Mandates & Megaphones
Jeremy Maggs unpacks South Africa’s G20 role with bold weekly conversations on politics, economics, and diplomacy - shaping business and policy in a changing world.
18 Episodes
Translating B20 ambition into South Africa’s industrial reality
As the countdown begins to the B20 South Africa Summit 2025, the nation finds itself under the global spotlight - challenged to transform aspiration into measurable industrial progress. In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO of Siemens Sub-Saharan Africa, discusses how digital innovation, industrial policy, and public-private…
G20 consensus or not, SA must drive its own climate agenda
South Africa is hosting the G20 with energy security and climate justice at the top of the agenda. In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy Samantha Graham-Maré speaks with Jeremy Maggs about Africa’s energy transition, unlocking green finance, and building an industrial base for…
B20 warns: Economies must invest 0.5% of GDP in skills
In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, B20 Employment and Education Task Force chair Paul Hanratty says Africa’s growth depends on unlocking SMEs, early education and lifelong learning — part of the B20’s push for a new social contract to align skills, technology and job creation.
Africa must move from being a policy taker to a policy shaper
As South Africa assumes the G20 presidency, former diplomat and geopolitical consultant Mohamed Cassimjee joined Jeremy Maggs on Mandates & Megaphones, to discuss how Africa can use this pivotal moment to shape - not just follow - the global agenda. Drawing on his years in diplomacy, Cassimjee explored Africa’s evolving place…
Closing the gender credit gap is more than a moral issue
In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Naledzani Mosomane of Standard Bank says closing Africa’s $42 billion gender credit gap is vital for inclusive growth. She explains how data gaps, financial literacy, and structural barriers limit women-owned SMEs, and why partnerships, blended finance and measurable KPIs are key to real progress.
'Ignore SA at your peril' – BLSA CEO to G20 investors
In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busisiwe Mavuso says South Africa’s G20 presidency is a chance to reset global perceptions and drive meaningful reform. Speaking to Jeremy Maggs, she outlines how business can turn summit talk into tangible progress.
Taxing the super-rich tops inequality agenda for SA’s G20 presidency
In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Jeremy Maggs speaks with Isobel Frye, senior policy advisor on the G20 at Oxfam South Africa and a leading social protection expert. Frye explains the complex relationship between global commitments and local realities, stressing that rhetoric must give way to tangible results.
No place to hide as SA tries to rally middle powers and reset global trust
South Africa’s G20 test: Can middle powers rescue multilateralism?
‘Africa doesn’t need charity, it offers leadership’ – SAB’s Rivett-Carnac
South Africa’s year at the helm of the G20 and B20 has opened a rare window for African business to shape the global economic agenda. In the latest episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Richard Rivett-Carnac, CEO of South African Breweries [SAB] and a member of the B20 Advisory Council, spoke…
SA urged to act on whistleblower laws ahead of G20
As South Africa prepares to host the G20 summit, the issue of whistleblower protection is fast emerging as both a domestic imperative and an international test of credibility. On this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, presented by Jeremy Maggs in association with Standard Bank, the spotlight falls on the urgent…
Sim Tshabalala and the race to align capital and capacity
In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, host Jeremy Maggs speaks with the Standard Bank Group CEO and B20 Finance and Infrastructure Task Force chair who unpacks the urgent need to close Africa’s $85 billion annual infrastructure funding gap. From reforming capital rules and ratings agency models to accelerating project delivery…
Labour leaders push G20 to act on AI, inequality and tax justice
In this episode of Mandates & Megaphones, Jeremy Maggs speaks to Tanya van Meelis, head of policy at Cosatu, and Riefdah Ajam, general secretary of Fedusa, about how the world’s most powerful economies can meaningfully align social justice with economic coordination, or if the gap between promises and delivery is…
South Africa’s G20 test: Turning the presidency into power
Bernard Drotschie, chief investment officer at Melville Douglas, speaks to Jeremy Maggs about the challenges and opportunities of the country’s G20 presidency and leading the B20 business agenda.
From dependency to power player: How Africa can rewrite its future
As the Brics bloc expands, the G20 comes to Johannesburg, and Western influence wanes, the continent faces urgent choices that could define its future for generations.
Johannesburg showdown: Can Brics bend the G20 to its will?
Ashraf Patel of the Institute for Global Dialogue weighs in on the realpolitik, risks, and rising tensions behind the geopolitical theatre. Can South Africa bridge the gap between East and West? Can Brics transform the rules, or will it simply mirror them? And what happens when narrative power challenges institutional…
B20/G20: Can business speak for Africa and be believed?
Jeremy Maggs unpacks South Africa’s G20 role with bold weekly conversations on politics, economics, and diplomacy - shaping business and policy in a changing world.
Global risks, local stakes: Can SA deliver at the G20?
Risk strategist Volker von Widdern joins Mandates and Megaphones to unpack whether South Africa can turn complexity into coherence or if political drift and policy overload will sabotage the summit.
Can social innovators shape the G20?
As South Africa prepares to host the November G20 Summit for the first time on African soil, Mandates and Megaphones kicks off by asking: can social entrepreneurs and innovators shape a more inclusive global agenda? Jeremy Maggs is joined by Dr Solange Rosa from UCT’s Bertha Centre and Luvuyo Rani…