Riyaz Patel
President Cyril Ramaphosa has departed for Japan to watch the Springboks take on England in the Rugby World Cup final Saturday.
The much needed ‘break’ follows a gruelling Q&A session in Parliament Thursday, where the president fielded questions ranging from the state of the economy to land transformation to gender-based violence.
Ramaphosa will watch the final in Yokohama with Prime Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, a Japanese official said.
It will be Ramaphosa’s third visit to Japan this year, after the G20 summit in June, and the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in August.
His trip comes after the two-time world champions booked a place in the final with a nail-biting 19-16 win over Wales Sunday.
Ahead of the semi-final clash, Ramaphosa called Bok skipper Siya Kolisi, the first Black man to captain the Springboks via video call and told him the the whole country was rooting for the team.
“If Siya touches that trophy on Saturday… I tell you, it will be a far greater moment than 1995. Far greater. It would change the trajectory of our country,” noted the 2007 Springbok World Cup winning captain John Smit.
Upping the ante ahead of the final, Ramaphosa fired off a tweet to British PM Boris Johnson Tuesday.
Meanwhile at UN Headquarters in New York…
South Africa’s UN envoy Jerry Matjila symbolically passed UK ambassador Karen Pierce a rugby ball to mark the final between South Africa and England, as well as handing over the Council Presidency.
The omens appear to be in the Springboks favour, after all, South Africa held the presidency ‘ahead’ of England… Hopefully after the final whistle in Yokohama Saturday, South Africa will be ahead there too!
