On 28 August 2025, President Cyril Ramaphosa inaugurated the G20’s first-ever “Extraordinary Committee of Independent Experts” tasked with investigating global wealth inequality and its impacts on economic growth, poverty, and international cooperation.
This six-member panel is chaired by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, and includes distinguished figures such as UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima, development economist Jayati Ghosh, and South African economists Professor Imraan Valodia and Dr Wanga Zembe‑Mkabile.
President Ramaphosa emphasized that extreme inequality not only undermines human dignity but also poses a systemic threat to global stability. He cited pressing examples such as vaccine inequity, surging costs in food and energy, mounting sovereign debt, and escalating trade tensions, all of which have widened the economic divide and engendered a new global oligarchy.
Joseph Stiglitz echoed the urgency of the issue, asserting that “inequality was always a choice,” and that G20 nations can—through deliberate policy decisions—choose a different path. The committee’s task: transform public discontent into actionable policy proposals for G20 leaders.
Stark statistics underscore the urgency: according to the World Inequality Report, in 2021 the poorest half of the global population owned just 2% of global wealth, while the richest 10% controlled 76%. Meanwhile, Oxfam highlights that the top 1% have amassed US $33.9 trillion since 2015—more than enough to end global poverty 22 times over.
The taskforce’s findings are slated for presentation at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, scheduled for November 2025.
In summary, South Africa’s establishment of this expert committee represents a bold, historic step toward confronting global wealth inequality—one that aims to shift G20 discourse and action in a more equitable direction.
