Joel Netshitenzhe, executive director of the Mapungubwe Institute, delivered a presentation on global power dynamics at the eThekwini Colloquium, highlighting the tension between unipolarity and emerging multipolarity. He discussed China's economic rise and the United States' internal challenges amid ongoing great power transitions. Netshitenzhe urged South Africa to leverage its resources and build strategic alliances in response.
On Monday, Joel Netshitenzhe presented at the eThekwini Colloquium on global dynamics, analyzing the interplay of geo-strategic, economic, political, social, technological, and environmental forces shaping today's volatility. He began by quoting a letter from an ordinary Cuban woman, describing the US blockade's impact: 'I write this with a broken heart and trembling hands, because what my people are experiencing today is not a crisis. It is a slow, calculated, coldly executed murder, orchestrated from Washington.' This underscored questions about unipolarity and multipolarity.
Netshitenzhe noted China's re-emergence as a great power, with its global economy share rising from 2 percent in 1980 to 18 percent in 2016 using purchasing power parity, contrasting the US decline from 50 percent post-World War II to 16 percent in 2016. He highlighted BRICS+ accounting for 40 percent of the global economy versus the G7's 28 percent, yet emphasized US military dominance, with expenditure exceeding the next 10 powers combined.
Drawing on Raja Mohan in The Economist (2026), he observed: 'The weak international response to Washington’s aggressive trade policies... have exposed how difficult it is for any coalition to mount effective resistance to the United States.' Netshitenzhe echoed the ANC's 2007 view of primary unipolarity with secondary multipolar features, warning of US internal decline through overreach, social inequality, and erosion of free speech.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's 2026 Munich Security Conference remarks lamented post-1945 Western imperial decline, viewing decolonization negatively. For South Africa, Netshitenzhe stressed leveraging endowments like over 70 percent of global platinum group metals reserves and strategic location. He advocated a united African voice to influence global dynamics, building broad fronts for peace, equitable trade, and social justice, while strengthening national security against potential interventions.
