Latest news with #AlvinBotes
IOL News
a day ago
- Business
- IOL News
G20 faces a generational test amid geopolitical challenges
Delegates to the U20 African Mayors Assembly at the Union Buildings, Pretoria on June 17, 2025. Image: DIRCO Alvin Botes Since December 1 last year until the Leaders' Summit in November 2025, South Africa chairs the world's most influential economic forum, that is the G20, under the theme: 'Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability'. The theme signals our determination to put people — not profits — at the centre of global decision-making. Our high-level priorities are clear and interlinked. Firstly, inclusive economic growth, industrialisation, employment and the reduction of inequality. Secondly, food security in an era of climate disruption. Thirdly, harnessing artificial intelligence and broader technological innovation for sustainable development. Complementing these three priorities is our drive for disaster-risk resilience and fair debt-relief architecture so that climate-vulnerable and heavily indebted countries are not forced to choose between servicing loans and saving lives. The stakes could not be higher. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that global unemployment is hovering near a historic low of five per cent, yet globally the average for young people remains stubbornly high — about 13 per cent worldwide, and more than double that in many developing economies. Here at home, 4.8 million South Africans aged 15–34 are unemployed; 58 per cent of them have never had a single day of paid work, and our youth unemployment rate climbed to 46.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Beyond the headline numbers lurk deeper structural hazards: one in five young Africans is classified as NEET—'not in employment, education or training'—and those already in work face a future in which artificial intelligence-driven automation could render up to 40 per cent of entry-level jobs obsolete by 2035, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report. Compounding that uncertainty are intersecting crises of mental-health fragility, climate anxiety, escalating conflict-driven displacement, and the rising cost of living that now consumes, on average, 38 per cent of a young person's monthly income across the G20. Add to that what the economist Adam Tooze calls a global 'poly-crisis' which includes, amongst others, geopolitical polarisation, climate-related disasters, food-price shocks and widening digital divides. And it becomes clear why the South African presidency has framed 2025 as a make-or-break moment for multilateral cooperation. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Geopolitically, the world is also experiencing what some economists such as Mark Blyth, Mohamed El-Erian and Michael Spence call a 'perma-crisis': the United States and China are locked in an uneasy dance of de-risking, Russia-Ukraine war continues to reshape energy and grain markets, and simmering conflicts from the Red Sea to the Sahel threaten already fragile supply chains. At the same time, global public debt has surpassed US $100 trillion, forcing developing nations to divert scarce resources away from youth programmes toward interest payments. In the Employment Working Group of the Sherpa Track, we are negotiating a compact on youth employment and skills, building on the Antalya Goals (which were agreed to during Türkiye's presidency of the G20) but adding targets for digital-economy apprenticeships, recognition of micro-credentials and mutual portability of qualifications across G20 members. If endorsed by leaders, the compact will potentially translate into an estimated 10 million paid internship placements over five years, with a gender-parity clause and an annual public scorecard so you can hold the G20 accountable. In the Finance Track, we are advancing an 'Innovation & Inclusion Facility' financed through blended public-private instruments to support start-ups led by women and young people in frontier technologies and green manufacturing. Its first-phase endowment of US $3 billion will be disbursed via challenge funds that prioritise township and rural enterprises, with a target of 150,000 sustainable jobs by 2027. In the Agriculture Working Group and the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group, we are championing a Just Agri-Transition Facility that links smallholder farmers, including youth, to climate-smart finance and regional value chains. Beyond financing climate-resilient seed and drip-irrigation systems, the facility will underwrite a Pan-African farmers marketplace app that is targeted at youth and guarantees offtake agreements with regional supermarket chains. Finally, our AI priority aims to deliver a 'Pan-G20 Youth Digital Corps,' a volunteer-to-employment pipeline that pairs South African coders with continental and global partners to solve public-sector data challenges. The G20 was born out of the 1997 Asian financial meltdown and re-energised amid the 2008 crash. It now faces a generation-defining test: can it propel the global economy so that young people inherit not debts and droughts but opportunity and hope? South Africa believes it can—if the world finally listens to its largest demographic - the youth. * Alvin Botes is Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
