President Dr. Patrick Herminie joined fellow Heads of State and Government at the Official Opening Ceremony of the 46th Ordinary SADC Summit, held at the Durban International Convention Centre.
South Africa formally assumed the Chairpersonship of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) during the Ceremony.
His Excellency Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa, opened proceedings as Interim Chairperson, setting the tone for a Ceremony that opened with a vibrant cultural performance before President Herminie took to the podium to deliver his maiden address to the Summit.
The Ceremony’s defining moment came with the formal handover of the SADC Chairpersonship, as His Excellency Dr. Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, passed the mantle of regional leadership to President Ramaphosa, who accepted the Chairpersonship before the Assembly.
President Herminie thereafter joined his regional counterparts in closed session, where deliberations on the Summit’s agenda got underway.
Africa Fact: Apparently the Monomotapan royal palace at Mount Fura had chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. An eighteenth century geography book provided the following data: “The inside consists of a great variety of sumptuous apartments, spacious and lofty halls, all adorned with a magnificent cotton tapestry, the manufacture of the country. The floors, cielings [sic], beams and rafters are all either gilt or plated with gold curiously wrought, as are also the chairs of state, tables, benches &c. The candle-sticks and branches are made of ivory inlaid with gold, and hang from the cieling by chains of the same metal, or of silver gilt.”