and Ramaphosa calls the US allegations "blatant misinformation about our country".
Tariffs: a White House order of 31 July 2025 set a 30% rate on South African goods. Check whether it still applies.

Representing South Africa at a Model G20

Know your conference's year. South Africa is absent in 2026. If seated, speak as a full member: the Johannesburg text says members take part "on an equal footing in all its events including Summits in accordance with international obligations".
Size is not voice. The G20 works by consensus, not weighted votes, and your 2025 presidency showed a smaller economy can set the agenda.
Likely allies. India and Brazil (IBSA, BRICS) on IMF and UN reform; the African Union on debt and energy access; Brazil on inequality; the EU on clean energy investment.
Likely red lines. Trade used as coercion, climate rules that hurt African industry, debt deals that ignore borrowers, mineral deals that ship only raw ore, and sidelining any member. The host's account says the US, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye did not associate with the 2025 energy group's chair's summary: expect pushback on energy.
Phrase it South Africa's way. Frame proposals with Ubuntu and "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability". Ramaphosa speaks of "mutually beneficial relationships with all countries on terms of equality and respect", so do not cast it as for or against any bloc.
Attribute contested issues. On Gaza, land and the US dispute, say "South Africa's government says". Its International Court of Justice case against Israel under the Genocide Convention, brought in December 2023, is still pending.
Quote your record: the Johannesburg Declaration (2025), Ramaphosa's summit speeches (November 2025), DIRCO's results list (November 2025), the State of the Nation Address (February 2026) and India's foreign ministry brief (April 2026).

What to do next

Build your brief with how to write a Model G20 position paper and how a G20 leaders' declaration is agreed. Then read the G20 Sherpa Track and Finance Track explained and, on this year's dispute, the 2026 G20 presidency explained.

Model G20 is One Young India's simulation of the G20 summit for students, held as a three-day residential summit at FLAME University.

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