President Cyril Ramaphosa with His Royal Highness Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud, during a state visit to Saudi Arabia: Photo: Presidency/Twitter
As South Africa celebrated Freedom Dayl, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has extended its well wishes to the country and its people.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud sent a cable of congratulation to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
On Thursday 27 April, South Africa commemorated the first post-apartheid elections held in the country 29 years ago.
King Salman expressed his best felicitations and wished Ramaphosa “constant good health and happiness and the government and people of South Africa steady progress and prosperity”.
Saudi Arabia‘s Crown Prince and heir to the throne, Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, also wished Ramaphosa and all South Africans prosperity.
Earlier, Ramaphosa addressed the Freedom Day celebrations in Klerksdorp, North West, starting off his speech by saying the country was celebrating the collective birth of a new nation.
“This is the day when all of us South Africans got the birth certificate for our country because that is when the real South Africa was born.”
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Ramaphosa also said South Africans needed to view the country “as a large South African family”.
“There are quarrels, disagreements, and yes there are differences on all manner of things and there are fights that we have. There are seasons of plenty, but also times of scarcity. Sometimes things are good and sometimes things can be bad.
“But even when times are bad, a family pulls together. A family stands together,” he said.
Addressing South Africa’s power crisis, Ramaphosa said “freedom cannot be meaningful when South African homes and businesses are without electricity for several hours in a day”
He said government is using “every means” at their disposal to maintain and restore the failing power stations and to build new generating capacity “as a matter of the greatest urgency”.
Ramaphosa also expressed optimism that South Africa’s energy system would soon be “fundamentally transformed” and “more stable, more reliable, more affordable, and more sustainable”.
Additional reporting by Cheryl Kahla
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