Skukuza: Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, has made an urgent call for inclusive economic transformation that places women at the centre of key value chains. The Minister was delivering a keynote address at the Third Technical Meeting of the G20 Empowerment of Women Working Group (EWWG), currently underway in Skukuza Conference Centre, Kruger National Park, in Mpumalanga.
According to South African Government News Agency, the Minister highlighted Mpumalanga’s diverse economic landscape, from coal turbines at Kusile and Kendal to the citrus farms of Nkomazi and the tourism of Kruger National Park, as a province full of economic opportunity. However, she cautioned that women, who bear the invisible burden of care and subsistence work, must be integrated meaningfully into these economic engines. She emphasized the need for the energy transition, tourism boom, and manufacturing to result in real ownership, decent jobs, and fair returns for women.
The Minister asserted that this G20 moment belongs not just to South Africa, but to Africa and its people, reaffirming the country’s commitment to ensuring grassroots voices inform global policy. She described Mpumalanga as a province that ‘powers, feeds, and connects South Africa,’ chosen deliberately for its strategic location along the Maputo-Gauteng corridor and its contribution to energy, agriculture, logistics, and tourism.
Under the banner of ‘Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability,’ Minister Chikunga detailed the three priorities of the third Working Group as valuing the care economy-both paid and unpaid; unlocking genuine financial inclusion for women; and eradicating gender-based violence and femicide. The Minister stressed that voices of ordinary women, such as those heard during community engagements in Mkhondo, must echo in every session of the G20 deliberations.
Chikunga outlined concrete progress made since South Africa took the G20 reins, including a global conference on financial inclusion and provincial dialogues that birthed legacy projects like solar-powered childcare centres and women-led agro-processing hubs. These milestones, she noted, confirm that the agenda is no longer a set of good ideas but a living programme poised for global scale.
Calling the care economy the ‘hidden engine’ that sustains the visible economy, the Minister urged G20 nations to quantify, invest in, and redistribute care work. She outlined a three-part call to action for public investment in care as critical infrastructure, regular measurement of unpaid care through time-use surveys, and legal reforms to support parental leave, living wages for carers, and equitable workplace policies.
As the G20 Working Group heads toward its Ministerial Declaration, Minister Chikunga urged delegates to turn consensus into costed, timeline-driven policy options that uplift women in tangible ways. South Africa’s G20 Presidency, with its blend of local insight and global ambition, is charting a bold path toward women’s economic justice, anchored in the lived realities of its people and powered by provinces like Mpumalanga.