Ubuntu: The moral architecture of a living economy - Jay Naidoo
Key topics:
Ubuntu as a moral foundation for a relational, life-centred economy
Global governance must prioritise care, equity, and ecological stewardship
True leadership measures success by life, not power or profit accumulation
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By Jay Naidoo
As the G20 gathers for the first time on African soil, we are invited to look beyond the razmataz of summits, the parades of power, blue lights and the choreography of old and new empires vying for dominance. Behind the flags and the photo opportunities lies a deeper reckoning - one that cannot be scripted.
We meet at a time of great turbulence, when the world we built is collapsing under the weight of its own contradictions. The politics of power parades itself naked, dressed in arrogance and illusion, surrounded by courtiers who mistake noise for vision. Old empires are dying; new ones are emerging, both still enthralled by the same impulse to dominate, extract, and control.
It is time to slow down. To take stock. To reflect deeply in stillness and ask: What legacy do we leave to generations still to be born? What story will they tell of us: that we hoarded wealth while the Earth withered, or that we turned, at last, toward life?
This G20 in Africa must be more than a gathering of technocrats and trade envoys. It must become a moment of moral clarity, a pause long enough to remember what it means to be human. For Africa is not merely a geography; it is a cradle of consciousness. It carries a memory of belonging that the modern world has forgotten.
At the heart of this wisdom lies a single word that the world urgently needs to hear: Ubuntu.
Ubuntu is often translated as “I am because we are,” but its meaning runs far deeper. It describes a worldview in which being human is only possible through relationship, reciprocity, and reverence for life. Ubuntu is not an abstract philosophy; it is an operating system for life: one that holds moral, ecological, and economic implications. It teaches that all existence is woven together in a web of mutual becoming, and when one thread is torn, the entire fabric weakens.
Modern governance and economics have been built on a paradigm of separation, separating human from nature, economy from ecology, and profit from purpose. We have engineered systems that mistake accumulation for abundance and control for intelligence. Ubuntu restores what has been forgotten: that wellbeing is relational, not individual; that wealth is shared, not hoarded; and that growth is meaningful only when it enhances the life of the whole.
The crises of our age, climate breakdown, inequality, migration, ecological collapse, all stem from fragmentation. Ubuntu is the healing principle that calls us back into wholeness. At the G20 level, this means moving from policies that optimise competition to frameworks that optimise cooperation and interdependence. It means recognising that the health of the global economy is inseparable from the health of the Earth.
Ubuntu governance recognises that leadership is not about domination or technical management; it is about stewardship. In an Ubuntu society, a leader listens deeply, serves selflessly, and acts with accountability to both the seen and unseen: to the ancestors, to future generations, and to the Earth itself.
This is the transformation required at the global level: from bureaucratic compliance to moral coherence; from extractive transactions to relational accountability; from metrics of power to metrics of care, measuring how much life, dignity, and trust governance brings forth.
True accountability flows downward, not upward. It is not primarily to financiers, institutions, or donors: it is to the people, the land, and the unborn. Such reframing could inspire the G20 to redefine governance as an act of healing, a process of restoring harmony between humans and the systems that sustain them.
An Ubuntu economy is a living economy: one that sees soil, water, and forests not as commodities, but as kin. It understands that the prosperity of one cannot come at the expense of the many. This worldview is not anti-growth; it simply redefines growth as the increase of life, not the expansion of consumption.
When economies operate within Ubuntu values, labour becomes livelihood, not exploitation; technology becomes a bridge, not a weapon; and wealth circulates like water, nourishing the ecosystem of society. The circular economy, often discussed in G20 forums, is only a halfway point. The deeper transformation is toward regenerative economies that restore vitality to what has been depleted. Ubuntu offers the ethical compass to guide that transition — a compass that points not north or south, but inward, toward conscience.
Ubuntu is Africa’s greatest gift to the world, yet its wisdom is universal. It finds resonance in an the teachings of all ancient indigenous peoples from time immemorial that “the world is one family” and in the teachings of Indigenous peoples across the Earth. All affirm that life is indivisible; that our freedom, security, and prosperity are bound together.
In this shared ethic lies the foundation for a new multilateralism of care, one that places the wellbeing of all beings at the centre of policy, balances the rights of nature with the responsibilities of humanity, and recognises that every global decision is ultimately a moral decision.
If the G20 were to anchor its deliberations in Ubuntu, it would no longer measure progress only in GDP, but in the flourishing of life, human, ecological, and spiritual.
We have built global institutions powerful enough to shape economies, but not wise enough to sustain life. Values are not peripheral to policy; they are its bedrock. Without shared values, even the most sophisticated systems become instruments of domination. With values rooted in Ubuntu, governance can once again become a sacred trust between humanity and the living Earth.
Let the G20, under the theme Life at the Centre, commit to embedding Ubuntu values into global finance and governance reform, prioritising cooperation, humility, and equity. Let it institutionalise relational accountability, ensuring that all global action serves people and planet together. And let it cultivate leadership as service, not power, where nations lead by example in generosity, not dominance.
Ubuntu is not nostalgia for the past; it is a template for the future. It invites us to move from separation to synergy, from scarcity to sufficiency, from dominance to dialogue. As this G20 convenes on African soil, let it be reminded that Africa is not a problem to be solved, but a teacher to be heard.
If we can align conscience with policy and compassion with capital, then governance can once again serve its sacred purpose: to safeguard the web of life. The time for declarations without deeds is over. The true measure of leadership, in government, in business, in labour, in academia, and in civil society, is no longer how much power one accumulates, but how much life one protects.
We are all custodians now: custodians of a fragile planet and a fading moral compass. Let this be the moment we find our way back to both.
“I am because we are. We are because the Earth is.”
That is the moral foundation upon which the next economy, the economy of life, must be built.