"SA expats are hard-working people": South Africans in Kenya gather in Nairobi to mark Heritage Day

• A video captured South Africans living in Kenya gathering in Nairobi to mark Heritage Day with food, colour and community spirit
• The expatriates dressed in Springbok jerseys and African attire while sharing traditional dishes like mealies and braai platters
• Kenyans and South Africans online shared mixed reactions to the festive celebration held abroad

A group of South African expatriates living in Kenya brought a slice of home to Nairobi on 21 October 2026, gathering outdoors to celebrate Heritage Day far from their homeland. A video shared on X by @Billionair1w showed the community dressed in Springbok rugby jerseys and colourful African attire, seated around outdoor tables loaded with traditional food. Mealies, braai platters and other South African staples were on the menu as the group posed for photos under banners representing their community in Kenya.

SA expats keep traditions alive in Nairobi

The gathering was a reminder of how tightly South Africans hold onto their cultural identity, even thousands of kilometres from home. The celebration had all the hallmarks of a Heritage Day back in Mzansi, with everything from the food to the colours brought to life in the heart of East Africa.

The responses captured the complicated feelings among South African communities abroad. While many admired the expatriates for keeping their traditions alive, others used the moment to hold a mirror up to attitudes back home, particularly around xenophobia and how migrants are treated within South Africa's own borders.

Watch the Heritage Day celebration in Nairobi in the TikTok video below:

Mzansi and Kenya react to the Nairobi gathering

Comments poured in from both sides of the border, with some users celebrating the community's resilience and others raising sharper observations about identity and belonging.

@serenehome1 wrote:

"Happy Heritage Day, South. Glad to see them thriving here. I know of many Kenyans thriving in SA. I hope SA gets its act together again and stops xenophobia. They're Africa's brightest star."

@Queen254Trails shared:

"Wow, missed the boerewors and chakalaka."

@Godfrey44136913 noted:

"They are here celebrating, but they call us immigrants on their land, madness."

@NinoBlaxk03 asked:

"Are these the boers of Eldoret?"

@gerlads wrote:

"South African expats are very hard-working people."

More articles about Heritage Day

• Briefly News reported that a group of colleagues at Johnson Fitness SA brought a creative twist to Heritage Month celebrations at work by swapping traditional cultural attire to honour unity and diversity.
• A local mother wowed Mzansi after handcrafting a stunning, traditional umbhaco outfit with a modern twist for her daughter's Heritage Day celebration at school.
• A South African woman shared a passionate video criticising the rebranding of Heritage Day as "Braai Day," arguing that reducing the national holiday to cooking meat erases cultural history.

Source: Briefly News

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