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South Africa’s David Bedingham celebrates with the ICC Test Championship Mace on the podium alongside teammates after winning the final
The Buffalo City Metro leg of the Mace Victory Tour has been cancelled due to ongoing municipal protests.
East London would have been the second and last Eastern Cape stop of the tour, before the Proteas ended the tour in Cape Town.
The World Test Champions started their victory tour in Bloemfontein on Tuesday, then headed to Kimberley and Durban before ending up in Gqeberha for Heritage Day.
Day 1 of the #ProteasMaceTour!
Kimberley and Bloemfontein were an absolute vibe. Danko! 🤝#WozaNawe pic.twitter.com/zz0neRfk4r
— Proteas Men (@ProteasMenCSA) September 24, 2025
Proteas’ player Kagiso Rabada said that the team is very disappointed.
“Well, apparently there’s some protests happening in the CBD so we were going to go through the city with the bus but unfortunately we couldn’t. We would have loved to go, unfortunately, we can’t go, but then we’ll see you in Cape Town.”
However, Heritage Day in Gqeberha ended with a bang with the Proteas visiting the Friendly City.
Hundreds of fans lined up with excitement and anticipation to meet their heroes and take pictures with the Mace Trophy. This is the first time in over two decades that South Africa has won this test championship cup. P
Rabada adds that the tour has been exceptional thus far.
“That’s been awesome, you know, that the energy has been so good as it always is. It’s awesome to see the people so happy. It’s so special. It’s a fine way to get that monkey off the back. Now, hopefully the floodgates open.”
There were scenes of jubilation when the Proteas returned home as champions:
