As South Africa hosts the G20 Leaders’ Summit this weekend, business leader and G20 Sherpa Prof Bonang Mohale says the world’s focus should extend far beyond the drama surrounding US President Donald Trump’s expected absence.

Mohale, who served as South Africa’s G20 negotiator (sherpa), argued the summit represents a pivotal opportunity for South Africa to reassert itself economically and diplomatically.

He said Trump’s hostility towards South Africa must be understood within a bigger global context, rather than as a personal or bilateral dispute.

“Trump 1.0 demonstrated beyond any shadow of doubt the president of the US is against anything that is woke, progressive. He’s a racist, he’s against women, against Muslims, against people who prefer the same gender,” Mohale said.

If the facts don’t favour him, he manufactures his own. He’s a bully. He believes in the currency of tariffs: ‘I get my way or else’.

“If the facts don’t favour him, he manufactures his own. He’s a bully. He believes in the currency of tariffs: ‘I get my way or else’.”

Joining Sunday Times deputy editor Mike Siluma for a conversation on the Sunday Times Politics Weekly, Mohale explored South Africa’s G20 moment, the Trump drama and why the country’s domestic transformation matters as much as international diplomacy.

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However, Mohale said Trump’s posture “has nothing to do with South Africa”.

He frames Trump 2.0 as a response to:

• the failure of globalisation for working-class Americans,
• the US losing ground to China in key industries, especially electric vehicles and battery manufacturing, and
• a global order in which China has “won the trade war”.

“When you play chess and see you’re about to be checkmated, you kick the table so you can restart. That’s what the president of the US is doing,” Mohale said.

Though Trump will not attend, Mohale argued the G20’s significance for South Africa remains unchanged.

The 20 biggest economies in the world are coming here. So what if one doesn’t come? The 19 are there.

“The 20 biggest economies in the world are coming here. So what if one doesn’t come? The 19 are there.

“Government won’t come, but American business has always been here. They don’t need to be told by politicians what to do.”

Mohale did not shy away from South Africa’s internal contradictions.

“We must root out and defeat state capture and complete the task of transformation,” he said.

“The economy must look like us because if it doesn’t, it is black people who have nothing to lose. They’ll burn the libraries that serve towns.”

Mohale remains one of the country’s strongest defenders of black economic empowerment, but said corrupt implementation has distorted public perceptions.

“Because we implemented it wrongly through greedy politicians doesn’t mean the policy itself is not sound,” he argued.

He called for a reset that ensures empowerment benefits workers, communities and broad-based groups, rather than politically connected elites.

As SA hosts one of the most consequential global gatherings, Mohale believes the country stands at a crossroads:

• Internally it must clean up governance, rebuild institutions and accelerate equality.
• Externally it must leverage the G20 to deepen trade, secure financing and position Africa in the new global economy.
• Diplomatically it must avoid being drawn into binary choices between global powers.

Mohale said South Africa must approach this moment with confidence, not panic.

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