Anti-capitalist groups, climate activists, women’s rights advocates, and anti-migrant movements plan widespread demonstrations, and many highlight South Africa’s struggles with poverty and inequality. Police and army units staged a Wednesday parade with helicopters, K-9 teams, and motorcycle officers to project strength before protests at this weekend’s G20 summit in Johannesburg. Security leaders activated 3,500 additional police officers and placed army units on standby under the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure, which unites police, military, and intelligence forces under one command for major events. Lieutenant General Tebello Mosikili told reporters that authorities expect demonstrations in Johannesburg and other large cities. She affirmed that officials will permit lawful protests within the established rules. Police assigned specific gathering zones close to the summit venue, located beside the country’s largest soccer stadium. Airports Company South Africa created “speakers’ corners” in terminals and will escort protesting travellers to those spaces when world leaders arrive.
Various organisations plan actions, including anti-capitalist groups, climate activists, women’s rights movements, anti-migrant organisations, and others raising concerns about inequality and poverty. A trade union from the Afrikaner white minority ignited controversy by placing billboards around Johannesburg declaring South Africa “the most RACE-REGULATED country in the world.” City officials removed one billboard, which prompted the union Solidarity to threaten legal action. These billboards refer to affirmative-action laws designed to expand opportunities for Black South Africans and have influenced a diplomatic dispute between South Africa and the United States. President Donald Trump chose to boycott the summit after claiming that South Africa’s Black-led government enforces racist, anti-white policies and persecutes the Afrikaner minority. Many international figures rejected his allegations, but the boycott still threatens to weaken the first G20 summit hosted in Africa. Other groups view the event as a chance to spotlight additional concerns.
Activists Push Broader Social Demands
The Women for Change organisation urges a national shutdown on Friday, the day before the summit. It asks women to withdraw their labour in protest against the country’s high levels of gender-based violence and femicide. The group warns that the G20 cannot discuss progress while South Africa loses a woman to violence every 2.5 hours. An anti-immigration organisation also plans a demonstration focused on unemployment and poverty, citing the national unemployment rate of 31%, one of the world’s highest. A coalition opposing climate change and wealth inequality arranged an alternative summit in another part of Johannesburg starting Thursday, insisting that the G20 serves only the wealthy.
City Preparations and Public Reactions
Authorities in Johannesburg launched a large cleanup and repair campaign before the summit to address decaying infrastructure across the city. President Cyril Ramaphosa joined the effort last week by wearing green overalls and assisting with work in Soweto, located only a few miles from the summit site. Many residents view the expensive preparation for a two-day political meeting with scepticism, noting the city’s frequent blackouts, broken streetlights, cracked roads, and failing services. Resident Lerato Lelusa argued that hosting the G20 will not help ordinary South Africans and described the event as a waste of money. The summit begins Saturday and will bring leaders and senior diplomats from more than 40 nations, along with global institutions such as the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organisation.
