International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola has urged the community of Welverdiend in Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga, to engage with G20 initiatives aimed at creating jobs, improving healthcare and fighting poverty.
The Minister, joined by Acting Mpumalanga Premier Sasekani Manzini, officials and ambassadors, led a G20 community outreach at Mahlale High School in Acornhoek, Ehlanzeni, on Saturday.
Representatives of foreign diplomatic missions accredited to South Africa (ambassadors) also participated in the activities by handing over IT equipment to the school.
Lamola used the occasion to popularise South Africa’s foreign policy objectives and how these relate to the achievement of domestic priorities.
South Africa is set to assume the presidency of the G20 on 1 December 2024. The presidency offers the opportunity to highlight domestic issues on a global stage, including unemployment, inequality, access to finance, climate change, tourism and artificial intelligence.
“We will be assuming a huge responsibility of... the presidency of the G20 on the 1st of December. This platform gives us an opportunity, as a country, to put our issues on the global stage [including the] issues that are affecting you here as the community of Bushbuckridge in the district of Ehlanzeni in Mpumalanga and South Africa as a whole.
“Issues of unemployment, inequality, access to finance, climate change, tourism, artificial intelligence, and other day-to-day issues will now [be under the] spotlight,” Lamola said.
The Minister said the province is well placed to make a number of inputs into debates and discussions that will ensue during South Africa's presidency of the G20.
“You are also better placed [with regards to] tourism. As the Acting Premier said, you are adjacent to... the Kruger National Park, Sudwala Caves, Echo Caves, God’s window and many other areas of tourism. These are also spaces for your contribution as a province and as the people of South Africa.
“So, this platform [the G20] is in such a way that everyone is able to make a contribution and ourselves as International Relations, we will create that bridge that will enable you to make this contribution,” the Minister said.
International relations
Lamola highlighted the role of his department in addressing global conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Gaza through dialogue.
He explained that the country is actively involved in international relations, with its military in the DRC to facilitate peace and stability, and is committed to contributing to the cessation of conflict in the Middle East.
“We continue to monitor and play a role in the DRC. Our Defence Force is in the DRC. They are not there to fight in the war, but they are there to stabilise the environment so that peaceful negotiations can happen to resolve the conflict in the eastern part of the DRC.
“That is our role as International Relations and as South Africa, which we continue to play in the world, and we continue to play a role [in] the cessation of fire in the Gaza in the Middle East,” the Minister said.
The engagement with the Ehlanzeni community comes shortly after President Cyril Ramaphosa's successful participation in the G20 Summit in Brazil from 18 - 19 November 2024. – SAnews.gov.za
