By Akani Nkuna
Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, has told young people from BRICS+ countries to pursue innovation that helps preserve sovereignty and the right to self-determination, particularly in the Global South.
“Your generation must innovate with a clear-eyed understanding that the right to self-determination — the right of nations and peoples to chart their own course — is the non-negotiable foundation upon which all sustainable development must rest,” she said on Thursday.
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“This means developing indigenous technological capacity, not merely consuming platforms designed elsewhere. It means building data governance frameworks that protect African and BRICS citizens from digital extraction. It means insisting that development will be determined by the quality of our ideas, not by the politics of strongmen or the patronage of former colonial powers.”
Chikunga was speaking at the BRICS+ Youth Innovation Summit, held at Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, which brought together young entrepreneurs, investors and experts from BRICS+ countries and the Global South.
The summit sought to highlight the role of youth-led solutions in shaping a sustainable future and driving economic growth.
According to Chikunga, an “intellectual rebellion” needs to be birthed to disrupt the dominant economic models of the past half-century, which she said have produced the “greatest rates of inequality in the history of humankind”.
Referring to contemporary digital tools, including artificial intelligence, the minister told young people to deploy them critically, ensuring they serve people and promote their wellbeing.
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She said there must be stronger insistence on African and BRICS participation in setting global AI governance standards, adding that “innovation in AI without democratic accountability” would widen existing disparities between the Global North and South.
“Artificial intelligence is not neutral. It is built on data that reflects existing power relations, trained by institutions with particular interests, and deployed in ways that frequently deepen rather than disrupt inequality,” Chikunga said.
The minister said that people-to-people relations rooted in cultural exchange, academic mobility, artistic collaboration and shared intellectual production were among the key areas through which innovation could be advanced and harnessed.
“I call on the youth of BRICS to build these connections deliberately. Learn each other’s languages. Study each other’s histories. Collaborate on research, on enterprise, on art,” said Chikunga.
“The innovation that will matter most in the coming decades will not emerge from isolated laboratories. It will emerge from the intersection of diverse knowledge systems, cultural traditions, and lived experiences.”
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