Theresa May breaks into dance in South Africa amid vow to increase UK investment

The British leader is on a Brexit business trip to several African countries.

ByABC NEWS
August 28, 2018, 7:39 AM

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Theresa May Tuesday announced plans to increase the U.K.’s investment in Africa after Brexit, as she arrived in South Africa for her first official trip to the continent.

May, who assumed office two years ago, met with pupils at a Cape Town school, breaking into a spontaneous dance as they greeted her to traditional South African music.

PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May talks to a group of school children during a visit to the ID Mkhize Secondary School in Gugulethu, as part of a working visit to South Africa, Aug. 28, 2018.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May talks to a group of school children during a visit to the ID Mkhize Secondary School in Gugulethu, as part of a working visit to South Africa, Aug. 28, 2018.
Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images

Brits on social media described her moves as “dad dancing” but the prime minister was all smiles and laughed with teachers at the I.D. Mkize School, busting out a second dance before addressing pupils more formally.

PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May poses with school children during a visit to the ID Mkhize Secondary School in Gugulethu, as part of a working visit to South Africa, Aug. 28, 2018, near Cape Town.
Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May poses with school children during a visit to the ID Mkhize Secondary School in Gugulethu, as part of a working visit to South Africa, Aug. 28, 2018, near Cape Town.
Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images

Speaking to the school assembly, she thanked the children who greeted her with dance moves, announcing an expansion of a long-running educational scholarship that gives international students placements to study in the U.K.

The scholarship will now be open to 100 more African students.

“What I see before me in this hall today is the future of South Africa,” she said.

PHOTO: Schoolchildren hold British flags upon the arrival of the Britain's Prime Minister at ID Mkhize Secondary School in Gugulethu township, Aug. 28, 2018.
Schoolchildren hold British flags upon the arrival of the Britain's Prime Minister at ID Mkhize Secondary School in Gugulethu township, Aug. 28, 2018.
Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images

May will also visit Nigeria and Kenya on her trip, bringing with her a delegation representing British business interests as part of efforts to deepen U.K.-African ties before Britain’s planned exit from the European Union in March.

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