Ramaphosa punts new global order at Social Summit

By Johnathan Paoli

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday used the G20 Social Summit to call for an overhaul of global power structures, warning that the world’s biggest economies cannot allow a system where rich countries feast while poorer nations “settle for scraps”.

“Collectively, the members of the G20 represent 85 percent of global GDP, 75 percent of global trade and two-thirds of the global population,” Ramaphosa told delegates at the Birchwood Conference Centre, east of Johannesburg.

“For the G20 to fully live up to its mission of promoting international financial stability and deepening global economic cooperation, there should be no unwritten rules about those who feast and those who must settle for scraps,” he said.

“It cannot be that a country’s geographical location or income or army determines who has a voice and who is spoken down to,” he said.

The Social Summit brought together representatives from civil society, labour,