After months of hoping, a young East London girl’s wildest dream came true when she met the man she admired the most in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Daisy Ngedle and her Clarendon Preparatory School classmates were gobsmacked when Ramaphosa walked into their grade 3 class on Friday morning.
The silence in the room was shattered by delighted screams and cheerful claps when they realised the president had come to see them.
Before his arrival, the presidential team and principal Bev Keth had told the girls that Ramaphosa would be calling them via Skype, and the excited bunch sat in anticipation for the “internet to start working” as Keth had told them.
Instead, Ramaphosa walked in flashing a big smile and endless waves at the surprised pupils. The girls jumped to their feet and some even into the air in sheer disbelief. Addressing the girls, the president said his visit was made possible by Daisy's now-famous letter to him.
“I'm feeling so happy to see you here. It was all started by one special girl,” he said. When the girls finally regained their voices, questions about his personal life and presidency began to flow.
Daisy, however, seemed to have run out of words, but quickly recovered and asked him how many children he had.
Ramaphosa said all children in the country were his.
He said: “It was wonderful to read Daisy’s letter and to write back to her. That’s what brought us here today. I get many letters. There are people who run my office who get the letters and we try to respond to each one of them,” Ramaphosa said.
The class asked Ramaphosa what it felt like to be president, to which he countered: “Who wants to be president?” All hands shot up, with many chanting: “Me!”
Ramaphosa said: “Being president is a very important position, but it is also a big responsibility on your shoulders, on your head, and in your mind as well, because you are responsible for 57 million South Africans.”
Daisy said her dream of becoming president had been bolstered by meeting her ultimate role model in the flesh.
She said the words she treasured the most from Ramaphosa were his reassurance that girls could be president of the country one day...