The untold story of how King Charles’ first state visit since becoming monarch welcoming South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa exceeded all expectations in the areas of equality, ecology, education and economy, as well as STEM.
Professor Chris Imafidon, African Voice correspondent, who was with President Cyril Ramaphosa, HRH Prince Edward, senior ministers and secretaries of state from UK and South Africa at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Kew and UK-South Africa investment summit at Lancaster House, near Buckingham Palace] share insight into this historic state visit and the new partnership based on equality championed by King Charles III.
THE PRESIDENT
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa experienced the highest form of royal hospitality as he arrives the London with his ministers to the warm embrace of a radical new King Charles III who was quick to redefine the terms on the new relationship between Africa, the commonwealth and the British throne. Equality of nations was the central theme of his formal and informal discussions. King Charles believes the new cooperation must never repeat the wrongs of the past, particularly colonialism or neo-colonialism. It was very clear that Science and technology –STEM, Ecology, Education dominated cooperation strategy instead of traditional themes of Economy, Employment or exploitation)
PARTNERSHIP
King Charles deployed his first ever speech to a foreign leader to declare with conviction that his monarchy will tackle the legacy of colonialism. He said in front of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, that aspects of the relationship between his country and the UK “provoked profound sorrow”. This was after greeting the audience in different African languages. The new King called for future cooperation between the two nations.
The king added that his late mother the Queen “always talked warmly of her return to your country” and even revealed former President Nelson Mandela’s nickname for her. King Charles has continued to campaign for the unity of the Commonwealth.
PAST PAINS
As Prince of Wales, King Charles last year he condemned the “appalling atrocity of slavery, which forever stains our history” Earlier, King Charles also told Commonwealth leaders: “I cannot describe the depths of my personal sorrow at the suffering of so many as I continue to deepen my own understanding of slavery’s enduring impact.” At the state banquet at Buckingham Palace, he assured all he was committed to ensuring Britain acknowledges the “wrongs which have shaped our past”.
PARLIAMENT
This state visit in honour of President Ramaphosa, was packed full of many activities. It included addressing both houses of parliament, where he called for more partnership in educating African youths. It also involved an important strategic meeting at the Royal botanical gardens in Kew, near Richmond, south west London. At the Kew Gardens, all the leading scientists/secretaries of state of South Africa, had a closed door meeting with their British counterparts and King Charles was represented by HRH Prince Edward. There were seeds taken from Africa over 200 years ago seen at the “exotic” section of the record breaking gardens. For a copy of the full text of the presidential speech to the joint session of parliament, or other papers/speeches of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Email: President.Speech@ExcellenceInEducation.org.uk
PROGRESS AND PEOPLES
UK and South African people have always had some kind of interesting relationship. For example “The late Queen had the great pleasure of hosting Presidents Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma for State Visits to the United Kingdom, at all of which I was present.
“On each of those occasions, she expressed her admiration for your country and its people, its vibrancy, natural beauty and diversity.
“And she always talked warmly of her return to your country in 1995, as the guest of President Mandela, after the momentous events – driven from within South Africa and supported by so many around the world, including here in the United Kingdom – that brought democracy to your country.”
THE PALACE
At the Buckingham palace, the audience of 163 – which included Prince William and Princess Kate, as well as senior politicians – laughed when King Charles stated that: “During one of my own visits to South Africa, in 1997, President Mandela told me that he had conferred on my mother a special name – Motlalepula, meaning ‘to come with rain’.
“I have been reassured that this was a mark of the particular affection President Mandela felt for the Queen… rather than a remark on the British habit of taking our weather with us!”
Having opened his speech with the word “welcome” in several languages of South Africa, he ended by saying: “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika!”
King Charles uses first major speech as monarch to vow he’ll tackle colonialism legacy, and demonstrated this by speaking many African languages. King Charles welcomed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to Buckingham Palace and spoke of how it’s “essential” to understand the elements of history which provoke “profound sorrow”
POWER AND ENERGY
Responding to African Media, President Ramaphosa believes that “For the most part, South Africa has a pretty reliable jurisdiction most respects. I would echo that the concerns around security, and I put security, criminality, corruption all in one bucket. From our perspective, that’s deteriorating situation and a concerning one power obviously is a big issue and a lot of that we understand is actually related to the other issue. I think if there are fewer acts of sabotage on the ESCON grid, there would be much greater power reliability in South Africa. I think South Africa could go a long way in resolving the power issues by tackling these issues around security”
PRESIDENTIAL PANACEA
Speaking to South Africans, after the visit, President Ramaphosa said “around corruption, security problem, not just to put the problem that they’re an environment in terms of solutions. One area where I think government is a public South Africa state capture and a pretty obvious one. We’ve been quite open about reaching out for support from the private sector, but also from governments. I know the US government through the department not have been quite supportive of South Africa. I think the UK has something quite valuable to export in that space”
This state visit demonstrated that President Cyril Ramaphosa is more than a president of an African nation. He will be remembered as a true son of Nelson Mandela who embodied the best African values and championed the cause of the less privileged
For a copy of the full text of the presidential speech to the joint session of parliament, or other papers/speeches of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Email: President.Speech@ExcellenceInEducation.org.uk
Watch a full report on this historic State Visit
Professor Chris Imafidon, is a multi-Guinness World record holder; Internationally renowned adviser to monarchs, governments, presidents and corporate leaders; Multi-award winning keynote speaker and thought leader; Mentor to multi-millionaire tech entrepreneur; Wall Street Journal bestselling author, a Sunday Times Op-ed author, and a Coach to New York Times Bestellers. And His research and innovation have been recognized internationally, winning multiple awards in many continents across multiple disciplines and his mentees are global leaders in pioneers and also world record holders. [Twitter @ChrisImafidon; Instagram @CoImafidon; Facebook/Linkedln/Clubhouse –Professor Chris Imafidon]
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