MK Party
As the G20 Leaders' Summit wraps up in Johannesburg, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party vehemently rejects the summit declaration, highlighting ongoing struggles for African agency amidst global power dynamics.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) has once again made a bold statement of rejecting the G20 Leaders’ Summit declaration, which was adopted on the first day of the two-day event.
This condemnation from the MKP comes on the heels of Donald Trump's unprecedented refusal to endorse the declaration, and his widely-reported boycott of the two-day summit, which concluded amid fanfare in Johannesburg on Sunday.
While Trump cited his absence from the summit as well as the alleged white genocide as reasons for his dissent, the MKP said it rejects the declaration due to its failure to address the systematic capitalistic nature, despite President Cyril Ramaphosa's succeeding in convincing world leaders that it was in the best interest of the G20 nations to endorse the principles espoused by the much-celebrated summit.
The inclusive declaration has been praised for its inclusivity, collaboration in its bid to address centuries-long pressing challenges facing Africa and other low-income countries. These include the bold plans to tackle issues of climate change, inequality, the critical minerals, poverty and many other topical issues.
The declaration accepted by most members of the G20 was drafted without U.S. input in a move a White House official called “shameful”
On Saturday, while addressing members of the media gathered at the Nasrec Conference and Expo Centre, presidential spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, rejected the US, saying it will not be stopped by a participant who has chosen not to attend or participate at the summit.
The MKP has long voiced its negative appraisal of the G20 Summit. Last week, the party slammed Ramaphosa's leadership and the G20 leaders’ social summit, saying it serves merely as a “global showcase for photo opportunities, speeches and statements that do not translate into real change for South Africans.
On Sunday, following the conclusion of the summit, the MK Party further voiced its disapproval of the declaration, hailed by many as a game-changer for the African continent over its call for better financial and debt terms for African countries.
Party spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, in a statement issued shortly after the conclusion of the summit, indicated that the Jacob Zuma-led party does not agree with some of the decisions arrived at by Ramaphosa and other world leaders.
Ndhlela said the declaration document does not reflect the real issues faced by low-income countries.
“Far from being a triumph for the African continent, this document represents a continuation of global power imbalances, neocolonial economic domination and the systematic erosion of African sovereignty, all thinly veiled under words like “multilateralism,” “solidarity”, and “Ubuntu.
Ndhlela added that the declaration misrepresents the issues it claims to resolve, as it continues the entrenchment of the structural and systematic challenges faced by the Global South.
”The MK Party condemns the declaration as a text crafted not for the liberation of Africa, but for the entrenchment of global hegemonies, whose primary interest is controlling African minerals, shaping African fiscal policy, dictating energy transitions and undermining our continent’s sovereign right to determine its own development path.G20’s appropriation of Ubuntu is philosophical theft.
Ndhlela said the MKP is calling for the dismantling of the entire capitalist system, which continues to place Africa and its people on the margins of their own economy and the exploitation of their natural resources.
“Ubuntu cannot coexist with a global financial architecture that continues to exploit African nations, enforce debt dependency and dictate national policies through international financial institutions (IFIs).
“The G20 claims to be responding to wars, geopolitical instability and humanitarian crises, yet it fails to take responsibility for the destabilising role played by many G20 Powers in creating those very conflicts, including military interventions, resource extraction and arms profiteering. Notably, the declaration condemns “all attacks on civilians” and reaffirms the UN Charter’s principles, but remains silent on occupation, apartheid practices and long-standing neo-imperial violence. It is riddled with debt “solutions” that entrench dependency,” he added.
