King Charles

A clip of King Charles greeting President Cyril Ramaposa in seven official SA languages has gone viral.
Image via Twitter

‘Rama-what?’: Tweeps react to King Charles’s local lingo [watch]

South Africans were left giggling after King Charles referred to SA president as ‘Ramafoza’ and seemingly botched several local languages…

King Charles

A clip of King Charles greeting President Cyril Ramaposa in seven official SA languages has gone viral.
Image via Twitter

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has just wrapped up his two-day state visit to the UK where he wined and dined with King Charles and Camilla, the Queen Consort.

But whilst the president put his best foot forward mingling with the royals at Buckingham Palace, the king also attempted to impress his guest – whom he incorrectly called “Ramafoza” – as well as trying his hand at several official SA languages.

ALSO READ: King Charles allegedly told Princess Diana he ‘might be gay’

WHAT KING CHARLES SAID

On Tuesday evening, King Charles hosted President Cyril Ramaphosa at a state banquet, also attended by his son and heir Prince William, and his respective wife Kate, the Princess of Wales.

According to MailOnline, the extravagant occasion hosted an audience of 163 guests, including other members of the Royal Family and politicians from both countries.

In his welcome speech, King Charles paid lip service to SA’s official languages – seven of them to be exact.

He said: “Welcome, Avuxeni, Dumela, Sawubona, Molo, Molweny, Ndaa. My wife and I are delighted to welcome you to Buckingham Palace this evening. Mr. President, If I may, I would like to give you our belated but very best wishes for your birthday last week.” 

In a clip that has gone viral on social media, Ramaphosa is seen beaming and whispering the words “wow” whilst the king made greeted in Sesotho, Setswana, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, and English.

Hilariously Charles incorrectly referred to Ramaphosa as “Ramafoza”.

King Charles also made mention of Queen Elizabeth’s fondness of Mzansi: “The late Queen had the great pleasure of hosting Presidents Mandela, Mbeki and Zuma for State Visits to the United Kingdom, at all of which I was present. 

“On each of those occasions, she expressed her admiration for your country and its people, its vibrancy, natural beauty, and diversity”

TWEEPS ARE NOT IMPRESSED

Following the viral clip of King Charles seemingly botching SA’s local languages – and referring to SA’s president as “Ramafoza” – the royal quickly became a trending topic

Cyril Ramaposa was also dragged for his reaction of sheer delight.

Here’s what tweeps had to say:

@sirboring_26: “Cyril acting like a side chick being finally invited to the family braai”

@Olwethusibiya26: “This is how we got colonised”

@KayKay_84: “All that fanfare and he couldn’t bother to pronounce the man’s name properly”

@user762766737665: “That’s our reaction when the electricity goes off.”

@QueenRobz: “Wow, wow. Cyril is impressed by what Google translate can do”

Twitter

Celebs also had their say too about King Charles and Cyril Ramaphosa.

Siv Ngesi posted: “They say a few words in our language and we give them so much credit when we speak their language fluently! President is way too excited! This is how they distracted us while they stole our riches”

Pearl Thusi shared: “While we need Visas to visit our diamonds he’s crying wow”

Lady Du added: “A gone boy”