WeeklySA_AdminCancer: Inequality is still a cancer in societies concentrating power and eroding trust in democracy
By Monk Nkomo
Developing countries – in particular Africa – which have been victims of centuries of exploitation and plunder – were suffering from a perfect storm of shrinking fiscal space and crushing debt burdens.
This was said by United Nations Secretary General, Antonio Guterres during a press briefing at the G20 Summit on Friday.
‘’ Africa has been a double victim of colonisation’’, he said. ‘’ First, through centuries of exploitation and plunder and then again when international institutions were created – when most African countries were still under colonial rule and their voices were absent from the table.’’
Guterres added that today Africa remained woefully under-represented across global institutions. This must change. Developing countries, in particular, Africa, were also suffering from a global financial architecture that was failing to support or even represent them adequately.
‘’My message to G20 leaders over the next two days is simple. Now is the time for leadership and vision. We are living through tumultuous times. Conflicts, climate chaos, economic uncertainty, mounting debt, inequality and a collapse in global aid are inflicting massive suffering around the world. And rising military spending is drawing resources away from development.’’
He also lamented about inequality which had become a cancer in societies, concentrating power and eroding trust in democracy. He commended the G20 Presidency for commissioning a bold report on global inequality. Guterres said the Pact for the Future, adopted by Member States last year, called for a reform of global financial institutions. Many decisions were disproportionately in the hands of some of the members of G20 across the governance bodies of the institutions.
‘’ Africa must have a fair seat in every forum where decisions are made – from the boards of international financial institutions to permanent seats in the United Nations Security Council and to other global bodies.
‘’ The G20 can help repair this historic injustice and drive reforms that give developing countries – and Africa in particular – a real voice in shaping global policies and make global economic governance more inclusive, representative, equitable and effective in the years ahead.’’
He also urged G20 members to live up to the commitments made in June at the Financing for Development Conference in Sevilla, to unlock more finance for developing countries. As the world’s largest economies, the G20 could hold enormous influence to ease suffering, ensure that economic growth was widely shared, and set the world on a better, more peaceful course for the future.
The theme of this year’s meeting – “Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability” – pointed the way, Guterres said.
During these next two days, he would also call on G20 members to use their leverage to lead the action they needed especially economic action.
They also needed to triple the lending power of multilateral development banks; increase their role in leveraging more private finance and to ease debt burdens with new instruments to reduce borrowing costs and risks and speed-up support for countries facing debt distress, drawing on recommendations from his debt expert group.
He would also urge the G20 members to help developing countries strengthen their capacity to mobilize domestic resources and to build trade bridges, not trade barriers.
‘’Too many developing countries – especially in Africa – find themselves at the bottom of value chains, or locked out of trade opportunities. G20 members can lead the way by dismantling trade barriers and ensuring trade-free access to their markets for the poorest countries’’.
Guterres said they also needed climate action. The ongoing COP30 meeting demonstrated how much work needed to be done. Countries had failed to keep temperatures to the 1.5 degree temperature rise limit. Science told them that a temporary overshoot above this limit was now inevitable.
‘’We must make this overshoot as small, short and safe as possible. Avoiding more climate chaos means bridging the adaptation gap – urgently. That required a massive scale up of financing’’.
He called on developed countries to keep their promises by :
• doubling adaptation finance to at least 40 billion dollars this year – and giving confidence that meaningfully increased affordable and accessible adaptation finance would be scaled up beyond 2025.
• mobilizing the 300 billion dollars per year promised to developing countries by 2035.
• delivering on the Baku to Belem plan mobilizing all relevant partners for achieve 1.3 trillion dollars annually to be achieved in climate finance and in the same timeframe for developing countries.
Simultaneously, it was time to capitalize the Loss and Damage Fund – including exploring possibilities of innovative finance. ‘’We also need to supercharge the just transition to renewable energy. Last year, 90 per cent of new power capacity came from renewables. Global investment in clean energy reached 2 trillion – 800 billion dollars more than fossil fuels. But only a negligeable proportion went to Africa. Africa should be at the heart of this clean energy revolution’’.
Guterres added that the continent held immense solar and wind potential – but lacked the investments needed to harness them. A just energy transition must also mean to entirely electrifying Africa – powering homes, schools, clinics and industries and creating decent jobs for its young people.
No one should be left in the dark by the clean energy age – least of all a continent that had contributed the least to the climate crisis. The economics were on their side. But political will needed to catch up.
Fossil fuels still received vast subsidies. Corporations were pocketing record profits from climate devastation. And lobbyists continued to greenwash the truth, while developing countries were locked out of a greener future. Ensuring that all countries could make this shift meant aligning national policies and budgets with a just energy transition.
It also meant providing resources and technology to help developing countries invest in grids, storage and efficiency. It meant supporting workers and affected communities to make the transition, through training, protection and new opportunities and unlocking finance at scale for developing countries by cutting the cost of capital and crowding in private investment.
‘’Finally – we need action for peace. I will call on G20 members to use their influence and voices to end the conflicts that are causing so much death, destruction and destabilization around the world.
‘’We also need peace in :
• Sudan through ending the carnage and an immediate cessation of hostilities through the safe, unimpeded and rapid delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in need in the whole Sudan. There must also be an ending to the flow of weapons and fighters into Sudan by external parties.
• in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – through a lasting solution that respected the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, while addressing the root causes of the instability and violence.
• We needed security and peace in the Sahel’’
The alarming developments in Mali were making a dramatic situation even worse, presenting new risks to the wider region and the entire continent. Addressing this dire security situation meant taking action to urgently restore trust and strengthen cooperation between countries across the region.
Guterres said they needed a just, sustainable and comprehensive peace in Ukraine – in accordance with the UN Charter, international law and resolutions of the General Assembly.
They also needed peace in Gaza by upholding the ceasefire, ending its continued violations and fully implementing the commitments of the peace agreement by establishing a credible political path towards ending the occupation and by realizing the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people, leading to a two-state solution that enabled Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security, anchored in international law.
