Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has arrived in South Africa for Portugal Day celebrations, and was speaking in Cape Town, at a meeting with hundreds of Portuguese and Portuguese descendants at the Associação Portuguesa do Cabo da Boa Esperança.

In a speech, the head of state referred to the concern of emigrants in South Africa with the absence of a direct air connection to Portugal: "As I understand it, today I went via Dubai to get here".

"You go east to then come south. It would be better to be more direct", he said.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa promised to tell the President of South Africa "that this community wants to stay here, it will stay here and it wants to have a future here".

"We want that future to exist, a future with economic, social, and security conditions. We want that. And we want to strengthen relations with South Africa, bilaterally, which is very important. And your role is decisive", he added.