TimesLIVE
07-06-2025
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Illicit financial flows are derailing Africa's future
Illicit financial flows (IFFs) continue to undermine the future of Africa, hampering the ability of governments to adequately fund education, healthcare and development projects essential for lifting people out of poverty and fostering sustainable economic growth. As business leaders, politicians, academics and citizens, we cannot sit back. We must help curb the illegal flow of money out of our country through a cohesive effort by all stakeholders, both local and international, to ensure safeguards are put in place, laws are harmonised, and all enforcement agencies work together to address the problem. At the same time, we must not do anything that will deter investment. Ahead of G20 summit in Johannesburg in November, as well precursor meetings — such as the G20 finance ministers' and central bank governors' meeting and the T20 midterm conference held this month — we must formulate proposals that integrate the perspectives of public and private sector institutions, nonprofit organisations, think-tanks and universities. Together we can make valuable policy recommendations, such as using AI to turn vast amounts of data into information for developing strategic interventions. Working alongside each other, we can identify gaps in current legal frameworks and areas where greater co-operation is required. We must seek ways to stem illicit money flows. When individuals or companies evade their tax obligations, deliberately falsify import or export documents, or misappropriate funds intended for development projects, they are not committing victimless crimes. These outflows not only weaken our reputation in the eyes of the international markets, but also make it harder for the government to raise capital at manageable interest rates. We already owe too much: the National Treasury predicts that debt on our national balance sheet will be 77% of GDP this year. IFFs directly undermine economic growth, costing the South African economy the equivalent of almost 5% of annual collected tax revenue — losses of about R92.5bn. On the African continent, the numbers are more alarming, with between $50bn (about R889bn) and $90bn stolen annually, according to the UN. A 2020 report from a UN conference on trade and development states that IFFs represent as much as 3.7% of Africa's GDP. This figure has almost certainly grown since then, given that those who break laws will keep doing so if they are not held accountable. We recently convened a G20 multi-stakeholder dialogue to better understand this challenge, quantify its impact, assess current solutions, and identify new ones . One of our speakers, deputy minister of international relations and co-operation Alvin Botes, spelt out what this theft means: countries with high IFFs spend at least 25% less on healthcare and 50% less on education compared with their peers. IFFs wipe out any good the $65bn in aid Africa receives each year might do. They reduce progress made in making people's lives better. There are initiatives under way to address IFFs. For example, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) collaborates with the UN to strengthen countries' financial systems and prevent illicit outflows. While South Africa's inclusion on the FATF's grey list is viewed by some as an embarrassment, it enables us to strengthen our legal and regulatory frameworks, as well as enhance our anti-money-laundering capabilities. While South Africa's inclusion on the FATF's grey list is viewed by some as an embarrassment, it enables us to strengthen our legal and regulatory frameworks, as well as enhance our anti-money-laundering capabilities. We are also seeing prosecutions of high-level fraudsters, especially those who use dubious accounting methods to move money around and avoid paying their fair share of taxes. It is gratifying to see that action has been taken in this regard. Other UN entities have developed discussion platforms and measurement systems. There are 10 asset-recovery inter-agency networks that have 178 member countries, allowing illicit money flows to be traced across borders. In addition, Interpol supports national and international law enforcement agencies to investigate, trace and prosecute those responsible for these crimes. We must all strive towards expanding such interventions, as well as advocate for and enable closer alignment between government departments and between local law enforcement agencies and their international counterparts. However, our solutions must not cause more harm than good by discouraging legitimate investment. We should not, for example, implement unfair tax regimes that could result in capital flight. We must also not inhibit international investment inflows by making it nearly impossible to comply with legislation and regulations. Such a state of affairs would merely encourage companies to operate businesses in sectors such as import and export under the radar. Through working together by sharing data, harmonising laws and holding those responsible for IFFs accountable, we can strengthen the economy by plugging the holes through which money leaks and encouraging investment. Our people deserve nothing less.
