FILE: Pretoria, South Africa - Aug 2023 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. National flag of South Africa

FILE: Cape Town, South Africa - May 13, 2023 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
2. National flags of South Africa

South Africa - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayanda Hollow, president of TV BRICS Africa (starting with shot 2/partially overlaid with shot 4/ending with shot 5):
"I think a lot of young Africans are asking the question of why did we join BRICS in the first place? BRICS has on its own evolved, starting as a group and then welcoming South Africa. But the question still remains, why did we join BRICS? There are some few things that one can mention, that BRICS has really ensured that Africa is no longer outside the influential blocs of the world that govern, the trade that governs or seeks to govern the geopolitics of the world. The BRICS formation is a very critical formation and is also a very critical friend to the Global South."

++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
FILE: Cape Town, South Africa - March 6, 2021 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
4. Cityscape
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

FILE: Cape Town, South Africa - May 13, 2023 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Various of traffic, pedestrians

South Africa - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayanda Hollow, president of TV BRICS Africa (partially overlaid with shot 7/ending with shots 8-9):
"[One of] the best ways is the innovation of the New Development Bank, the BRICS bank so-called, that really has managed to give South Africa a facility that it can really tap on to really ensure that its development, be it energy, be it agricultural side, can really benefit. We can really improve around the cooperation and the implementation around energy infrastructure. Africa still has a really limited energy infrastructure, be it in different technologies, whether it's nuclear, whether it's in coal, whether it's in hydro. We do need the investments of ensuring that Africa can really improve."

++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
FILE: South Africa - Date Unknown (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland) 7. Various of workers picking citrus
++SHOT OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

FILE: Johannesburg, South Africa - Feb 11-13, 2023 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. Various of power station

FILE: Northern Cape, South Africa - 2021 (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Aerial shots of wind turbines, power facilities

Johannesburg, South Africa - Feb 11-13, 2023 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Various of electrical towers

South Africa - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Ayanda Hollow, president of TV BRICS Africa (starting with shots 9-10):
"In South Africa, probably one of the countries that is most lit in Africa, still its energy and electricity is too expensive for young people to really explore and innovate things. BRICS as a bloc and as a formation, if we can really put its foot down in ensuring that Africa is not energy poor, it will see the tide and the turn of Africa really performing and fulfilling it's rightful place in the global politics."
FILE: Beijing, China - Jan 18, 2022 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
12. National flags of BRICS countries

FILE: Brasilia, Brazil - Oct 17, 2019 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
13. National flags of BRICS countries

Africa is no longer on the outside of global governance, according to Ayanda Hollow, president of TV BRICS Africa, as leaders of the expanded BRICS bloc prepare to gather in India's New Delhi this weekend.

The 18th BRICS Summit is set to take place in the Indian capital on September 12-13, bringing together leaders from member and partner countries as well as invited guests.

Launched in 2009 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, the group has grown to 11 full members. South Africa joined in 2011, becoming the first African country in the bloc.

Speaking with the China Global Television Network (CGTN), Hollow reflected on why his country remains actively engaged in the group.

"I think a lot of young Africans are asking the question of why did we join BRICS in the first place? BRICS has on its own evolved, starting as a group and then welcoming South Africa. But the question still remains, why did we join BRICS?",he said.

He noted that South Africa's membership has ended the African continent's isolation from the circles that shape global politics.

"There are some few things that one can mention, that BRICS has really ensured that Africa is no longer outside the influential blocs of the world that govern, the trade that governs or seeks to govern the geopolitics of the world. The BRICS formation is a very critical formation and is also a very critical friend to the Global South," he said.

Hollow also pointed to the establishment of the New Development Bank as the bloc's most tangible gain for South Africa, from energy to agriculture.

"[One of] the best ways is the innovation of the New Development Bank, the BRICS bank so-called, that really has managed to give South Africa a facility that it can really tap on to really ensure that its development, be it energy, be it agricultural side, can really benefit. We can really improve around the cooperation and the implementation around energy infrastructure. Africa still has a really limited energy infrastructure, be it in different technologies, whether it's nuclear, whether it's in coal, whether it's in hydro. We do need the investments of ensuring that Africa can really improve," he said.

Hollow further stressed that tackling Africa's energy poverty is key to unlocking the continent's vast potential.

"In South Africa, probably one of the countries that is most lit in Africa, still its energy and electricity is too expensive for young people to really explore and innovate things. BRICS as a bloc and as a formation, if we can really put its foot down in ensuring that Africa is not energy poor, it will see the tide and the turn of Africa really performing and fulfilling it's rightful place in the global politics," he said.