Top performers set Mzansi on fire

Mzansi went into shutdown mode on Sunday when some of the world’s biggest musicians – including Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams, Usher, Black Coffee and Beyonce – performed at the Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 together with the Motsepe Foundation in Johannesburg.

Nigerian superstar Wizkid warmed up the crowd before an incredible performance by Usher featuring SA’s own DJ Black Coffee.

Thousands packed the FNB Stadium in Soweto and the crowd went wild as Usher did the vosho and gwara gwara.

Usher performed his hit Without You to Black Coffee’s We Dance Again. Sho Madjozi carried on the party with one of the performances of the day.

The president of the Limpopo Champions League and Huku hitmaker had the crowd in a frenzy as she performed Wakanda Forever.

Nigerian muso D’Banj had fans dancing in the aisle with his hits, including Oliver Twist.

Williams took fans through some of his biggest hits and, while the sun was setting, Sheeran took to the stage to serenade fans.

He ended his set with a rap performance that had the stadium pulsating with energy.

Rapper Cassper Nyovest nearly brought down the house with an electrifying performance ahead of Beyonce and Jay-Z’s epic finale to the night.

The likes of Sir Bob Geldof, Naomi Campbell, Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey appeared on stage at intervals to highlight social issues and humanitarian outreach programmes to improve health, education and gender equality in Africa.

SA-born comedian Trevor Noah recently announced an initiative to provide schooling for hundreds of underprivileged young people who cannot afford it. He promised to match all donations to a fund for the campaign, up to R2m.

Besides sharing information about the initiative at the festival, Noah also got support from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Taking to Twitter, Trudeau pledged $50m (R693.4m) to support education for women and girls around the world.

Coca-Cola also pledged $38m (R527m) to help recycling efforts in Africa, while the Bill Gates Foundation committed millions of dollars to outreach on the continent.

The US government announced that it would donate $1.2bn (R16.64bn) over the next two years in the fight against HIV and Aids.

Event organisers earlier paid tribute to a rigger who died following a fall while helping to prepare the stage on Saturday.

The circumstances around the incident were being investigated, Global Citizen said.  –Additional reporting by AFP