South Africa’s President tells Rishi Sunak to let in more students in historic address

South Africa’s President will tomorrow tell Rishi Sunak to let in hundreds more students from his country in Downing Street talks.

Giving a historic speech to MPs and peers tonight, Cyril Ramaphosa said he wanted to triple the 800 South Africans who had a Chevening Scholarship and 130 studying PhDs in Britain.

In an unscripted intervention he said: “I’d like to see these numbers be increased threefold. And when I meet the Prime Minister tomorrow, that’s particularly the message I’m going to pass on to him.”

It is the latest pressure on the Prime Minister – who this week resisted firms’ pleas to relax immigration rules to plug staff shortages after Brexit and Covid.

President Ramaphosa, on a State Visit to the UK, made the first formal address to members of both Houses of Parliament by a South African leader since Nelson Mandela in 1996.

He called for wealthy nations to send “substantial resources” to poorer ones to pay for the effects of climate change.

He told the audience of around 400 including Boris Johnson and Peter Hain that it was “not charity” – “it is compensation for the harm done and the harm yet to be done”.

He added Covid had exposed “fault lines within the global order” and admitted South Africa is having to address “severe power shortages”.

Ahead of the State Visit Rishi Sunak announced the next phase of an Infrastructure Partnership between the two countries, promising UK firms “increased access” to projects worth up to £5.37bn.

But President Ramaphosa said Britain must “raise its voice in favour” of the UN Security Council and banks which “need to be better equipped” to help developing nations.

He said a statue of Nelson Mandela near the UK Parliament – and a statue of Queen Victoria near the Parliament Buildings in Cape Town – showed the two nations’ “redemption” after Apartheid.

“These statues are part of the story of a relationship that was founded in colonialism and conflict, dispossession and degradation,” he said.

“This is a story of a relationship transformed… of solidarity and compassion, of a shared desire for equality, human rights and the fulfilment of the potential of all.”

President Ramaphosa gave his 20-minute speech in the sumptuous Royal Gallery under gold leaf and 72 chandelier lamps – while his country faces regular blackouts and a 34% unemployment rate.

He also faces a scandal back home, where there are questions about the source of more than £3million that was allegedly stolen from his game farm. He has denied “any form of money laundering”.