{"id":102415,"date":"2025-11-24T17:36:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=102415"},"modified":"2025-11-24T17:36:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T15:36:09","slug":"g20-summit-analysts-praise-south-africas-leadership-amid-us-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/g20-summit-analysts-praise-south-africas-leadership-amid-us-tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"G20 Summit: Analysts Praise South Africa\u2019s Leadership Amid US Tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a> <\/em>
\n3-minute read | 24 November 2025 | 15:45 CAT<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the opening session of the G20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. (AP Photo\/Misper Apawu,Pool)<\/p><\/div>\n

South Africa\u2019s successful hosting of the G20 Leaders\u2019 Summit has been met with widespread acclaim from political analysts, who say the country demonstrated firm diplomatic leadership despite escalating tensions with the United States. The summit, which concluded with a strong multilateral declaration, showcased the continent\u2019s growing influence in global affairs.<\/p>\n

Political analyst Khanyi Magubane said South Africa displayed \u201cgreat political maturity\u201d after the US abruptly withdrew its senior delegation and attempted to downgrade its participation by sending only a charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires. Magubane described the move as \u201ca miscalculated decision\u201d by the Trump administration, adding that \u201cSouth Africa and the rest of the G20 refused to lower the standards\u201d of the ceremonial handover.<\/p>\n

She noted that the US had initially planned to send Deputy President J.D. Vance before retreating from the commitment: \u201cOnly later did the penny drop for America that there was still a very important ceremonial handover to take place.\u201d She said the episode ultimately signalled a shift in global power, stating: \u201cThe nexus of power is moving away from the traditional north and the west\u2026 there can be a world without America at the centre of geopolitics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political scientist Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast echoed this view, saying President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered one of his strongest performances to date. \u201cHe managed to pull this one through under very difficult circumstances,\u201d he said. \u201cThe African agenda was dominating the discourses for the first time.\u201d Breakfast rated the president\u2019s leadership \u201cbetween eight and nine out of ten\u201d and noted that the summit elevated the continent\u2019s global standing.<\/p>\n

Central to the G20\u2019s declaration were commitments to sustainable debt relief, beneficiation of Africa\u2019s mineral resources, and stronger cooperation with institutions such as the IMF and World Bank. Magubane emphasised that \u201cunsustainable debt repayment is what has kept the continent poor for decades,\u201d while Breakfast warned of a persistent gap between \u201cdeclaration and implementation\u201d that African nations must continue to address.<\/p>\n

In the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Magubane cautioned against reading too deeply into it, saying China sent \u201cthe appropriate level officials\u201d and remained active throughout the summit.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to next year\u2019s G20 in the US, Breakfast predicted continued friction: \u201cThe foreign policy of any country revolves around the personality of the head of state the bilateral tension between us and the US is going to continue until the term of office of Trump is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both analysts concluded that despite geopolitical pressure, the Johannesburg summit affirmed Africa\u2019s rising influence and South Africa\u2019s steady hand at a pivotal global moment.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on Sabahul Muslim<\/em><\/a> with Moulana Junaid Kharsany, Political analyst Khanyi Magubane and Political scientist Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read | 24 November 2025 | 15:45 CAT South Africa\u2019s successful hosting of the G20 Leaders\u2019 Summit has been met with widespread acclaim from political analysts, who say the country demonstrated firm diplomatic leadership despite escalating tensions with the United States. The summit, which concluded with a strong multilateral declaration, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":102416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/G20-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1601&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-qDR","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-12 21:57:25","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}