Ramaphosa to attend King Charles event ahead of funeral
President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Sunday attend an event hosted by King Charles III as Britain gears up for the momentous state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.
Ramaphosa travelled to the United Kingdom from Washington DC where he held talks with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday.
On Monday, Ramaphosa will be among some 500 world leaders attending the state funeral Service for the UK longest reigning monarch.
Charles -- at 73 the oldest monarch ever to ascend to the throne -- will host the dozens of visiting dignitaries including Biden at a reception at Buckingham Palace on Sunday evening.
Leaders including Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, Australia's pro-republic Anthony Albanese, and Canada's Justin Trudeau -- prime ministers from countries where Queen Elizabeth was head of state -- have paid their respects at Westminster Hall.
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But Ramaphosa’s trip the Washington and the UK comes as Eskom ramped up load shedding to stage 6.
This has led to calls for the president to cancel his trip and return home to deal with the electricity crisis.
The DA calls for the immediate return of President Cyril Ramaphosa to South Africa to address the worsening electricity crisis that is one load shedding stage away from a total grid collapse,” the opposition’s Kevin Mileham said on Sunday.
“Over the past few weeks, Ramaphosa has ignored several DA warnings that his energy response plan had veered off the track due to an ineffective National Electricity Crisis Committee.”
