As South Africa prepares to host the G20, veteran journalist Ferial Haffajee offers a penetrating assessment of the country’s global narrative, its political fragility, and the credibility of its leadership on the world stage. Speaking to Jeremy Maggs on Mandates & Megaphones, the Daily Maverick associate editor examines how South Africa’s self-image as a stable democracy and voice for the Global South must be weighed against its domestic constraints – from coalition volatility to infrastructure decay. Her insights traverse diplomacy, governance, economics, and the wider struggle to align ambition with execution.

As the countdown begins to the B20 South Africa Summit 2025, the nation finds itself under the global spotlight - challenged to transform aspiration into measurable industrial progress. In this episode of  Mandates & Megaphones, Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO of Siemens Sub-Saharan Africa, discusses how digital innovation, industrial policy, and public-private collaboration must converge if South Africa is to close its competitiveness gap and join the world’s top 30 economies by 2040.

South Africa is hosting the G20 with energy security and climate justice at the top of the agenda. In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy Samantha Graham-Maré speaks with Jeremy Maggs about Africa’s energy transition, unlocking green finance, and building an industrial base for the continent’s clean energy future.

In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, B20 Employment and Education Task Force chair Paul Hanratty says Africa’s growth depends on unlocking SMEs, early education and lifelong learning — part of the B20’s push for a new social contract to align skills, technology and job creation.

As South Africa assumes the G20 presidency, former diplomat and geopolitical consultant Mohamed Cassimjee joined Jeremy Maggs on Mandates & Megaphones, to discuss how Africa can use this pivotal moment to shape - not just follow - the global agenda. Drawing on his years in diplomacy, Cassimjee explored Africa’s evolving place in a multipolar world, the balance between domestic priorities and continental aspirations, and the challenges of asserting unity amid competing global interests.

In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Naledzani Mosomane of Standard Bank says closing Africa’s $42 billion gender credit gap is vital for inclusive growth. She explains how data gaps, financial literacy, and structural barriers limit women-owned SMEs, and why partnerships, blended finance and measurable KPIs are key to real progress.

In this episode of  Mandates & Megaphones, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busisiwe Mavuso says South Africa’s G20 presidency is a chance to reset global perceptions and drive meaningful reform. Speaking to Jeremy Maggs, she outlines how business can turn summit talk into tangible progress.

In this episode of  Mandates & Megaphones, Jeremy Maggs speaks with Isobel Frye, senior policy advisor on the G20 at Oxfam South Africa and a leading social protection expert. Frye explains the complex relationship between global commitments and local realities, stressing that rhetoric must give way to tangible results.

South Africa’s G20 test: Can middle powers rescue multilateralism?

South Africa’s year at the helm of the G20 and B20 has opened a rare window for African business to shape the global economic agenda. In the latest episode of  Mandates & Megaphones, Richard Rivett-Carnac, CEO of South African Breweries [SAB] and a member of the B20 Advisory Council, spoke with Jeremy Maggs about the opportunities and risks that come with such visibility.

As South Africa prepares to host the G20 summit, the issue of whistleblower protection is fast emerging as both a domestic imperative and an international test of credibility. On this episode of  Mandates & Megaphones, presented by Jeremy Maggs in association with Standard Bank, the spotlight falls on the urgent reforms needed to shield those who expose corruption, the failures of current laws, and the deadly consequences of delay.  Chairperson of Public Interest South Africa, Tebogo Khaas, explains that South Africa’s presidency of the G20 offers a singular opportunity to move from rhetoric to action.

In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, host Jeremy Maggs speaks with the Standard Bank Group CEO and B20 Finance and Infrastructure Task Force chair who unpacks the urgent need to close Africa’s $85 billion annual infrastructure funding gap. From reforming capital rules and ratings agency models to accelerating project delivery and green digital infrastructure, he stresses transparency, accountability and streamlined regulation as vital to turning commitments into real, investable projects that drive growth and jobs.

In this episode of  Mandates & Megaphones, Jeremy Maggs speaks to Tanya van Meelis, head of policy at Cosatu, and Riefdah Ajam, general secretary of Fedusa, about how the world’s most powerful economies can meaningfully align social justice with economic coordination, or if the gap between promises and delivery is widening.

Bernard Drotschie, chief investment officer at Melville Douglas, speaks to Jeremy Maggs about the challenges and opportunities of the country’s G20 presidency and leading the B20 business agenda.

As the Brics bloc expands, the G20 comes to Johannesburg, and Western influence wanes, the continent faces urgent choices that could define its future for generations.

Ashraf Patel of the Institute for Global Dialogue weighs in on the realpolitik, risks, and rising tensions behind the geopolitical theatre. Can South Africa bridge the gap between East and West? Can Brics transform the rules, or will it simply mirror them? And what happens when narrative power challenges institutional dominance?

Jeremy Maggs unpacks South Africa’s G20 role with bold weekly conversations on politics, economics, and diplomacy - shaping business and policy in a changing world.

Risk strategist Volker von Widdern joins Mandates and Megaphones to unpack whether South Africa can turn complexity into coherence or if political drift and policy overload will sabotage the summit.

As South Africa prepares to host the November G20 Summit for the first time on African soil, Mandates and Megaphones kicks off by asking: can social entrepreneurs and innovators shape a more inclusive global agenda? Jeremy Maggs is joined by Dr Solange Rosa from UCT’s Bertha Centre and Luvuyo Rani of Africa Forward to explore how social innovation can move from the margins to the main stage. They unpack the risks of G20 symbolism without substance, the power of grassroots solutions, and what a truly transformative G20 could look like for Africa if we get it right.