IOL News
02-06-2025
- Business
- IOL News
SA wants bold financial reforms to end Africa's debt crisis ahead of UN financing conference
Deputy Minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, said that debt must be sustainable and international development finance needs to be reimagined so that 'no school, clinic or innovator's dream is sacrificed on the altar of debt or indifference'. Image: Katlholo Maifadi / DIRCO News South Africa is calling for the upcoming 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) to be a catalyst for change in how international development finance is structured so that no African nation suffers crippling aid debt. Deputy Minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Alvin Botes, said that debt must be sustainable and international development finance needs to be reimagined so that 'no school, clinic or innovator's dream is sacrificed on the altar of debt or indifference'. FfD4, to be held in Seville, Spain between June 30 and July 3, 'must close the financial divide, attack inequality at its root and operationalise the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact,' said Botes. FfD4, to be held under the auspices of the United Nations, seeks to address the urgent need to fully implement Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and support reform of the international financial architecture. Speaking at an event on illicit financial flows, mobilising domestic resources, and financing for development, hosted at SGN Grant Thornton's offices towards the end of last week, Botes also said that the global financing landscape is in disrepair. 'The G20 Common Framework has stalled, multilateral development banks deliver net negative flows, and unsustainable debt crowds out SDG spending,' the Deputy Minister said. South Africa, currently Presiding over the G20 until it hands the baton to the United States at the end of November, is ready to champion developing nations when it comes to their economic plight and unsustainable debt, said Botes. He noted that 43 of the world's 47 emerging nations are in Africa. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ 'The age of incrementalism has ended; the era of decisive, equitable and bold action begins now. South Africa is ready to lead, to support and to walk alongside every partner committed to justice, equity and shared progress,' Botes said. South Africa aims to use its Presidency to have the G20's Common Framework overhauled some five years after its creation during the COVID-19 pandemic as a mechanism to help relieve the economic impact caused by the plague. 'South Africa chairs this G20 year resolved to turn analysis into action and global consensus into ground-level change,' said Botes. Current international development financial frameworks are throttling emerging countries, which end up with unsustainable debt that 'crowds out' SDG spending, said Botes. He added that emerging markets need to 'participate equally in global decisions'. Botes also called for multilateral development banks to honour country ownership, credit rating agencies to reflect each country's fundamentals in their assessments and not prejudice them, and for developed economies to finally meet their Overseas Development Assistance and climate-finance commitments.
Morocco World
23-04-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
South Africa's Deputy Minister Inconsistent Claims About Morocco's Territorial Integrity: A Response
My reading of an article published last month in South African newspaper IOL NEWS, written by the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, Alvin Botes, was a source of provocation for me, as it would be for any Moroccan citizen, regarding our foremost national cause, which enjoys a national consensus, namely, the completion of our territorial integrity. However, as a newcomer to the legal profession, after a career in the financial sector, I find myself morally obligated, by my affiliation with this noble profession, to stand in defense of our homeland's sovereignty and to counter these provocations, which I address with the following arguments : Alvin Botes began his article with an introduction in which he noted that March 21 is a national Human Rights Day in South Africa, commemorating the events of that day in 1960 when apartheid police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration against racist pass laws, killing 69 people and the injuring hundreds more. He wrote that this anniversary led him to reflect on what he called the ongoing struggle for the self-determination of the Sahrawi people in North Africa. It is evident that the deputy minister was not successful in this biased comparison – equating a Moroccan people living in permanent peace from the north to the south in the Moroccan Sahara, with a nation where citizens endure oppression in a place where crime rates are among the highest in the world. His misstep is clear in what his memory allowed him to recount and exploit in his claims, as he dwelt on events from the 1960s in South Africa – events that occurred even before his birth in 1973 – while forgetting the atrocities of the current South African regime, which he himself witnessed, including the killing of its