Johannesburg’s G20 makeover and the politics of pretence

What a rushed clean-up tells us about leaders who only act when the world is watching.

Article link: https://open.substack.com/pub/johanosteyn/p/johannesburgs-g20-makeover-and-the?r=73gqa&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Audio summary: https://youtu.be/KtVV5XjXYK4

I write about various issues of interest to me that I want to bring to the reader’s attention. While my main work is in Artificial Intelligence and technology, I also cover areas around politics, education, and the future of our children.

Some months ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa travelled through the inner city of Johannesburg and publicly admitted he was shocked by the filth, decay and darkness he encountered. For the people who live there, this was no revelation. They have been dodging potholes, stepping around uncollected rubbish and enduring failing infrastructure for years.

Then, in the run-up to the G20 summit, the tempo changed. Suddenly, the city sprang into action: potholes were filled, streetlights repaired, litter cleared, and key routes polished for the benefit of visiting dignitaries. It felt like a classroom where learners, knowing the teacher is about to inspect them, quickly tuck in their shirts and straighten their desks. The question that lingers is simple: why were we not keeping our house in order for ourselves, long before the world decided to visit?

CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND

Johannesburg has long embodied South Africa’s contradictions. It is the country’s economic engine, yet large parts of it resemble a neglected industrial museum. Basic services are unreliable, public spaces deteriorate, and many residents feel abandoned by those in power. None of this has happened overnight. It is the result of years of poor governance, corruption, mismanagement and a slow erosion of civic pride.

The decision to host the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg placed this neglect under a harsher light. International attention brings both opportunity and scrutiny. Keen to present a respectable face to the world, the state suddenly found the will and the resources to clean up. Carefully branded campaigns appeared. Business leaders, senior officials and politicians were photographed in reflective vests, participating in city clean-up drives. Work crews focused on strategic corridors between the airport, hotels and the summit venue. For a brief period, parts of Johannesburg looked closer to the city residents have always deserved.

INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS

On the surface, any attempt to fix roads, restore lighting and clear refuse is welcome. But the timing and focus of these efforts tell a more troubling story. If basic services are only delivered with urgency when global leaders are watching, it suggests that the true audience for our government is not its own people, but external observers. We tidy up for the cameras and convoys, then allow decline to resume once they have left. This is not a uniquely South African pattern; many countries scramble to hide their poverty and dysfunction during big events. Yet in a nation carrying our history and inequality, it feels particularly cynical.

The President’s professed shock at the state of the inner city forms part of this same pattern. It reveals a leadership class that moves largely between airports, conference centres and protected enclaves, insulated from everyday life. When leaders finally venture into neglected spaces and respond with surprise, it tells us less about those spaces and more about how rarely they walk among the people they govern. It is difficult to craft credible policy when your primary view of the country comes from briefing notes, speeches and carefully choreographed visits rather than unfiltered experience.

The greater danger is psychological. When a clean, safe, functioning city appears only as a temporary spectacle for visiting dignitaries, citizens absorb a painful message: you are not the priority. Over time, this erodes trust and breeds cynicism. Young South Africans watch as the state moves swiftly to impress foreign guests, while their own daily struggles with crime, decay and unemployment are met with far less urgency.

IMPLICATIONS

We should expect more than emergency makeovers in the run-up to summits and high-profile visits. The true measure of leadership is not how a city looks for three days in November, but how it serves its residents on an ordinary Tuesday in March. That means consistent maintenance, transparent planning and a police service that protects people every day, not just when the media spotlight is bright. It also requires leaders to step out of their bubbles and spend far more time in places where things are broken, listening to those who live and work there.

Citizens, too, must confront uncomfortable choices. If we simply shrug and accept that the government only performs under international inspection, we help entrench that behaviour. We can, and should, demand leadership that regards clean streets, working infrastructure and basic safety as a non-negotiable duty, not as a performance for visiting dignitaries. Perhaps that will require a new government; perhaps it will require a profound shift in how the current one understands its responsibilities. Either way, the status quo is not acceptable.

CLOSING TAKEAWAY

Johannesburg’s G20 makeover is more than a story about potholes filled in haste, and streetlights switched on for summit week. It is a mirror held up to our politics, reflecting a state that can act decisively when the world is watching, yet so often seems paralysed when only its own people are looking on. For the sake of our children, who deserve cities that work every day and not just on special occasions, we must break this pattern.

Whether through new leadership or renewed accountability, we need a political culture that sees South Africans not as extras on a global stage, but as the primary audience that truly matters. Until that happens, every fresh coat of paint will look less like progress and more like make-up on a wound.

Author Bio:  Johan Steyn is a prominent AI thought leader, speaker, and author with a deep understanding of artificial intelligence’s impact on business and society. He is passionate about ethical AI development and its role in shaping a better future. Find out more about Johan’s work at https://www.aiforbusiness.net