The President of the Republic this Monday will begin the celebration of the Day of Portugal, Camões and Portuguese Communities in South Africa, together with the Portuguese and the descendants of the Portuguese living in Cape Town.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who arrived from Lisbon on Sunday, will arrive in Cape Town in the afternoon, where the first item on the program will be a ceremony aboard the Portuguese Navy patrol ship Setúbal at 17:30 local time (16:30). evenings in continental Portugal).
Defense Minister Helena Carreiras, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces General José Nunez da Fonseca and Head of State Navy Major Admiral Enrique Gouveia e Melo.
The head of state will then hold a meeting with the local expatriate community at the Portuguese Association of Cabo da Boa Esperanza before flying to Pretoria at night.
On Tuesday in Pretoria, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will be received by the President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, as part of an official visit, qualified by the South African authorities as a state visit.
Portugal Day celebrations in South Africa, postponed by three years due to the covid-19 pandemic, will continue in Johannesburg and Pretoria on Wednesday, a day also attended by Prime Minister António Costa. Angola together with Foreign Minister João Gomes Cravinho.
Accompanying the President of the Republic on this trip to South Africa are MPs Carlos Pereira for the PS, António Malo de Abreu for the PSD, Rui Paulo Sousa for Chega, Carlos Guimarães Pinto for the Liberal Initiative and João Dias for the PCP and Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities Paulo Cafofo.
This trip to South Africa also includes the President of the Regional Government of Madeira, Miguel Albuquerque, where many of the descendants of the Portuguese and Portuguese living in South Africa come from, the Mayor of Peso da Régua, José Manuel Gonçalves, and the President of the June 10 Organizing Committee, oenologist João Nicolau de Almeida.
This time, the Portugal Day celebration starts abroad and ends in Portugal, in Peso da Régua, Vila Real district, where a military ceremony will take place on June 10th.
According to the Emigration Observatory, the consular registrations of the Portuguese in South Africa are about one hundred thousand people. As for the total Portuguese population living in this country, there are scattered estimates that range from 200,000 to 450,000 people, including descendants of the Portuguese.
Many Portuguese moved from the former colonies of Angola and Mozambique to South Africa.
The last time the President of Portugal was in South Africa ten years ago, in December 2013, when Anibal Cavaco Silva traveled to Johannesburg for the funeral ceremony of the historic anti-apartheid leader and the country’s first black president, Nelson Mandela.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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