In a show of support to some of South Africa's young food and beverage entrepreneurs, President-Elect, Cyril Ramaphosa, has chosen award-winning chef and TV personality, Siba Mtongana, to cater at the Inauguration on Saturday.
This will be the sixth inauguration in democratic South Africa and will for the first time, be held at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, instead of the Union Buildings.
"In a departure from the tradition of holding the inauguration at the Union Buildings, the event will allow for greater public participation in this important national event," Khusela Diko, the president's spokesperson said in a statement in April.
In a video announcing the news, Siba, who hosts Siba's Table on the Food Network, was clearly elated at being chosen to cater at the celebration.
“It’s such a great honour to get the opportunity to serve at this level...” Siba Mtongana, chef, reflects on her participation at the #PeoplesInauguration pic.twitter.com/5hKb120r39
— PresidencyZA (@PresidencyZA) May 24, 2019
Bonang Matheba announced Thursday evening that her new MCC brand, House of BNG, will be the celebratory drink of choice at the inauguration celebration.
"The @houseofbng is proud bubbly supplier for the 2019 Presidential Inauguration on May 25th 2019!! Congratulations to President-Elect @cyrilramaphosa....🥂🍾 We can’t wait to toast with you.." she said on Instagram.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Bonang Matheba(@bonang_m) on May 23, 2019 at 8:31am PDT
There were conflicting reports about Matheba's wines being the official celebratory drink.
ANC MP, Fikile Mbalula tweeted: "No such endorsement" when he saw various people congratulating the media personality about her MCC being chosen for the inauguration.
He carried on tweeting: "President when we celebrated our victory said no champagne we must respect our people ,The people who put us in power therefore..."
We come from a bruising election we cant entertain such nonsense this is not a Hollywood party is an inauguration of a President who must serve his people. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 https://t.co/BoxmwW9E77
— Mr Fearfokkol | Forever Young (@MbalulaFikile) May 24, 2019
However, in the video of Siba announcing that she has been chosen to cater at the inauguration, there's a bottle of House of BNG MCC on the table, among other wines.
I don't know about a video but I saw this pic... House of BNG is among the wines that were served during the Siba's tasting. pic.twitter.com/nUYtFmcG1O
— Mam'ncane of 5 💕❤ (@KhubaElihle) May 24, 2019
The Inauguration will be aired, live, on news channels from 6am.
Follow @IOL for updates tomorrow on Twitter