With just a few hours until the Global Citizen Festival gets underway, thousands of people have started making their way to FNB Stadium in Johannesburg where the concert will be held.
The concert, which will see singer Beyoncé and her rapper husband Jay-Z perform, is being held in honour of the late former President Nelson Mandela, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday this year had he lived.
Other artists set to grace the stage include singer Usher Raymond, South African rapper Cassper Nyovest, Nigerian singer Tiwa Savage and British singer and songwriter Ed Sheeran to name just a few.
Several roads around the stadium have been cordoned off, among them Nasrec Road, the Soweto Highway and the Golden Highway.
The Global Citizen Festival is an annual music festival organised by the Global Poverty Project. The project is a movement that seeks to bring an end to extreme poverty by 2030 as part of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
Global Citizen works across the 17 global goals including food and nutrition, water and sanitation, girls and women, the environment, health and finance and innovation.
Ordinary people - dubbed global citizens - took action by signing petitions, engaging in community activities calling on Ministers and world leaders to bring an end to global challenges.
In the build up to the festival, five million actions have been taken — with over 4 million in South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland alone — to end malnutrition, eliminate NTDs, reduce HIV transmission, improve sanitation across the continent.
As a result of the various actions, several announcements will be made at the concert by world leaders including President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is expected to deliver on-stage remarks.
Tweeting ahead of the event, DJ Black Coffee - who is also set to perform– sent social media into a frenzy with a tweet that read “Catch us on stage at Global Citizen Festival, Sunday 2pm SAST! #Mandela100” accompanied by the picture of himself and singer Usher.
Speaking ahead of the event on Friday, Global Citizen Simon Moss announced that R15 billion of worth of pledges have been made and will be announced at the festival.
With standstill traffic expected at the event, global citizens are encouraged to make use of the Metro and Rea Vaya bus, Gautrain and Uber to get to the event.
For those at home, the festival will be broadcast live on SABC and DSTV Channel 199 at 2pm.
Alternatively, viewers can watch the event live anywhere in the world on Youtube & Twitter. MTV Base will also broadcast highlights. – SAnews.gov.za
