Cyril Ramaphosa, 65, became South Africa’s president this year, succeeding Jacob Zuma.Ramphosa is a staunch follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
NEW DELHI: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will be the chief guest for the Republic Day parade 2019. Ramaphosa’s office has reportedly accepted India’s invitation.
This comes after the US President Donald Trump turned down the invitation citing scheduling constraints in a big embarrassment for the government.PM Modi had invited President Trump for a bilateral visit to India during their talks in Washington last year.
First Republic Day parade was held in 1950. Indonesia President Sukarno was the chief guest.The United Kingdom and France have been invited for five times each. This is the highest number of invitation for any country so far.
In 2015, the then US president Barack Obama had attended it as the chief guest which was his second visit to India as American president.This year, leaders from 10 ASEAN countries had attended the Republic Day celebrations.
Cyril Ramaphosa, who was Nelson Mandela’s choice for future President of South Africa, is a keen Gandhi follower.He is a member of the Venda ethnic group and the first President of South Africa from that group.
In April, he led around 5,000 people at the annual ‘Gandhi Walk’ event in Lenasia near Johannesburg, in an attempt to promote community awareness and fitness.
Ramaphosa first came to prominence in the 1980s as general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers and as a major force in the domestic struggle for political freedom.
When Nelson Mandela was released from prison in February 1990, Ramaphosa was at the head of the reception committee that greeted him.
As Secretary-General of the ANC after its unbanning, he re-established the liberation movement as a mass political party.
Ramaphosa is widely credited with playing a major role in the negotiations that led to the democratic settlement in South Africa and in devising the country’s new and Internationally renowned constitution.