own citizens. Indeed, he must have truly forgotten, because if he had truly grasped the matter, he would have realized that using this comparison would backfire on him. Condemning the very system of which he is a part of, he is a fitting example of the English poet and orator George Herbert's adage that 'people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'. The reality is that he forgot about the Marikana massacre of 2012 – one of the most shocking interventions by their regime in the post-apartheid era against its own citizens. At the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, striking workers were demanding wage increases when orders were given for the police to open fire on them, resulting in 34 miners killed, 78 others injured, and 250 strikers arrested. This massacre occurred for no reason other than to suppress the workers' right to strike, a right guaranteed by the constitutions and laws of democratic nations. Yet, in an entirely unexpected response, the state met the workers' demands for better living conditions that preserve their dignity with live ammunition. Knowing the history of the South African regime in this massacre as well as others, it would be more fitting for Alvin Botes to confront himself and feel ashamed before his own citizens first, rather than attempting to give lessons that he believes others are in greater need of. He should refrain from delving into fabrications of his own imagination that infringe upon the sovereignty of a state that does not concern him, supporting mercenary separatists against it. His aim is to distract citizens from South Africa's internal problems by claiming false ideological leadership – as do other politicians of his like. Moreover, even in recent history, South African forces intervened against protests by their citizens following former President Jacob Zuma's arrest in 2021, resulting in the deaths of some people and the arrest of more than 5,500 individuals. One of the most prominent causes was that more than half of South Africa's population lives in extreme poverty, with an unemployment rate of 32% according to the World Bank. It is certain that the uprising of South African citizens was not in support of President Zuma, who was arrested due to corruption cases and who had boasted of supporting separatists against Morocco's territorial integrity. Rather, it was a protest against the dire conditions in which they live in and the lack of economic democracy in their country. These, sadly, are the figures and tragedies of post-apartheid South Africa, or simply, the new apartheid. On the other hand, the South African regime, which did not welcome Morocco's return to the African Union and opposed it in vain for the sake of its own interests and those of its Algerian ally, finds itself today, lamenting this rightful return of Morocco. As Alvin Botes in his official position alludes to, South Africa almost bitterly acknowledges the failure of their opposition, a result of the support from a large number of brotherly and friendly nations for Morocco's decision. This is because Morocco rejoined the African Union as one of its founding members through the predecessor organization in 1963, the Organization of African Unity, at that time, to support the complete liberation of Africa. While Alvin Botes speaks of the end of colonialism in his retelling of history from his perspective, he does not mention the Green March of 1975, which was part of the process of ending colonialism to reclaim territories that had been divided by the European colonial powers, just as they had divided other African nations by a ruler who drew straight lines – both vertical and horizontal – on the African map. These divisions continue to cause wars and conflicts in Africa to this day. The Green March was a peaceful affirmation of sovereignty with significant support from the local population, which contradicts the article's portrayal of Morocco as a colonizing country. At the time, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) confirmed the existence of ties of allegiance between the inhabitants of the Moroccan Sahara and the Moroccan Alawite throne, given that Morocco is historically one of the oldest monarchies and not merely a state born of colonialism. Alvin Botes falsely claimed that the inhabitants of the Sahara do not benefit from the natural resources of Morocco's southern provinces. However, his statements, which fundamentally lack the truth, just as his claims lack the language of figures that would certainly not support him, would find him either absent from, or oblivious to, reality – if he considered the level of prosperity and peace enjoyed by the inhabitants of the Moroccan Sahara compared to the citizens of his own country, South Africa. In terms of numbers, and regarding an internal matter that concerns him and not us as Moroccans, out of respect for the norms of international relations, violent crime in South Africa has reached its peak over the past decade, to the point where almost everyone is at risk. In South Africa, 27,494 murders were recorded in the decade ending in 2022-2023, compared with 16,213 murders at the end of the 2012-2013 period. In 2022-2023 alone, the homicide rate in South Africa