Activists from Oxfarm wearing puppet heads of world leaders pose for a photo opportuninty to demand income equality by taxing the rich on the outskirts of the G20 Summit on 22 November 2025. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla) 
US President Donald Trump wasn’t at the G20 Leaders’ Summit when it kicked off at Nasrec in Johannesburg on Saturday, but he did make an “appearance” in Soweto.
Oxfam International activists, wearing their famous “Big Heads” depicting several G20 leaders, staged a scene of the leaders’ passing a giant rugby ball with the words “Tax the Super Rich” on it between them.
Brazilian President Lula da Silva, who secured the first global consensus at the G20 in 2024 to tax the super-rich, is seen passing the rugby ball to President Cyril Ramaphosa, which Oxfam said signalled the handover of leadership on this agenda.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum were gathered around them as part of the team.
Trump is seen sitting alone on the edge of the scene with his back to the team, wearing his infamous red peak cap.
/file/attachments/2984/WFD_7462_705670.jpg "Activists from Oxfarm wearing puppet heads of world leaders pose for a photo opportuninty to demand income equality by taxing the rich on the outskirts of the G20 Summit on 22 November 2025. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla)")
/file/attachments/2984/LRJPhotography-108099_980611_84edb5778130663084330458900a9c56.jpg "Activists from Oxfarm wearing puppet heads of world leaders pose for a photo opportuninty to demand income equality by taxing the rich on the outskirts of the G20 summit on 21 November 2025. (Photo: Oxfarm)")
/file/attachments/2984/LRJPhotography-108096_444964_8374f88a12c16625f0a46ea355364229.jpg "Activists from Oxfarm wearing puppet heads of world leaders pose for a photo opportuninty to demand income equality by taxing the rich on the outskirts of the G20 summit on 21 November 2025. (Photo: Oxfarm)")
The performance at the Soweto Towers, south of Johannesburg, gave new meaning to Trump’s G20 no-show.
Read more: Exclusive: Inside the adopted G20 declaration — US handover likely low-key and offsite
On Saturday morning, 18 G20 leaders, and the European Union and African Union, adopted the Declaration from South Africa’s G20 without objection – and without the US.
This is after Trump announced merely 10 days ago that the US would not send a delegation to attend the summit. This upended US Vice-President JD Vance’s plans to participate in the talks.
South Africa has refused an option to have an observer team led by the US chargé d’affaires to do a handover of the G20 presidency at the closing ceremony of the summit on Sunday, 23 November.
Daily Maverick reported that a low-key, non-televised handover to the US is likely to take place sometime next week.
“Behind me, you’ll see a tableau of the presidents of G20 states, which include President Lula and President Ramaphosa, who, between them, have a large rugby ball that says ‘Tax the Super Rich’. We see President Trump with his back to the team, indicating the US’s position on the G20 as well as its position on inequality,” Oxfam G20 policy adviser Isobel Frye told Daily Maverick at the installation. DM