The President of the Republic will be in South Africa from Monday to Thursday to visit Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria on an official visit to celebrate Portugal Day, which has been postponed for three years.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa arrives in Cape Town on Monday afternoon, the first point of the June 10 commemorations for the Portuguese and Portuguese descendants living in South Africa, which this time will begin five days before the official date abroad.
On Tuesday, the head of state will be received in Pretoria by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, during an official visit, classified as a state visit by the South African authorities.
The Prime Minister, António Costa, will join the President of the Republic on Wednesday in Johannesburg and Pretoria to celebrate the Day of Portugal, Camões and the Portuguese Communities coming from Angola.
According to the Presidency of the Republic, the delegation for this trip to South Africa consists of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, the Minister of Defense, Helena Carreiras, and the Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Paulo Cafôfo.
Deputies of Carlos Pereira, of the PS, António Maló de Abreu, of the PSD, Rui Paulo Sousa, of Chega, Carlos Guimarães Pinto, of the Liberal Initiative, and João Dias, of the PCP, are also part of the entourage, since as well as the organizing committee on June 10, chaired by the oenologist João Nicolau de Almeida.
Also in South Africa will be the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, General José Nunes da Fonseca, and the Chief of the General Staff of the Navy, Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo.
The celebration of Portugal Day in South African territory was planned for 2020, along with Madeira, where many of the Portuguese and Portuguese descendants living in South Africa come from, but was postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, they will take place in Madeira, in 2021, but excluding South Africa, and in 2022, June 10 will be celebrated in Braga and London.
This three-year wait led to some complaints and regrets from members of South Africa’s significant Portuguese émigré community.
In recent years, there have been about a hundred thousand Portuguese consular registrations in South Africa, according to the Emigration Observatory. As for the total number of Portuguese residents living in this country, there are varying estimates, which vary between 200,000 and 450,000, including Portuguese descendants.
A large part of this emigrant population is of Madeiran descent. Many Portuguese moved to South Africa from the former colonies of Angola and Mozambique.
The last time a Portuguese president was in South Africa was a decade ago, in December 2013, when Aníbal Cavaco Silva traveled to Johannesburg for the funeral ceremonies of the country’s historic anti-apartheid leader and first black president, Nelson Mandela.
Source: DN
