“Back to Square One”: State of Johannesburg CBD 2 Months After G20 Has South Africans Outraged

• The G20 summit in Johannesburg concluded with controversies regarding the CBD's post-event state
• The 2025 G20 summit was a two-day event that invited world leaders to gather in Johannesburg to enter important discussions
• Social media reactions highlighted varying opinions on the city conditions post-summit

While the two-day 2025 G20 Johannesburg summit ended successfully on 23 November 2025, and a boycott of South Africa by President Donald Trump for the next global gathering, the conditions of the city after the summit caused quite a stir online.

On 6 January 2026, the Instagram account Walk Africa uploaded a video showing how the CBD's streets were flooded with vendors selling their goods and services on the pavements. Litter was also strewn on the road.

The post's caption read:

"Could this be a world problem, or is it only in Africa? Maybe new world-class cities should be built and leave these be. Totally messed up."

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Watch the Instagram reel posted on Walk Africa's account below:

Internet shares its take on Johannesburg CBD

Thousands of people on the internet rushed to the comment section with their thoughts about what they saw on their screens, with some alleging that many of the people were not South African citizens.

After reading Walk Africa's caption, @merleblackbirdcreations provided their opinion:

"Definitely not a world problem, some places, but definitely not everywhere. Also, many governments would address a problem like this."

A portion of what @shers_fab_life shared under the post read:

"Changes don’t happen overnight."

@ke.ith5605 told the online community:

"Cities are a reflection of the people who live in them."

Remembering how the streets looked before, @kween_leero commented:

"Back to square one, so sad."

3 Other stories about the G20 summit

• In another article, Briefly News reported that South Africans praised President Cyril Ramaphosa's response when asked if he would mobilise countries to boycott the 2026 G20 summit in Miami.
• Former Olympic swimmer Roland Schoeman slammed the South African government after the celebrations of a successful G20 summit.
• Sizwe Dhlomo slammed Gareth Cliff and Kallie Kriel when President Donald Trump banned South African from this year's G20 summit.

Source: Briefly News