WATCH | The best bits of the LIT Global Citizen Festival

03 December 2018 - 08:52 By Kyle Zeeman
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On December 2 2018, the largest music festival in Africa took place at the FNB stadium in Soweto. The Global Citizen Festival aims to raise awareness about societal issues including poverty, health and education.   Subscribe to TimesLIVE here: https://www.youtube.com/user/TimesLive

Mzansi went into shutdown mode on Sunday when some of the world's biggest musicians, including Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams, Usher, Black Coffee and Beyoncé performed at the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 together with The Motsepe Foundation in Johannesburg.

The show started with a bang, as Nigerian superstar Wizkid warmed up the crowd before an incredible performance by Usher featuring SA's own DJ Black Coffee.

Thousands of people packed FNB Stadium and the crowds went wild as Usher did the vosho and gwara gwara.

Usher performed his hit Without You to Black Coffee's We Dance Again.

Sho Madjozi carried on the party with one of the performances of the day. The president of the Limpopo Champions League and Huku hitmaker had the crowd in a frenzy as she performed Wakanda Forever.

Nigerian muso D'Banj had fans dancing in the aisle with his hits, including Oliver Twist.

Pharrell took fans through some of his biggest hits through the years and while the sun was setting, Ed Sheeran took to the stage to serenade fans. He ended his set with a rap performance that had the stadium pulsating with energy.

Rapper Cassper Nyovest, fresh from his historic #FillupMosesMabhidaStadium show, nearly brought down the house with an electrifying performance ahead of Beyoncé and Jay Z's epic finale to the night.

Jay Z and Queen Bey exceeded all expectations when they serenaded fans for two hours. Fans could not contain their emotions over seeing Bey live on Mzansi soil and their set was beyond Epic! 

The likes of Sir Bob Geldof, Naomi Campbell, Tyler Perry and Oprah appeared on stage at intervals to highlight social issues and humanitarian outreach programmes to improve health, education and gender equality in Africa.

SA-born comedian Trevor Noah earlier this week announced an initiative to provide schooling for hundreds of underprivileged youth who could not afford it. He promised to match all donations to a fund for the campaign, up to R2-million.

Besides sharing information about the initiative at the festival, he also got support from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

Taking to Twitter, Trudeau pledged $50-million to support education for women and girls around the world.

Coca Cola also pledged $38 million to help recycling efforts in Africa, while the Bill Gates Foundation also committed millions of dollars to outreach on the continent.

The US government announced that they would donate $1.2-billion over the next two years in the fight against HIV & Aids.

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