G20: South Africa’s Moment on the Global Stage - What You Need to Know & Why It Matters

To explore the implications of this historic event, the South African Chamber of Commerce in the UK, in partnership with the London School of Economics and the Royal African Society, will host a high-level forum titled G20: South Africa’s Moment on the Global Stage on Wednesday 1st October 2025.  These gathering aims to dissect the intersection of diplomacy, business, and foreign policy, and to assess what South Africa’s G20 presidency means for its global positioning, investment landscape, and leadership credibility.

Objectives:
•   Highlight the significance of South Africa’s G20 presidency within a broader African and global context.
•   Assess the implications for business leaders, investors, and diaspora communities.
•   Foster collaboration, build networks, and elevate discourse on South Africa’s role in the world.

Format:
•   Welcome Address: South African Chamber of Commerce UK
•   Fireside Chat: H.E. Kingsley Mamabolo, South African High Commissioner to the UK and Ronak Gopaldas, Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Director at Signal Risk
•   Panel Discussion:   
                     Darias Jonker (Moderator) - Anglo American
                     Adam Habib, SOAS University of London
                     Moh Cassimjee - Geopolitical Consultant
                     Menzi Ndhlovu - Signal Risk
                     Jaynisha Patel- Tony Blair Institute
                     Charles Perry - Sustainable Future for All

 The event aims to attract over 100 participants, including members of the South African diaspora, business leaders, policymakers, academics, and members of the hosting institutions.  Please join us for interesting discussions and networking opportunities.

Members and guests:  £20 + VAT

Book early to avoid disappointment

Speakers

His Excellency Jeremiah Nyamane Mamabolo is South Africa’s High Commissioner to the UK. It is a role he combines with being Joint Special Representative for Darfur and Head of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID).

His distinguished diplomatic career has seen him serve as Deputy Joint Special Representative for UNAMID and roles representing his homeland, South Africa, as Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Chair of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China. He has served as High Commissioner to Nigeria and as Special Envoy to the Great Lakes where he played a central role in the peace processes in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was also High Commissioner to Zimbabwe and to the African Union where he led reconciliation efforts in post-war Sierra Leone.

Ronak Gopaldas is a political economist, “pracademic”, writer and speaker. His work focuses on the intersection of politics, economics and business in Africa. He is currently a Director at Signal Risk, a fellow at GIBS and the co-founder of Mindflux Training. He was previously the Head of Country Risk at Rand Merchant Bank, where he worked for almost a decade. Ronak is a 2019 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow, an alumnus of the Asian Forum on Global Governance, as well as the young African Leadership Initiative. He also serves in a number of advisory roles, most notably the Institute of Security Studies’ ENACT programme, which builds knowledge and skills to enhance Africa’s response to transnational organised crime.

Professor Adam Habib is the Vice-Chancellor of SOAS University of London. He is a former Principal and Vice-Chancellor of University of the Witwatersrand, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research at the University of Johannesburg and former Professor of Development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Professor Habib co-founded the African Research Universities Alliance, is an American Academy of Arts and Sciences member and fellow of the African Academy of Science and Academy of Science of South Africa.

Jaynisha Patel is a Senior Analyst at the Tony Blair Institute, specialising in African geopolitics. She supports political leaders on geostrategy and foreign policy, with a particular focus on African security challenges and cross-regional strategies. She has contributed to the UK White Paper on International Development and supported policy processes across Africa, including South Africa’s Social Cohesion Strategy. Her analysis has been featured widely, including on the BBC World Service, Voice of America, Foreign Policy, and Project Syndicate, and she has presented her research at international forums such as the Belgrade Security Conference. Previously, she led the Inclusive Economies Project at a leading African peacebuilding think tank, and she holds an MPhil in Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE).

Mohamed Cassimjee is a  geopolitical consultant at Global Compass. He was a senior diplomat for South Africa for over 26 years. He served as deputy ambassador to Germany from 2016-2020, and prior to that served abroad in Washington DC, Uganda, and Senegal
He worked as the Director at the foreign ministry. He attended the Netherlands Institute for International Relations (Clingendael) as part of his diplomatic training. Prior to joining the foreign ministry, he practiced as an advocate in South Africa

He is a research associate at the Centre for African Studies and a mentor at the Blavatnik School of Government, both at Oxford University. He is an associate fellow at the British Foreign Policy Group (BFPG). He also serves on the advisory board of the SA Chamber (UK). He has presented and written on South African foreign and domestic policy and on global issues. He has appeared on podcasts and on South African and British television.

Menzi Ndhlovu is the lead country risk analyst at Signal Risk. Through his work, Menzi regularly consults with government institutions, banks, corporations, and other public and private stakeholders navigating  Africa. He has written extensively on issues that lie at the nexus of politics, economics, geopolitics and security on the continent, with a particular focus on multilateralism. His work has been published on outlets such CNBC, The Economist, Bloomberg, Financial Mail and African Business, among others.
 
Charles Perry is the Founder of Sustainable Future for All, Sustainability Pioneer & South African V20 Ambassador.  A sustainable business, energy and climate leader with a track record of building purpose-driven businesses and embedding sustainability to deliver financial, social and environmental value.
As a pioneer of the sustainability movement since the 1990s, he is driven by passion for accelerating the transformation to a post fossil fuel, green economy that eradicates pollution and delivers a sustainable future for all.