Amid the visible urban decay in the City of Johannesburg, President Cyril Ramaphosa instructed the Metro and Gauteng leaders on Thursday to step in and make the City presentable as the host of the G20 Leaders Summit in November.

Ramaphosa is visiting the province after similar oversight visits to Mpumalanga, Kwazulu-Natal and Limpopo. The President expressed his displeasure at recent G20 gatherings that were held in Joburg.

”Sometimes it’s good to be direct, and to tell it like it is. We should say that one or two meetings of the G20 that I attended here were not very pleasing. The environment that one observed was not a pleasing environment.”

Ramaphosa said the City needs to improve immensely, to demonstrate that the government didn’t make a mistake by choosing Johannesburg as the main host of the G20.

“As South Africans we are proud people. Let us get that pride that we have…self pride…lift us up, so that we do present a G20 that will wow people.”

On Friday morning, Ramaphosa doubled down on his view that the City of Johannesburg is in a derelict state, announcing a Presidential Johannesburg Working Group to clean up the mess.

The President said on a recent drive through the City he found it to be filthy.

“The City was not clean, there was rubbish all over the show, I got out of the car and spoke to the police officers, and I said to them, this City looks torn.”

 

Ramaphosa said the Presidential Johannesburg Working Group will bring all spheres of government together to take the Joburg back to its glory days.

“And we will not be doing it just because Johannesburg is the host of the G20. The G20 is a sideshow. The real issue that needs to be addressed is to make Johannesburg liveable for the people of Johannesburg and Gauteng.”

The President acknowledged the significant challenges, including financial instability, deteriorating infrastructure, and service delivery issues such as frequent water and electricity interruptions, and faulty streetlights.

“That must be something of the past. The light bulbs must work. In the streets, there must be cleanliness.”

 

Johannesburg must be renovated and its glory restored. Turnaround time has now come.https://t.co/UOZeOKQCqF

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) March 7, 2025

Many Joburgers and social media commentators made the point if the ANC government had maintained Johannesburg over the last 30 years, there would not have to be a turnaround.

As talk over Johannesburg’s grime continues, Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis took the opportunity to invite Ramaphosa to relocate November’s G20 Leaders Summit to the Mother City.

Cape Town recently hosted a successful G20 Finance Ministers meeting.

“Mr President, you can be assured that Cape Town is ready at any time to host the G20 Leader’s Summit and represent South Africa with pride on the global stage. This is a city of with a thriving Central Business District offering working traffic lights, neat roads and sidewalks, unmatched natural beauty, and excellent conferencing infrastructure. As South Africans, we absolutely want to see Joburg rise to be the world-class African city it should be, but if the challenges prove insurmountable between now and the November G20 Summit, you can count on Cape Town to perform “country duty” and host a successful summit.”