reached 45 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, compared to a rate of 6.3 in the United States and around 1 in most European countries. These are official figures, not the unsubstantiated claims of Alvin Botes. Morocco has always stood by the people of South Africa in their struggle against the apartheid regime and was an early supporter of Nelson Mandela. However, like other countries that called for justice and democracy in South Africa, it could not have imagined that those who came after Mandela would plunge South Africa into a new apartheid regime, more sinister than its predecessor. This new regime has subjected the fate of its people to the hammer of political corruption scandals, internal tensions shaking the country's political landscape, and the anvil of diplomatic provocations with several nations to relieve internal pressure. The most recent consequence of this was that the United States was forced to expel the South African ambassador in Washington, after the Trump administration expressed the resentment and hatred that the expelled ambassador harboured. It is certain that the statements of South African officials, to which the international community pays no attention because of the revelation of their intentions – with the exception of some of their sister regimes, especially their twin, Algeria – are nothing short of an attempt to throw dust in the eyes of their people and to deceive them with things that do not exist, in order to cover up their failure and corruption in improving their standard of living, despite the wealth that these countries possess. It would have been more appropriate for the South African deputy minister, who dared to challenge Moroccan sovereignty and discuss the country's natural resources, to instead criticize the poor distribution of wealth among South African citizens and the misery left behind by his political leadership, as evidenced by official figures from both the United Nations and the World Bank. According to one of the latter's reports, 55.5%, or 30.3 million people, live in extreme poverty below South Africa's upper national poverty line, while a total of 13.8 million people, or 25%, suffer from food poverty. Rather, it would have been more appropriate for him to compare the path of reconstruction and prosperity that the Moroccan Sahara has experienced since the Green March in 1975, after its liberation from the colonizer, with the results of his regime's deviation from the path of its leader, Nelson Mandela – a setback that the aforementioned report itself pointed out at the social level. Alvin Botes should have realized, as a supposed man of politics, that the broken record of secession went out the window with the fall of the Berlin Wall, where many of the artificial political issues were the result of the Cold War, as did the fall of the apartheid regime in his own country after the fall of the Wall, and after the unification of Germany as well as Yemen, and the subsequent return of Hong Kong and Macau to China. Quite simply, the issue of Moroccan unity has been settled, even if its resolution is somehow embodied in addressing this artificial problem by granting autonomy – yet under Rabat's rule – to the inhabitants of the Moroccan Sahara – a solution supported by the majority of United Nations member states. These include major powers in the International Security Council such as the United States and France, which recognize Morocco's sovereignty over its Sahara. Meanwhile, the remaining member states of the Council do not express any objection to the Autonomy Plan proposed by Morocco to resolve this artificial issue. The truth is that this resolution is rooted first in Morocco's history and the unity of its people, in the democratic process that has been evolving for years through elections from northern Morocco to its Sahara, and then in the prosperity and development brought about by the massive investments Morocco has provided for its citizens in its southern provinces. These were achieved in record time, with its sons contributing first by sacrificing their blood for the unity of the homeland and then by bearing the cost of those investments. Finally, it falls South African Deputy Minister Alvin Botes to compare the decent standard of living Morocco has provided to the inhabitants of its southern provinces with the misery into which Algeria has plunged detainees of Sahrawi origin in the human trafficking camps of Tindouf. Tags: Morocco saharaSaharaSouth AfricaTerritorial IntegrityWestern sahara
Zawya
18-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Ambassador of Belarus Igor Bely meets the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa
On April 17, 2025 the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Belarus to the Republic of South Africa, Igor Bely, met with the Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, Alvin Botes, on the completion of his diplomatic mission. The parties discussed the development of Belarusian-South African relations, plans for further strengthening of political and institutional dialogue, mutually beneficial economic and scientific-technical cooperation, as well contacts in sports area. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus.
