Soweto residents left their houses to cheer on the Springbok rugby team on its victory parade through the Johannesburg township on Saturday morning.
A handful of cheering residents, some still in their night-gowns, braved the rain to greet the Rugby World Cup winners as they passed the Maponya Mall in an open-top bus.
A Springbok flag was being waved from one car. Other cars hooted, vuvuzelas blared, people sang and danced and minibus taxi drivers stopped to watch. As the players waved and smiled from the bus, one old woman launched into the celebrations with such gusto it appeared she was toyi-toying.
”It’s a wonderful experience. We are happy they are here,” said another woman.
”We never knew they would be coming, otherwise more people would have come,” she added.
The procession started near Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital on the Old Potch Road and made its way past the Maponya Mall and then to Orlando.
The Springboks were expected to travel to the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton later on Saturday morning to meet the former president. — Sapa