By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi says the province is ready to host the G20 Summit and have gone the extra mile to prepare for the event.
South Africa is set to host the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in November 2025. The G20 is an international forum of both developing and developed countries which seeks to find solutions to global economic and financial issues.
The country aims to build on its successful hosting of the 2023 BRICS Summit, which delivered an expansion of the bloc – a major foreign policy win for South Africa.
Lesufi led a media briefing in which he sought to provide an update on key developments and decisions arising from the recent Executive Council (EXCO) meeting.
He indicated that even though he cannot confidently state how ready the province is, hosting G20, it requires all hands on deck, including other provinces.
“As a province, we think we are ready to host the G20 Summit and have gone the extra mile to prepare and make other services available, including our airports, transport, and other services. We are participating in all the working committees. But the November one is the big one and we are hosting it on behalf of the country and the country will guide us and they can bring extra capacity as we want to make it a country event rather than a Gauteng event,” he stated.
Johannesburg has experienced years of mismanagement, with power changing hands between shifting coalitions, and residents contending with crumbling roads and other infrastructure, water and electricity outages, a lack of basic services and rampant violent crime.
Lesufi revealed that the province, through its recent investment conference, had managed to raise R320 billion in investment pledges, which the province is now converting into real investments to jump-start the province’s ailing economy.
“The recent investment conference two months ago was a resounding success. We were targeting to raise R300 billion and managed to raise R320 billion from companies that cut across our continent, but the majority of them come from our BRICS nations. We are now starting to convert these pledges into tangible job opportunities.”
Lesufi also revealed that the Nasi Ispani will be relauched, the programme aims to recruit the youth across the province, marking a major boost for youth employment and the education sector.
Despite criticism towards the programme, the initial round primarily enlisted young people into the province’s crime prevention and traffic management programme.
“The people who are criticising us on Nasi Ispani understand the effectiveness of this programme. We’re not doing it for political mileage, we’re doing it to fight unemployment, said the premier.
Lesufi said that this time, the emphasis would be more on skills development.
“It’s a skills training to be welders, to know how to put in tiles, to be plumbers. So we have already done that. We’ve got 560,000 and 544,000 unemployed people. They want to be trained, either to be welders, plumbers, electricians, all these things.”
Lesufi added that the province has prioritised 13 service delivery deliverables, which include the eradication of potholes, a R100 billion road maintenance programme, and grass cutting initiatives across the province.
“We have identified problem areas. So, we know and are working very hard with all the executive mayors of all our cities, and we are proud that this programme will help eradicate potholes in our cities. There is a plan and a budget to eradicate potholes. I would also like to take this opportunity to apologise to motorists for the potholes,” he added.