The government is looking to spend about R691m hosting the G20 summit next year including the meetings of sherpas (leaders' representatives) and foreign ministers beforehand, says international relations and co-operation minister Ronald Lamola.
South Africa will assume the rotational presidency of the G20 on December 1 after the summit in Brazil in November. The G20 summit in South Africa will take place on November 27-28 2025.
The G20 is an international forum to discuss a range of issues including macroeconomic, trade, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, environment, climate change and anticorruption. Last year, the AU was included as a permanent member of the G20, which also includes the EU.
G20 members represent about 85% of global GDP, more than 75% of global trade and about two-thirds of the world’s population.
The G20 presidency is responsible for bringing together the forum’s agenda in consultation with other members and in response to developments in the global economy.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question by DA MP Ryan Smith, Lamola said R194m (including 10% incidental charges) had been budgeted for the summit, including:
- accommodation (R32m);
- ground transport (R24.6m);
- domestic air transport (R12.3m);
- venue facilities, interpreters and catering (R103.7m);
- support services for stakeholders (R4.3m); and
- R14m for support staff and compensation for the department of international relations and co-operation.
Added to this will be the R497m cost of Sherpa Track and foreign ministers’ meetings organised by the department from December to November 2025, which brings the total to R691m.
“There is a proposal to host about 130 meetings (virtual and in-person) from December 1 2024 to November 30 2025,” Lamola said.
Department spokesperson Clayson Monyela noted in a response to a Business Day question that South Africa's estimated expenditure on the summit was the lowest compared with previous ones.
Lamola said processes were under way to establish a G20 secretariat with representatives from various government departments. The Sherpa Track, led by the international relations and co-operation department, had established a secretariat structure to deal with preparations for South Africa's G20 presidency.
Sherpas are representatives of the leaders of each country who take the discussions and agreements to the final summit with heads of state and government. The Sherpa Track is made up of 15 working groups, two task forces and an Initiative.
Lamola said the department had hosted and continued to host workshops with various organisations to help it refine its priorities for the presidency. These included the UN Economic Social and Cultural Organisation, Institute for Economic Justice, International Economic Partnership, University of Pretoria and South African Institute for International Affairs.
In August the cabinet considered a memorandum outlining South Africa's priorities and key deliverables for the summit as well as a calendar of meetings and proposals for the venues in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban for the various ministerial meetings and the summit. Budgetary implications were also considered.
“Venues for technical, ministerial and leaders’ summit are still under consideration. An analysis, taking into account security considerations, availability of accommodation and transport, airport facilities and so on [has] been conducted on Cape Town, Johannesburg and eThekwini to assess the capacity of each city to host the leaders’ summit in 2025.”
The planning processes would be based on experiences gained during the planning for major events hosted in South Africa such as the Brics summits and 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Provinces and cities would be expected to carry the costs of G20 side events around the country.
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