G20 Leaders' Summit: True costs to be known later
The cost South Africa’s G20 presidency will be known after the two-day gathering in Johannesburg this weekend.
Estimates put the costs at millions of rands as revealed by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, who indicated the money budgeted for hosting the summit last year in a parliamentary reply.
According to the Gauteng Provincial Government, the province’s municipalities have conducted site verifications on the completed projects at hotels in Sandton, Rosebank and Menlyn.
It said only minor reinstatements required (potholes, kerb inlets, gutters, grass-cutting) were outstanding.
Major routes such as the M1, M2, Soweto Highway, Golden Highway, N3, and N12 are complete, covering potholes, vegetation control, lighting and road-marking. The R24 and Malibongwe Drive were still under construction, with guardrail repairs still lagging earlier this month.
However, contractors were appointed, and work at Pretoria Avenue in Sandton, which was initially stalled because of heavy rain, is on track for completion ahead of the summit.
The R24 motorway was fixed via road-surface repairs at night.
The street-light and cabling are completed, as well as flag repainting and vegetation control.
It was planned that Malibongwe Drive’s electrification would be completed by power utility Eskom to provide confirmed switch-on schedule.
Eskom undertook that lights will be energised only near the summit to prevent theft and vandalism. In the City of Tshwane, the municipality undertook to deal with illegal dumping and street light repairs.
At Fountains Circle, lighting was meant to be concluded earlier this month, with pothole patching and road repairs also on track.
Meanwhile, on the eve of the summit, South African women will protest in order to silence the nation.
The non-profit organisation, Women For Change, called on all women and members of the LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, and others) community across South Africa to refrain from all paid and unpaid work in workplaces, universities, and homes, and to spend no money for the entire day to demonstrate the economic and social impact of their absence.
The entity said: “… Until South Africa stops burying a woman every 2.5 hours, the G20 cannot speak of growth and progress”.
Women For Change demanded that gender-based violence and femicide be declared a national disaster immediately.
loyiso.sidimba@inl.co.za