WATCH | Have you 'herd' about the gift Ramaphosa gave the royals?

03 October 2019 - 18:23
By Toni Jaye Singer
President Cyril Ramaphosa and his wife, Tshepo Motsepe, greet the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on October 2 2019 in Pretoria.
Image: Toby Melville - Pool/Getty Images President Cyril Ramaphosa and his wife, Tshepo Motsepe, greet the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on October 2 2019 in Pretoria.

Great minds think alike, and great gift givers do too.

Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, exchanged presents with President Cyril Ramaphosa and his wife, Dr Tshepo Motsepe, when they met in Pretoria on Wednesday. The visit marked the end of the royal couple's whirlwind 10-day tour of southern Africa.

In a video posted by the Presidency on Twitter, the prince joked "I hear you like cattle" before handing over an arty black-and-white photograph of the president's own herd.

"You heard about the cattle!" laughed a clearly delighted Ramaphosa, who then proudly showed the gift to the assembled media. "This is beautiful. They must have a look at my cattle."

"This is fantastic," Ramaphosa reiterated, before reaching for his own gift, which turned out to be a signed copy of Cattle of the Ages: Ankole cattle in South Africa.

"I have brought you a book I wrote ... about cattle," the president chuckled.

"These are cattle from Uganda, Ankole cattle, exactly the same," Ramaphosa said, gesturing to the framed photograph he'd received minutes before. He paged through the book as he explained how he'd brought the cattle into the country via embryo transfer. 

"How amazing," said the smiling duchess, apparently marvelling at the coincidence. 

"What a special gift," she added.