Traffic came to a standstill in Johannesburg and Soweto as thousands filled the streets to join the national rugby team Springboks on their trophy tour after defeating New Zealand to lift the Webb Ellis cup in France.
The tour kicked off at the Union Buildings in Pretoria where President Cyril Ramaphosa and Sports Minister Zizi Godwa congratulated the team.
In Johannesburg, South Africans of all races gathered (mostly wearing green) and sang for hours waiting for the Boks who were an hour and half late for the scheduled 14:00 start of the Joburg leg of the tour.
“My kids are so excited, they have never seen anything like this. I am usually too lazy to come to the South but today I prepared and drove much earlier,” said a woman carrying her youngest child on the shoulders.
A group of waiters and waitresses formed an impromptu choir which grew bigger as more people joined in including a drummer. The group said they were thrilled when their employer (Restaurant owner) surprised them with an announcement that the shop would close earlier so they could join the celebrations.
“He’s usually not like that. He’s strict with time and never closes for anything but today he was like you guys can go. He’s somewhere around here also celebrating”, said one man still wearing a branded apron.
Another man who admitted to not following or understanding Rugby said he just came to have his mood lifted.
“I struggle with a lot of things, load shedding, the economy is particularly tough on me so I needed a bit of fun and so far it feels good”, he said.