Republic Day chief guest, South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa, to land in India Friday

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will land in India Friday for a two-day visit.

Ramaphosa is the chief guest of this year's Republic Day celebrations.PM Modi had personally handed over the invite to Ramaphosa when he met him in December 2018 on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina.

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This is the second time a South African president will be chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations. He was preceded in 1995 by Nelson Mandela.

Announcing the visit, Ministry of External Affairs said, " India and South Africa enjoy a close and multifaceted strategic partnership since 1997, which is underpinned by historic, cultural and economic linkages."

Ramaphosa will be accompanied by the First Lady Dr Tshepo Motsepe, and a high-level delegation including nine ministers, senior officials of his Government and a 50-member business delegation.

The visit by the South African President comes in a year when India is celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

During the first day of his visit on January 25, Ramaphosa will address the first IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) Gandhi Mandela Memorial Freedom Lecture and the India-South Africa Business Forum in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In his last Mann ki Baat on December 30, 2018, PM Modi said "Its a matter of great pride that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa would be the chief guest at republic day 2019."

He highlighted the special connection that India shares with South Africa because of the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi.

"Bapu had a special connection with South Africa. It was in South Africa that Mohan became Mahatma. It was in South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi started his first satyagraha, stood against racism, He founded Phoenix and Tolstoy farms from where demands for peace and justice reverberated around the world."

The Prime Minister also drew parallels between "Madiba and Bapu" and said, "Bapu and Mandela are a source of inspiration for the world."

PM Modi had visited South Africa from July 7-9 in 2016. He had visited Pretoria, Johannesburg, Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The former President of South Africa Jacob Zuma had visited India twice in last four year--first for the third India Africa summit in 2015 and later for the BRICS summit in Goa in 2016.

Indians have been a crucial part of South African society with father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi playing an important role in the opposing racial discrimination in the country from 1893 to 1914. India even awarded Nelson Mandela the highest civilian award --the Bharat Ratna in 1990. India was represented by the then president Pranab Mukherjee when Nelson Mandela passed away in 2013.

The Indian origin community in the country is around 1.5 million which is 3 per cent of South Africa's total population. 80 per cent of Indian community lives in KwaZulu Natal, 15 per cent in Gauteng and about 5 per cent in cape town.

Over 150 Indian companies have invested in South Africa employing over 20,000 locals. The bilateral trade has increased to US $ 10.65 billion in 2018-19 from US $ 9.38 billion in 2017-18. Both countries are members of UN, BRICS, G-20, Commonwealth, Indian-ocean rim association (IORA) and the IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa).