President Cyril Ramaphosa's son Andile was introduced
by his Ugandan fiancee, Bridget Birungi, at a traditional marriage
ceremony known as kuhingira in Uganda on Saturday.The ceremony attended by high-profile guests was held at the residence of the bride's uncle, John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, a former prime minister of Uganda in the leafy upscale Kololo suburb in the capital, Kampala.
Mbabazi, who handed over Birungi to the father of the groom, expressed joy that Ramaphosa's family had met all the set conditions.
"We would like to thank you for being trustworthy, for being dependable because you fulfilled the conditions. So, we are very happy to fulfill our part of handing over to you the hand of our daughter Bridget Birungi," he said.
"In our culture, we hand the child to the father and it's now my pleasure to do just that."
Upon receiving his daughter-in-law, Ramaphosa said: "We accept her as our daughter firstly, and we also accept her as our son's beloved wife and I can assure you that the two of them are too deeply in love."
The president was accompanied by the first lady Dr Tshepo Ramaphosa, his ex-wife Hope Ramaphosa and a big delegation of about 150 people.
"As a big army from home, we are delighted that as we go home we won't go back empty handed," Ramaphosa said.
He challenged his daughter-in-law to hold tight to her husband. "Many girls in South Africa are envious of you, even on social media they were saying why did he go so far when we are here.
"They don't know that you fell in love in China. "Hold onto your man and never let him go" he advised.
The president said weddings are a consolidation of relationships not only between families but also people and communities.
"In this case, we believe it is a consolidation of the relationship between South Africa and Uganda, and this is going to cement us even more."
He applauded the leadership of Uganda for making the relationship meaningful and supporting SA in its earlier days of the Struggle against apartheid.
Uganda President Yoweri Museveni, who was one of the invited guests, welcomed Ramaphosa who he described as a freedom fighter and sharp business person.
He also applauded him for being appreciative of the African heritage.
Museveni cautioned the couple against producing many children as had been advised by one of the bride's aunts, who had suggested that they have 22 children.
"Be careful about the advice of the other aunty, I don't want to bring controversy on a wedding but I discourage that recklessness, 22 is reckless.
"You can look at a more manageable and decent figure," said Museveni, who gave the couple an unspecified number of cows. Sowetan
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