Brad visits 'lucky' Madiba

2004-11-05 08:46

Katrien Smit

Johannesburg - Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt is in South Africa, but where he is at any given moment is anyone's guess.

Pitt is rumoured to be visiting Johannesburg on the invitation of British tycoon Richard Branson and was spotted earlier this week by guests at the Sandton Sun and Towers hotel.

At an Aids fundraiser at the Sandton Convention Centre on Thursday, Branson referred to his "good friend Brad Pitt who is visiting me in South Africa" a couple of times and recounted how they visited former president Nelson Mandela on Tuesday.

Pitt was apparently keen to have his picture taken with Madiba.

"While Brad was posing next to Madiba for the picture, one of Mandela's staff members remarked on how lucky the former president was because so many young ladies would give their front teeth for that spot," Branson told his audience.

"'So many young men as well,' Brad chirped back."

'Difficult to move around'

Branson said women surround Pitt wherever they go. "It's quite difficult to move around with him!"

Pitt will probably be going to Branson's Ulusaba private game reserve in Hazyview, Limpopo, this weekend.

Even the American media cannot always keep up with its own Hollywood stars.

Jenny Paul, a reporter at the American tabloid US, phoned Beeld newspaper on Thursday to find out if Pitt is in South Africa.

Pitt's agent in Beverley Hills, California, Cindy Guagenti, said she does not know where the star is.

- Beeld