State visit to South Africa – Johannesburg

On the second day of the State Visit to South Africa, the King and Queen will travel to Johannesburg, the country's most populous city.

The Sovereigns will be accompanied by the Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions, Mrs. Hadja Lahbib, the Minister-President of Wallonia, Mr. Elio Di Rupo, the Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, Mr. Rudi Vervoort, and the Minister Matthias Diependaele, representing the Flemish Government.

The King will start the day with a visit to the Gauteng Industrial Development Zone where he will participate in a roundtable discussion on youth empowerment with several youth representatives. The objective is to discuss the strengthening of the local diamond industry through training, capacity building and the exchange of best practices. During his visit, the King will also meet with employees of the diamond industry who will explain the diamond polishing process. The Queen will visit the Emuseni Early Childhood Center in the famous "Soweto" district. She will have the opportunity to discuss and learn more about a project implemented by the Belgian non-profit organization VVOB, with the support of the Belgian Cooperation, to train the staff of early childhood centers. Afterwards, the King and Queen will join together to visit the Hector Pieterson Museum, which commemorates the protest of schoolchildren who opposed the compulsory use of Afrikaans in their classrooms and is named after the 12-year-old boy who was shot dead in 1976 by the apartheid police.

For the King, the morning will end with a lunch with South African business leaders on the theme of raw materials and their link to geopolitics, while the Queen will attend a lunch in the presence of several actors of South African civil society from various backgrounds.

In the afternoon, the delegation will first stop at the Skate Park in Johannesburg, one of the local skateboard schools that focuses on creative education with the support of a Belgian skateboard company. The Sovereigns will meet several of its students, the vast majority of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. The trip to Johannesburg will end with a visit to the Beka-Schréder company, a showcase of successful Belgian investment in South Africa, with an influence throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and which plays an important role in the energy transition thanks to its solar-powered public lighting production line.

To conclude the program of this day, the King and Queen will offer in Pretoria a concert of a Belgian-South African jazz quartet in honor of the President of the Republic of South Africa, followed by a reception.