Durban brewery joins the Sona buzz with 'Ramaphuza Friday'

Ramaphuza Friday could be the new rage if an attempt at satire by a Durban brewery catches on.

Riding a wave of confidence sweeping the country after Cyril Ramaphosa was sworn in as president on Thursday‚ Robson’s Brewery owner Donn Stewart said their campaign was an expression of South African pride.

The president gives his first state of the nation address on Friday night.

All draught beer went for R20 on Ramaphuza Friday.

It follows a similarly upbeat Farewell Party for former president Jacob Zuma‚ who resigned on Wednesday.

Stewart said their advertising campaign was a light-hearted take on a serious social issue.

“We try to be as tongue-in-cheek as possible with our promotions and this was something we thought was quite important. We wanted have fun with the positivity around our new president‚” he said.

“Overnight we seem to have this happy vibe. There is some sort of positive energy in the air and we can see it in our shop so we wanted to share that.”

He was quick to add that his brewery was in no way politically inclined.

“With our marketing we try and get involved with current affairs and get people talking about what is important to society and the country as a whole‚” he said. “People have been showering us with praise and people seem to be having fun with it.”

He said their team had come up with “Ramaphuza Friday”.

“We don’t want to take ourselves too seriously and other people shouldn’t either. [But] the last thing we want is for people to take this the wrong way. We’re just a group of happy South Africans who are just proud of our country‚” he said.