by LUKE MONTGOMERY ZUNGA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – SOUTH Africa has been saved from possible embarrassment at the Group of Seven (G7) meeting by not attending, due to recent elections.
President Cyril Ramaphosa would have been harassed for his stance on Israel and Russia.
The G7) countries met in Fasano, Brandisi in the Puglia region of southern Italy from 13 to 15 June 2024, hosted by the Italian Prime Minister, Lady Giorgia Meloni.
G7 countries are an intergovernmental platform for the United States of America (USA), Canada, Italy, Germany, UK, France and Japan. I wonder why Spain and Portugal are not listed as members although they appear in other fora.
The group invites other countries to their extravaganzas such as EU leadership, South Africa, India etc. The country invited has to be friendly to G7 aspirations.
The G7 are rich industrialized countries excluding China. Russia was admitted in 1997 but suspended in 2014 after Russia annexed Crimea. The agenda for these meetings are global politics and economics.
South Africa was invited but did not attend. Local national elections saved President Cyril Ramaphosa from landing South Africa into a cold pan of hostile countries due to her International Court of Justice (ICJ) suit on Israel, a country blindly supported by G7 countries and mute stance on Russia in the BRICS forum.
South Africa would have been a darling of the G7 as the largest economy in Africa and the land of Nelson Mandela. But it has been difficult to pin down to order, even by threat of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).
Notable topics for the G7 meeting this year were Russia, Ukraine and China, and of course, migration of poor people from poor countries.
Russia is a thorn in their flesh. G7 is led by America in sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine. China is being extricated from supporting Russia and for unfair global trade practices, which these countries also practice.
For example, the animosity with France in West and Central Africa is based on unfair political and economic treatment and extraction of African minerals and wealth.
The G7 seized US$290 billion Russian assets and agreed to give US$50 billion loans to Ukraine, paid by the US$50 billion interest on seized Russian assets.
They are not interested in negotiating an end to the war. Crude politics indeed!
The difference between G7 and the African Union (AU) is that they have capital and strong industries.
Instead of envying or criticizing them the correct approach is to compete. Complaining about their domination or envy does not help.
The United States only understands competition, not tears. Find ways of raising capital in Africa.
This is where African politicians fall short. Many countries think capital comes from these G7 countries, and are waiting for handouts.
Being a social researcher, I produced a proposal shared to all African and South American embassies in South Africa, that capital can be raised by contributing 1 cent to mobile phone activations, and use global platforms to boost your contributions to buy machines and industrialize.
NB: Luke Montgomery Zunga is researcher and economist at the South African Development Foundation.
– CAJ News