Tinubu holds bilateral meeting with Ramaphosa in South Africa

President Bola Tinubu is currently meeting Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president, for “diplomatic, economic and bilateral talks”. 

Olusegun Dada, presidential aide, disclosed this in a post on X on Thursday.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu receives South Africa President @CyrilRamaphosa for Diplomatic, Economic and Bilateral talks after a successful Presidential Inauguration Ceremony,” Dada said in the post.

Tinubu travelled to South Africa for Ramaphosa’s inauguration.

Ramaphosa was re-elected as the country’s president following a historic coalition deal between the governing African National Congress (ANC) and opposition parties.

The new government comprises Ramaphosa’s ANC, the Democratic Alliance (DA), which is the main opposition, and other smaller parties.

The ANC lost its majority in last month’s election after ruling for 30 years since the end of apartheid.

According to Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, “before the closed meeting, which was held at Radisson Blu Hotel in Johannesburg, President Ramaphosa thanked President Tinubu for honouring the invitation to attend his inauguration for a second term in office”.

“Thank you so much for coming for the inauguration. I was very happy to see my brother at the ceremony,” the South African president was quoted as saying by Ngelale.

“President Tinubu noted that President Ramaphosa’s inaugural speech captured most of the challenges faced by African countries and the need for more collaboration among leaders and citizens to provide solutions,” the statement reads.

“I really enjoyed your speech at the ceremony. I was delighted listening to you. We have lots of issues in common, and we need to work more closely together. It was a good celebration,” Tinubu said.

On Wednesday, a viral video of Ramaphosa purportedly ignoring Tinubu at the inauguration caused a stir on social media.

The presidency said the video was taken out of context.

Tinubu and Ramaphosa last met in New York at the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2023.

At the time, the Nigerian leader had sought for a deepening of economic ties between both countries.