ANP King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima at the press interview after the state visit to South Africa
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 18:16
For King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, the protests held this morning during their visit to a slavery museum in Cape Town were not unexpected. “It’s fine that that happened,” the king said in the press interview at the end of their state visit to South Africa. “We expected that. Those emotions are very understandable.”
The demonstration of about a hundred people led to some hecticness this morning when the royal couple tried to walk to their car after the visit. The demonstrators, from the indigenous Khoisan population, drew attention to South Africa’s slavery past with slogans such as “Respect us” and “We want compensation”.
The king showed understanding for this. He pointed out that the Khoisan were expelled by the Dutch centuries ago and still have no homeland. “It’s good that those emotions are coming out. And it’s good that that fierceness is there.” According to him, this will allow further work on “healing and reconciliation”.
Queen Máxima agreed. She had no idea that the demonstrators were specifically targeting the royal couple. “They wanted to show their emotions,” she said. “Not just to us, but to the whole world.”
King about protest: ‘It’s good that those emotions are coming out’
In addition to the slavery museum in Cape Town, Willem-Alexander and Máxima visited the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg and a botanical garden over the past three days. The king spoke at the end of a “beautiful, substantive and relevant” state visit.
“Especially because we have been able to properly discuss topics such as Ukraine, the Middle East and Sahel against the background of a turbulent geopolitical situation,” the king said. “But also other matters that play a bilateral role. It was a nice visit.”
Recognition of Slavery Excuses
Willem-Alexander had special appreciation for the fact that South African President Ramaphosa has acknowledged the Dutch slavery apology from earlier this year. The king said that that made him emotional and that he is “very grateful” for it.
Ramaphosa also expressed this acknowledgment of the apology a press statement which was distributed on Wednesday, at the start of the state visit in Pretoria. When reading it, he skipped the passage in question.
King grateful for recognition of apology: ‘Time for healing’
Tonight the NOS will report extensively on the state visit in the program NOS Royal couple in South Africafrom 7:30 PM to 7:55 PM on NPO 2.
2023-10-20 16:16:34
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