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By Faizel Patel

Senior Journalist


WATCH: Tom Cruise praises spirit of Ubuntu in South Africa

Tom Cruise loves South Africa describing the country as “incredible and amazing", and even saying he would love to live here.


Hollywood actor Tom Cruise has praised the spirit of Ubuntu in South Africa while filming the upcoming Mission Impossible movies in the country.

The 60-year-old Tom Cruise has been making headlines since he filmed the spy movies in South Africa and it seems that he has fallen in love with the landscape of our beautiful country.

Mission Impossible

Cruise and his team started filming in Mpumalanga and Limpopo in February 2022, using Hoedspruit as a base for their stay before moving to the Drakensberg area in KwaZulu-Natal.

Watch Tom Cruise accepting his award and speaking about Ubuntu

He was awarded the David O. Selznick Achievement Award during the Producers Guild of America Awards.

Ubuntu

In his acceptance speech, Cruise spoke about his time in South Africa.

“I just got back from filming in South Africa, that’s an absolute stunning country. And there’s a beautiful philosophy, it’s Ubuntu that originated there.

“It is the idea that humanity is based on the plural, not the singular and Ubuntu essentially means I am, because we are. And I thank all of you, because you are,” Cruise said.

Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela share Cruise’s comment on Twitter.

Love for South Africa

It’s no secret that Tom Cruise loves South Africa.

In February 2022, he described South Africa as “incredible and amazing”, even saying he would love to live here.

“It would be nice to live here,” the actor told a small group of people who’d gathered to welcome the Top Gun actor to Limpopo.

New missions

Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the film will once again see Cruise reprising the role of agent Ethan Hunt.

The release date for Mission Impossible 7 has been postponed to 14 July 2023, while the release date for Mission Impossible 8 has been pushed from 7 July 2023 to 28 June 2024.

Cruise has played the role of Hunt for over 20 years, with Mission: Impossible first released in 1996.

What is Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a local term meaning “humanity”. It is sometimes translated as “I am because we are”, or “humanity towards others”.

ALSO READ: Watch: Tom Cruise would like to live in ‘incredible’ South Africa

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