Johannesburg- Last week, fans went gaga as American superstar Lady Gaga touched down at Lanseria International Airport ahead of the South African leg of her "Born this way” world tour.
Hundreds of schoolchildren were there to catch a glimpse of the iconic figure. Outside on the viewing deck fans chanted "Gaga, Gaga, Gaga" when her plane landed around 7.30pm. The superstar appeared wearing a black and gold dress; black gloves and sunglasses in time to greet her fans, and waved and blew kisses to the hundreds of people waiting for her.
The security at the airport had to be tightened since her visit attracted much more fans than expected. However, the mother monster did not leave the airport without signing several autographs for her clearly agog fans.
As with every superstar ‘s visit to the motherland, the "born this way" star was not devoid of any controversies. The ban on news media photography at her concerts in Johannesburg and Cape Town drew much criticism from the press from all angles. The South African National Editors' Forum ( Sanef) noted with concern that a complete ban on free news media photography at the Lady Gaga Concerts in both cities were rather absurd.
Sanef viewed the decision by the organizers to only make available selected publicity photographs as a form of press censorship fundamentally in conflict with the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of media in South Africa. This appeared to be the first time it has happened in South Africa. Nonetheless, the group’s admonitions fell on deaf ears of the organizers who insisted that the show was better off without all the interferences from the media. The organizers however promised to make available selected publicity photographs to the press and the public.
Months earlier, Lady Gaga’s tour had attracted a lot of raves and concerns from people from religious circles who deemed the icon as an immoralist and Satanist. Other organizations had also protested vehemently about her visit to South Africa because they felt that though her trip to the country was of economic and commercial benefit to the state. It only had a negative moral implication on the people.
Gaga toured several parts of the Johannesburg and Cape Town and recently took to twitter to 
tweet some photos on a South African Safari, other attraction sites and places of interest. The singer also took time out from her "Born This Way "world tour to visit a primary school in Johannesburg on Saturday. Observers were astonished to see that the mother monster had deviated from her almost outlandish and gaga- esque kind of dressing into a button-up modest white dress.
Clearly happy to meet young fans and raise awareness of key issues in the city, the superstar was gracious and friendly to all the children
After her visit, the star went straight back again on Twitter to rave about the city:
'Johannesburg was so wonderful, I can't really put it into words. I’m so happy, I haven't slept yet. Laying in bed dreaming of the next tour,' (sic) she wrote.
Though the "Born this way" concert was bereft of all the media hullaballoo on the 3rd of December, organizers say that the concert in Cape town was an immerse success thanks to all the true Gaga fans who made it out.
