Pretoria – President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday, (2 November 2023), welcome the Rugby World Cup Champions, the Springboks, to the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
Fresh from winning the 2023 Rugby World Cup against New Zealand at the finals in Paris, France, on Saturday, the Springboks will attend the welcome ceremony at the Union Buildings.
Members of the public in Pretoria are welcome to witness the ceremony at Union Buildings from Government Avenue, Arcadia.
The welcome ceremony for the national team signifies the start of the Rugby World Champions’ National Trophy Tour.
The victorious team touched down at the OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday, (31 October 2023), to a rousing welcome from the public.
The Webb Ellis Cup parade will kick off on Thursday, (2 November 2023), in Pretoria, Johannesburg and Soweto, concluding at FNB Stadium; and proceed in Cape Town on 3 November 2023; Durban on 4 November 2023 before the tour ends in the Eastern Cape(East London) on 05 November 2023.
Apart from attending the welcome ceremony at Union Buildings on Thursday, the Springboks, will also celebrate their victory by an open bus parade in Tshwane.
The parade on Thursday will start at the Southern Sun Hotel on the corner of Steve Biko Road and Pretorius Street and proceed to the Union Buildings, where President Ramaphosa will receive the trophy from 08:30 until 09:30.
The Springboks will then parade through Hatfield, Sunnyside and Church Square, and end at Tshwane House in the Pretoria CBD at around 11:30.
At Tshwane House, the Springboks will meet Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink, who will congratulate the Boks on behalf of Tshwane residents.
The Springboks open bus parade will proceed as follows:
From the Southern Sun Hotel, the team will transfer onto the open bus and move along Steve Biko Road, and then turn right into Stanza Bopape Street.
They will proceed straight east using Stanza Bopape Street until they reach the Union Buildings.
From the Union Buildings, they will get into stanza Bopape Street and proceed until they turn right into End Street in Hatfield.
From End Street, they will turn right to get to Pretorius Street and proceed west, then turn left into Gordon Road, right into Burnett Street and left to Park Street.
From Park Street, they will turn left into Kirkness Street, pass Loftus Versfeld Stadium and turn right into Jorissen Street in Sunnyside. From Jorissen Street, they will proceed along the A Re Yeng bus route at Kotze Street.
They will then turn into Nana Sita Street and turn right into Paul Kruger Street.
They will pass by Church Square, turn right into Madiba Street and continue until they reach Tshwane House on the corner of Madiba and Lilian Ngoyi Street.
Most streets in the CBD, Arcadia, Hatfield and Sunnyside will be greatly impacted as the parade passes by, but the streets will be open for traffic immediately thereafter.
The affected streets include the following:
- Pretorius Street
- Hamilton Street
- Leyds Street
- Francis Baard Street
- Stanza Bopape Street
- Nana Sita Street
- Madiba Street
- Lilian Ngoyi Street
- Burnett Street
- End Street
- Jan Shoba Street
- Beckett Street
- Gordon Road
- Hilda Street
- Park Street
- Kotze Street
- Jorissen Street
- Paul Kruger Street
- Thabo Sehume Street
Tshwane Metro Police Department officers, SA Police Service and other law enforcement agencies will be deployed to escort and monitor the parade.
Motorists are urged to avoid the affected areas and are encouraged to be patient and proceed with caution as the whole nation celebrates.
