Download PDFAs South Africa prepares to host the G20 Summit, government leaders promise “global leadership” and “new investment,” yet across working-class communities the feeling is very different. Workers, unemployed youth, informal traders, and community activists view the summit with growing scepticism—seeing it not as a solution, but as another elite gathering that will pass quickly while their hardships remain.
This scepticism is not theoretical. It comes from lived experience. Just as the City of Johannesburg’s periodic “clean-up operations” temporarily shine the CBD for a weekend before the same problems return, the G20 Summit is seen as yet another fleeting performance, a polished stage set up for global audiences while the deep wounds of inequality, poverty, and unemployment continue to bleed.
And in the weeks leading up to the summit, the state has worsened this perception by rounding up migrants, conducting immigration raids, and criminalising the poor in the name of “security.”
These actions mirror past city “clean-ups” that target the most vulnerable—migrants, informal traders, and unhoused people—all to present a tidy image for global dignitaries. Instead of addressing real issues, the state turns its force against those who already live on the margins.
For working-class communities, the message is clear: the summit is being hosted for elites, not for the people.
While government hosts high-level roundtables in secure venues, the daily reality for most South Africans remains unchanged:
- bread and transport prices continue to rise
- public transport collapses further
- clinics run out of medication
- electricity instability destroys small livelihoods
- young people search endlessly for work
- corruption drains what little public money is available
Workers know that no summit will fix these conditions overnight. They have heard too many government promises that dissolve into slogans. And the G20’s agenda—focused on “financial stability,” “market confidence,” and “growth”—appears far removed from the daily struggles of those living in overcrowded townships, backyard dwellings, or congested hostels.
For many activists, the G20 is simply not a space where the poor are meant to be heard. It is a gathering of powerful states managing the global economy in ways that consistently favour banks, investors, and multinational corporations.
The working class is not at the table. Migrants are not at the table. Informal workers are not at the table.
Instead, they are policed, pushed aside, or silenced so the summit can project an illusion of order.
While government celebrates its seat at the global table, grassroots movements are pushing for real transformation.
The Fight Inequality Alliance, representing community movements from across the Global South, has demanded:
- A total rewriting of global financial rules
They argue that the current system traps poor countries in cycles of debt, austerity, and dependency. Rules must shift power away from banks and creditors and toward people and communities.
- Taxing the super-rich
A global tax on extreme wealth, including corporations, wealthy elites, and multinational finance, is essential to redistribute resources and fund public services. Inequality will not shrink until wealth hoarding is challenged directly.
- Fair and balanced lending opportunities
The alliance calls for lending systems that do not punish African countries with high interest rates, ratings bias, and structural conditionalities. Instead of profit-driven finance, they demand lending that supports development, justice, and climate resilience.
These demands speak directly to the experiences of working-class communities who suffer the consequences of policies made far above their heads.
Alongside these demands, many progressive organisations, economic justice institutes, anti-poverty networks, labour-linked research units, are pushing for deep, structural debt reform.
Their arguments include:
- Existing debt mechanisms drain national budgets that should fund health, education, housing, and electricity
- Debt repayments force governments to cut social spending
- Africa continues to pay more for credit than Europe or North America
- Without cancelling illegitimate and unpayable debt, no genuine development can occur
For the working class, this is not abstract policy. It is about whether clinics have medicine, whether public transport can run, whether water systems are repaired, and whether young people have any future.
Workers and activists often compare the G20 to Johannesburg’s clean-up campaigns because both follow the same pattern:
- They make things look good for outsiders
The city removes litter and pushes out vendors; government paints South Africa as a global leader. But behind the scenes, the same problems remain. - They criminalise the poor
Informal traders, migrants, and street dwellers are swept aside. Their survival strategies are treated as inconveniences rather than symptoms of deeper injustice. - They offer visibility without transformation
Both clean-ups and summits are spectacles. They create an image of action without addressing root causes. - They exclude working-class voices
Community members are not consulted. They are not invited. They are not prioritised.
The people recognise this pattern and they mistrust it.
If the G20 refuses to confront inequality, if it continues to silence migrants, workers, and the unemployed, then its promises of a “better world” will remain empty.
Across South Africa, the working class is saying:
We do not need more summits.
We need justice.
We need dignity.
We need power in our own hands.
Meaningful change will not come from heads of state seated around a table in a secured conference centre. It will come from movements of the poor, from workers organising in their workplaces, from migrants defending their right to exist, from communities demanding access to services, from youth refusing to accept a life without prospects.
Because the truth is simple:
The people cannot eat summits.
The people cannot live on speeches.
And the people will not stop demanding a world built for them, not for the elites.
This article is an opinion piece submitted on 20 November 2025. The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect those of Karibu! Online or Khanya College. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
