Deputy Minister
Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, has called on young people to embrace the rich cultural diversity of BRICS and recognise its role in shaping a more inclusive global order. Speaking at the opening of the 2025 BRICS Summer School in Johannesburg on Monday, 1 September 2025, Letsike highlighted how the bloc goes beyond economics and politics to drive global change rooted in fairness and self-determination.
BRICS as a Force for Global Transformation
Letsike stressed that BRICS is more than just a group of countries working together on trade and diplomacy. “BRICS is not just an economic and political bloc. It is a strategic initiative for global transformation, grounded in multipolarity, justice, inclusion, and the self-determination of peoples,” Letsike said. She explained that since its start in 2009 with Brazil, Russia, India, and China, and South Africa’s addition in 2010, BRICS has grown to challenge old power structures and push for a fairer world.
The bloc has expanded to include eleven member states: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran. This growth, which began with invitations in 2023 and formal entries in 2024, reflects a shift towards representing the Global South’s interests. Letsike noted that BRICS now stands for nearly half the world’s population and over a third of global GDP. “The numbers themselves speak powerfully: the original BRICS five nations represented 42% of the world’s population and 31.5% of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). With expansion, BRICS nations today represent 46% of the global population and 37% of the world’s GDP,” she said.
This expansion has boosted BRICS’s influence, with the New Development Bank providing funding for infrastructure in member countries and initiatives like the BRICS Business Council promoting trade. The bloc’s focus on multipolarity means moving away from systems dominated by a few powerful nations, towards one where developing countries have a stronger voice in global decisions.
The 2025 BRICS Summer School: Focus on Inclusive Futures
The 2025 BRICS Summer School, hosted by the South African BRICS Youth Association in Johannesburg from 3 to 5 September 2025, brings together young people to explore the bloc’s role in the world. Held under the theme: “Innovatively Inclusive Futures for BRICS and the Global South”, the event gathers high school learners from grades 9 to 12, unemployed graduates, researchers, youth activists, entrepreneurs, and young professionals from BRICS countries and the Global South.
The programme dives into BRICS history, core principles like mutual respect and non-interference, current projects such as sustainable development goals, and future opportunities for cooperation. Activities include workshops, panel discussions, and networking sessions to build understanding and partnerships among youth. This third edition of the BRICS+ Summer School aims to empower participants to contribute to global issues, with a strong emphasis on education for sustainable development.
Letsike linked the theme to Brazil’s 2025 BRICS Presidency, which prioritises “strengthening Global South cooperation for more inclusive and sustainable governance.” Key areas include global health, trade and finance, climate change, artificial intelligence governance, peace and security, and building stronger institutions. She urged attendees to see these as chances for young people to lead change.
Emphasising Intersectionality and Ending Invisibility
A key part of Letsike’s message was the need for intersectionality in BRICS efforts—considering how factors like gender, disability, and sexual orientation overlap to affect people differently. “Young women are not affected by climate change in the same way as young men; that persons with disabilities face unique challenges in accessing digital technologies. The LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex) youth may be excluded from peacebuilding or education initiatives,” the Deputy Minister said.
She warned that ignoring these differences leads to invisibility, which harms society. “Erasure is not only about forgetting people’s names. It is about designing economies, policies, and institutions that pretend entire groups do not exist,” she said. Letsike described invisibility as the lack of women in leadership roles, persons with disabilities in education, LGBTI voices in talks, and rural youth in tech economies. “When people are made invisible, they are made vulnerable. When they are erased from our statistics, from our stories, and from our strategies, their needs remain unaddressed, their struggles remain unacknowledged, and their potential remains untapped.”
Drawing from South Africa’s past, Letsike recalled fights against invisibility, like the 1956 women’s march against pass laws that ignored women’s rights, the 1976 youth uprisings against poor education, and ongoing work by LGBTI and disability groups. She called for the same inclusive approach in BRICS. “Intersectionality therefore becomes both a moral and political imperative. No one is expendable, no one is peripheral, no one should be erased.”
Youth as Authors of History
Letsike encouraged young people to see BRICS as a platform where the Global South takes control of its story. “This is not just arithmetic. It is a declaration that the Global South will no longer be spectators in history, we are authors of it. Authorship requires us to bring in every voice, including those of women, youth, persons with disabilities, and LGBTI communities, whose realities are too often erased when we speak in generalities,” Letsike said.
She highlighted how BRICS promotes self-determination, allowing countries to shape their futures without outside control. For youth, this means using education, innovation, and unity to tackle challenges like unemployment, inequality, and climate change. The summer school supports this by offering skills in international relations, entrepreneurship, and activism.
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