The SunBet Arena in Pretoria was electric on March 20 as Doja Cat performed in Mzansi for the first time as part of the Global Citizen Move Afrika 2026 tour.
The night was not only a celebration of music and culture but also of fashion, as fans rocked up in style with outfits inspired by Doja Cat’s red carpet looks as well as Afrofuturistic styles, with some going all out with bold body paint.
South African a cappella group The Joy, who have performed providing lead vocals for her at Coachella before in 2024, kicked off the show, setting the tone for an unforgettable evening.
Moonchild Sanelly stole the spotlight before Doja Cat took to the stage. She gave a stellar performance, donning all-black bespoke DIY couture with chains.
“Artistically Doja and I would make a hit in any genre. We have an ability to just genre-bend and make it ours, so this is perfect,” Moonchild told TshisaLIVE.
For Moonchild, this is a full-circle moment.
In 2025, Doja Cat was scheduled to perform at the Hey Neighbour music festival — which was later cancelled due to funding challenges — and Moonchild was approached to be her opening act.
“I couldn’t do it because I was going to be landing on the Monday and the Sunday she was going to be performing. So this feels like one of those things where it’s written in the stars. I’m super excited because I went from dreaming of working with someone and getting the privilege of working with them.”
The crowd erupted as the Grammy Award-winning superstar belted out some of her greatest hits, including Paint the Town Red, Gorgeous, and Streets, with fans chanting her real name, Zandile, in unison, and Doja Cat bringing a taste of her roots as she responded to the audience, saying “haibo”, which is popular Zulu slang used to express shock or surprise.
Doja Cat also got emotional when seeing how the crowd responded to her performance, singing each song verbatim.
“For a place I’ve never been to, I feel like I’ve been here before. That’s what’s special about South Africa,” she said teary-eyed while closing off the show.
“I say thank you to everyone here tonight [Friday]. This is bigger than us; it’s bigger than me. It’s bigger than everybody here. This is one of my most fun shows I’ve ever done.”
This year’s instalment advances Move Afrika’s long-term mission of building the first pan-African music touring circuit that drives economic investment and creates opportunities for the next generation of young Africans to work in the continent’s creative economies in all its host cities.
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