The G20 Summit Noise Is Over…What Now?

Selby Vusimusi Moyo
Activist

By Selby Moyo
Activist

The G20 Summit noise is over…what now?

I am not a pessimist, but I feel that the government has turned many optimists into pessimists, hence I do not understand the praise showered on “the success” of the G20 Summit.

What has the G20 Summit achieved in real terms; something tangible that can resonate with the growth of the economy, creation of employment, recrafting of the education system and improving the health system?

Does it not bother anyone that only a few hours after the conclusion of the G20 Summit, some hospitals in Gauteng do not have food supplies because some food suppliers are allegedly “not complying?”

Surely the excitement regarding the G20 Summit was premature because we were made to forget about our material situation.

We have become gullible to praises coming from people residing outside our borders without looking deep into their affirmations.

Why are these outsiders so interested in the so-called successful summit as if it was the end of the world?

Doesn’t everybody know that South Africa now and then organises mega sessions; even if it’s only for a political party birthday celebration or a funeral for a departed comrade?

We cannot submit to being lured into accepting this whitewashed narrative of accomplishment when our collective reality says something else.

Why can’t African countries focus on growing trade and developing their economies instead of insisting on waiting for “investments” from which they ultimately derive no actual benefits?

We must ask ourselves as to why African countries do not seem to make headway, yet they have all the ingredients for development.

Indeed it must concern us that South Africa is selected as the only African country to be in the G20.

We cannot celebrate the hosting of the G20 as if it were some sort of victory.

We must try everything in our power never to be swayed to propaganda.

As they say, the silence and loneliness of the railway platform will be audible after the whirling of the train has left.

We must consider as to how we are going to deal with the silence and smell of poverty; the reality of the majority of us.

Now is this the reality that can be celebrated?