Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga: Media briefing on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Dept Budget vote 2025/26

Deputy Minister: Honourable Steve Letsike
Members of the Portfolio Committee led by the Portfolio Committee Chairperson: Honourable Lizel Van Der Merwe
Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities across our nation watching from home
Distinguished guests in our midst
Members of the media
Fellow South Africans

I humbly greet you all, this good afternoon.

South Africa’s G20 Presidency and the participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities

South Africa has been given a rare opportunity and mammoth responsibility of hosting the G20 Presidency for 2025. The G20, or Group of Twenty, is a strategic multilateral forum that brings together the world’s major developed and emerging economies. It plays a critical role in shaping international cooperation on the global economy, trade, public health, climate change, education, and sustainable development.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is for the very first time in the history of the G20 that the Presidency is held on the African continent, therefore, it is not just South Africa’s G20… it is Africa’s G20.

As the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, we have been entrusted with the responsibility of chairing the Empowerment of Women Working Group (EWWG). The EWWG focuses on strengthening the G20’s commitment on gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in all their diversity. We have anchored the G20 EWWG to focus on three critical priority areas, namely:

1. Recognising and investing in the care economy / work
Women carry the burden of care in families, communities, and health systems, yet their labour is often invisible, undervalued, and unpaid. We want governments to treat care as a public good, not a private burden.

2. Expanding women’s financial inclusion and economic participation
Women, especially in rural areas and the informal sector, are still excluded from land, credit, capital, markets, procurement, and the digital economy. We are developing policies that open doors and support sustainable livelihoods.

Access remains difficult: application systems are complex, information is hard to find, and most rural women don’t have transport, Wi-Fi, or the right documentation. We need simpler, more inclusive systems that meet women where they are—not where the system assumes them to be.

3. Ending gender-based violence and femicide
No economy can function, and no society can thrive, when women are unsafe at home, at work, in schools, and in public spaces. Safety is not a side issue. It is the foundation of empowerment. We are strengthening governance, legislative and programmatic responses in addressing the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide. More will be shared during the Budget Vote proceeding this afternoon.

Establishment of the G20 Disability Inclusion Working Group

Ladies and gentlemen, we have further proposed the establishment of the Disability Inclusion Working Group which will be an additional Working Group to be discussed further at the level of the G20 by subsequent countries which will take up the Chairship of the G20.

We have committed to taking the G20 to the people, so that it is truly The People’s G20 — a G20 that listens, that includes, and that leaves behind a legacy of progress. Our participation and activities in the EWWG reflect the lived realities of South African women, youth and persons with disabilities; it continues to also include diverse historically marginalised communities in rural areas, informal settlements, farms, and townships. We have been in Taung in the North West Province, we recently were at Mkhondo in Mpumalanga Province, and we will be going to other provinces.

The consultation is part of a broader national process to ensure that the voices of women, youth, and persons with disabilities inform South Africa’s contributions to the G20. It is also a build-up for the upcoming National Women’s G20 Conference, which we intend to convene ahead of the EWWG Ministerial Meeting in October and the G20 Leaders’ Summit, where Heads of State and Government will meet in Johannesburg this November.

As South Africa, we are approaching our G20 Presidency in the spirit of Ubuntu – “I am because we are”. This is to remind us that we are connected and we are stronger when we build together and leave no one behind.

• We are in Solidarity – working together across countries and communities to find shared solutions.

• We speak of Equality – because it is fundamental that we fix the unfair systems that keep so many people, especially women, young people, and persons with disabilities, trapped in challenges of climate change, unemployment, poverty, inequality, hunger, and rising debt.

• We speak of Sustainability – ensuring that the progress we build today does not harm the future, that it lasts, and that it includes everyone.

For this reason, we are saying the G20 must not only be for politicians and economists. It is for all of us, and therefore it must be simple, fair and for the people.

As the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, we are working every day to make sure that national plans speak to local realities.

Programmes and projects

1. Women empowerment
We are working to make sure that at least 40% of public procurement—the tenders, the contracts, the business opportunities—go to women. We are targeting industries that have long excluded women.

We are launching a Transformative Industrialists Accelerator—a programme supporting emerging women to lead in high-growth industries such as:

Women will receive help from idea to market including product development, financing, and industry partnerships. We are doing this for our women, youth and persons with disabilities because we believe in the right of every South African to live with dignity, access, and possibility.

2. Fighting exclusion through the Disability Inclusion Initiative
Persons with disabilities have been out of opportunities, that must change. We will be establishing a Disability Inclusion Nerve Centre right here in South Africa. This is a G20 legacy project that will:

• Improve data and planning

• Support early childhood screening

• Train teachers in inclusive education

• Use technology and AI to make services more accessible

• Help redesign our systems to serve all our people

Ladies and gentlemen, the voices of women, youth and persons with disabilities must be heard. Allocation of budgets must embed the voices of the vulnerable, and it must deliver meaningful outcomes in the lived realities of every South African.