Pretoria - As you read this, the multibillion rand business district of Sandton is under lock and key.
Almost 50 world leaders are in the country attending the much-anticipated 15th BRICS Summit, where talks are aimed at strengthening the trade bloc.
Security has been beefed up; Police Minister Bheki Cele is on record saying the country was not leaving anything to chance.
Critics have gone as far as saying South Africa was hiding the dirt such as gender-based violence and crime away from the BRICS delegates.
On Facebook, a user went as far as saying the event should have been held in Soweto or Alexandra to show the world the “real South African story”.
But this is the BRICS Summit, and it is a big deal and shop window, not an opportunity to score and settle political and social points.
It is an opportunity to improve our trade deficits with the respective BRICS partners.
The summit is seeking to improve manufacturing and industrialisation capabilities to enable increased exports of beneficiated products to their markets.
In addition, it will bolster tourism activity in the country, while the mooted expansion of the bloc would be beneficial to various sectors.
Simply put, South Africa had to put the best foot forward.
If anything, the BRICS Summit is an opportunity to once again show the world that South Africa is capable of hosting world leaders and major events, and that the heads of state are safe, in good hands and welcomed here.
The event should yet again confirm that our broadcasting facilities for the media contingent that is in Sandton are among the best and most advanced in the world.
The spin-offs from the event should benefit the poorest of the poor.
Years from now, and when the 15th BRICS Summit is all but a distant memory, South Africans should look back at the benefits reaped from having hosted an event of this magnitude, as well as crucial decisions taken in Sandton that shaped the destiny of the country and the bloc.
The efforts that went into the policing for the event should set the benchmark of what South Africa is capable of.
Pretoria News