Glamour, pomp and colour on show

On receiving his daughter-in-law, Ramaphosa said, “We accept her as our daughter firstly and we also accept her as our son’s beloved wife and I can assure you that the two of them are deeply in love.”

Ramaphosa challenged his daughter-in-law to hold tight to her husband. “Many girls in South Africa are envious of you, even on social media, they were saying, why did he go so far when we are here?” “They don’t know that you fell in love in China. Hold onto your man and never let him go.”

Ramaphosa also said weddings are a consolidation of relationships not only between families but also people and communities. “In this case, we believe it is a consolidation of the relations between South Africa and Uganda and this is going to cement us even more.”

Ramaphosa had touched down at Entebbe International Airport a day earlier, on Aug. 3, and held a brief meeting with his counterpart, Yoweri Museveni, at State House Entebbe. Museveni and Ramaphosa discussed issues related to the socio-economic and political affairs affecting the two sister countries and Africa at large.

Ramaphosa applauded the leadership of Uganda for making the relationship meaningful and supporting South Africa in its earlier days of the struggle against Apartheid.

On his part, Museveni welcomed Ramaphosa who he described as a freedom fighter and sharp businessman. He also applauded him for being appreciative of the African heritage.

This was in reference to Ramaphosa’s visit to one of Museveni’s farms, years back, where he reportedly picked interest in the long-horned Ankole cattle. He would later return and acquire 43 of them for his farm. At the function, both men talked about the cattle and Museveni joked that Rwamaphosa under paid him for the cattle.

Ramaphosa said the cattle had since multiplied into a huge herd both in Kenya and South Africa. Ramaphosa also revealed that he had since become the president of the South African Ankole Cattle Association.

The ceremony presented an opportunity for Mbabazi to catch-up with his erstwhile colleagues in the ruling NRM government where he served in various capacities for decades until he was fired three years ago.

Mbabazi went on to contest against Museveni in the 2016 presidential election, emerged third and unsuccessfully challenged the results in the Supreme Court. He has since kept a low profile.