After the Bell: Why do I fret about hosting the G20?

I always feel a little nervous for my country when we’re about to host a big event.

It’s not that I don’t think we can do it, I am absolutely certain that we can. I think it’s more a hangover from our past.

When I was growing up I didn’t meet many people from other countries. Sure, southern Africa is about as diverse as any region of the world can get, but I never saw people from China or India or Russia. If my parents were going to a dinner party and there was someone from another country it seemed tremendously exciting. 

I remember thinking when I lived in London as a younger person how exciting it was to see people from all over the world. I don’t think anyone who had grown up in London was that excited. I used to envy those people. They were just so, well, used to it.

Famously, before 1990 literally two airlines used the airport then known as Jan Smuts International. Suddenly, about three Rugby World Cups ago, 65 airlines did.

I think that might be one of the strange things about South Africans of, dare I say, a certain age. Unless you were able to travel a lot during that time (and that was probably very rare) you just didn’t see people from Taiwan or Bangladesh or Ukraine when you were younger.

And now, perhaps as a result, we feel a bit more pressure when the rest of the world comes here.

There is a corollary to this.

I’ve noticed that when we as South Africans go overseas together, we bond almost immediately. 

When I was lucky enough to go to the World Economic Forum at Davos it was clear that this group of people were united in selling South Africa. Despite the huge political differences at the time (this was 2017, you may remember it…).

Now, of course, people from all over South Africa will be united over something as important as a red card in Turin, and nothing will divide them (until they come back home, that is).

I don’t think other countries do that. Brits and Americans don’t always seem that keen to see each other when they’re in other places. 

Strangely, despite all of our problems (for more on this please do peruse Ferial Haffajee’s excellent Jozi newsletter), I have no concerns about how we will do this weekend.

The G20 is, technically, perhaps the easiest big event to host. All you really need is one big facility that you can secure, and then to make sure it has enough generators. After that you just need to get the delegates from the airports to that facility, to wherever they sleep, and then back again, and then get them back to the airport and off they go.

Unless they really want to, very few people coming for the G20 will see much of South Africa. I would imagine for many of them, it’s actually a slightly unwelcome weekend because their political heads (known as “principals” in the trade) now have to leave their domestic political scene.

On the other hand, it is the most wonderful opportunity to send all kinds of signals. You can imagine Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, using the G20 to make the case that his country is not the US, and to show the world that Canada is keen to trade. 

In the process he can remind the US (which has a president who literally wants to colonise it) that Canada does have other trading options.

I am very sorry, though, that for the moment it looks very unlikely that this G20 will be remembered for any kind of breakthrough moment. 

As Peter Fabricius has explained, the Trump administration has made sure of that.

This means there’s no chance of some kind of internationally known “Nasrec Declaration” or “Joburg Minute” that we can remember for years to come.

This has got nothing to do with us, it’s just rotten timing that Donald Trump and those who travel with him (or don’t, in this case) have decided to go this way. 

To be clear, Trump is only interested in his domestic constituency. He wants to tell his white voters that he won’t come to South Africa. It really is that simple. 

Instead it might be remembered as a moment of defiance against him – when much of the world got together and made it clear that they rejected his agenda.

If we get that right, it might remind people that we are still a player. 

It seems obvious that the US wants nothing to do with the rest of the world. It may well be time for the rest of us to prove we can live without the US (as hard as that might be).

If this G20 is the start of that, then it will absolutely have been worth hosting. 

And it will mean there are more people from more countries to bump into over dinner or at a braai. DM