Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, recently addressed the G20 Ministerial Meeting at Zimbali in KwaZulu-Natal, with his speech rooted in the importance of culture and how we must all work together to help it thrive
Since taking over the Presidency of the G20, South Africa has made it a priority to ensure that culture—be it traditional, modern, digital, indigenous or diasporic–receives the attention it deserves.
With this stance, a number of cultural initiatives, including the promotion of UNESCO-style intangible heritage programmes across the continent, digital-creator rights, restitution of artefacts, and the strengthening of Africa’s creative industries as global players, have been placed front and centre.
The Minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, believes this has been a vital step in the right direction, as ”you cannot talk about global economic inclusion if you leave out the cultural economy”.
”From the start of our Presidency, President Cyril Ramaphosa directed that culture must not sit at the margins of our agenda. Our team has worked tirelessly to ensure that culture, heritage, and the creative economy are recognised as engines of inclusion and development,” he said.
”We have advanced new frameworks on digital creativity, expanded conversations on restitution of heritage, and brought the cultural economy into the mainstream of global dialogue.
”Culture is not an ornament—it is an investment. It is identity, it is soft power, it is value creation. Every song, every dance, every artwork, every story carries an economy of its own. The nations that understand this are the nations that thrive.”
Equal Pay for Cultural Work in the Digital Age
The fight for equal recognition and remuneration for cultural work online is an ongoing battle, with McKenzie believing that the Global South should benefit from the same global marketplace as creators in the Global North.
This situation, he insists, is ”injustice dressed up as an algorithm”.
”We have seen the anomaly of a TikTok creator working in Africa who will not be paid from the ‘Creator Fund’ or will receive negligible returns, but the same person, if resident in the United States, might become a multimillionaire for producing similar content. This is not simply a matter of geography; it is a structural wrong,” McKenzie stated.
”Africa and other places in the developing world and the Global South are not the ‘wrong place’, and the right time to fix injustice and unfairness is now. Under our Presidency, we have brought to the forefront the notion that digital cultural labour—whether music, dance, comedy, art, short-form video—must be treated as part of the global cultural economy, with equal recognition, equal access to funds, equal access to monetisation, equal access to distribution.”
Restitution of Cultural Heritage and Human Remains
Another cornerstone of South Africa’s Presidency has been the ongoing restitution of cultural artefacts and ancestral remains that were stolen, looted, or unethically acquired during colonial rule.
McKenzie recognises the positive steps already taken by former colonial powers and institutions, with both Germany and France returning artefacts to African countries.
”When cultural objects, when ancestors’ remains, are returned home, we restore a part of our humanity. We signal that the past cannot simply be ignored, that the wounds inflicted by colonialism where cultural heritage was plundered are still with us, and that the only way forward is through recognition, restitution, and re-engagement,” McKenzie averred.
”Our Presidency has encouraged G20 members to make concrete pledges in this regard, because it is part of the cultural economy, of heritage tourism, of identity, of global trust.
”I have said it repeatedly over this past year: it is not a crime to inherit something that was never yours to own from actions that you did not commit. But it is a stain upon you to continue to keep it and, through inaction, to continue the perpetuation of the historical crime.”
The Work of the G20 Cultural Group
The story begins in 2020 under the Presidency of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In that year, as the world reeled from the pandemic, Saudi Arabia took a historic step: it was the first G20 Presidency to highlight culture explicitly as part of the global agenda.
The Riyadh G20 meetings featured extensive discussion on cultural preservation, heritage protection, and creative economy resilience in the face of lockdowns.
Saudi Arabia hosted the G20 Cultural Ministers’ Roundtable in November 2020—the first gathering of its kind—where ministers and cultural leaders explored how culture could drive recovery and resilience.
The event was held under the theme, ‘The Rise of the Cultural Economy: A New Crossroads for the World’, and brought to the world’s attention the need to safeguard artists and cultural institutions during crises.
Saudi Arabia’s pioneering effort laid the foundation for what was to come.
Since this historic move, culture has been a fixture of G20 Summits and Presidencies. In 2025, South Africa built on these strong foundations and introduced a new layer of focus: cultural justice in the digital age.
”Under South Africa’s leadership, the G20 Cultural Group formally endorsed the concept of Digital Cultural Equity, established a Task Team on Repatriation and Restitution, and opened negotiations for the International Cultural Restitution Facility,” McKenzie said.
”Importantly, this work has not occurred in isolation. The G20 Cultural Group has partnered closely with UNESCO, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the OECD, the World Bank, and regional entities such as the African Union Commission on Social Affairs, which houses the AU’s cultural portfolio. These partnerships have given the G20’s cultural agenda both depth and global legitimacy.
”The cumulative labour of these years stands before us as a living architecture of collaboration. We are inheritors of a young but potent tradition—one that has moved culture from the periphery of global policy to its rightful place at the heart of sustainable development.”
Culture as a Pathway to Peace
Despite living in a time of increasing conflict—wars of territory, wars of ideology, wars of narrative, McKenzie believes that ”culture remains a quiet soldier of peace” as ”culture offers a pathway towards non-violent partnerships between and among countries”.
He went on to reflect on an example very close to home, that of the late Nelson Mandela. It is an example which should be remembered and drawn from for generations to come.
”When the voice of Nelson Mandela was silenced behind lock and key, when his body was imprisoned and his speech forbidden, culture spoke for him. The struggle of South Africa against apartheid was sustained by songs, by literature, by theatre, and by cultural icons: Jonas Gwangwa through his trombone, Miriam Makeba through song at the United Nations, Hugh Masekela, Abdullah Ibrahim, Brenda Fassie, and Johnny Clegg stepped into the void over the years.
”Masekela’s ‘Bring Him Back Home’ became an anthem of the struggle. Clegg and Savuka’s ‘Asimbonanga’ in 1987 reminded us that ‘We have not seen him’ for 24 long years. This is the soft but enduring power of culture. It connects people beyond borders, beyond arrest, beyond banishment.”
In closing, McKenzie asked that future G20 Presidencies continue the hard work of previous tenures when it comes to culture and its importance in creating a world we all want to live in.
”Culture is the heartbeat that no machine will ever replace. It is the song we all know without having learned it. It is the truth that survives every translation. And it is the reason that, despite all our differences, we can stand here today united in purpose and humanity.
”Let our declaration speak not only to our economies, but to our souls. May culture continue to be the bridge between our nations, the voice of our people, and the legacy we leave to those who will come after us.
”May the world continue to build peace through culture,” he concluded.
