There were still no answers for the mysterious green lights that apparently appeared in the skies above Cape Town at the weekend with some people adamant they had seen an unidentified flying object (UFO) and others blaming a marketing campaign.
The South African Astronomical Observatory told News24 its understanding was the lights were part of a test for light show equipment at the Cape Town Stadium, based on information it heard mentioned on radio in the morning.
The Cape Town Stadium referred News24 to the South African Rugby Union (Saru).
The inaugural HSBC Cape Town Sevens takes place on December 12 and 13 at the Cape Town Stadium. It is the second leg of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, a week after the opening tournament in Dubai (December 4 and 5).
Saru spokesperson Marlon Kruger told News24 they were unaware of any light equipment tests on Saturday when the lights were spotted.
“It is probably some sort of marketing campaign, but we do not know anything about it. If it was a test, I would have known about it.”
He said a tweet by the official Sevens account did however use the incident of the light as ” ambush marketing”.
“It was just to make use of the situation [with the light],” Kruger said.
The tweet by HSBC Cape Town 7s from Sunday said: “Reports of a UFO seen in Cape Town last night. The World is Coming For Cape Town – Meet the Welcoming Committee.”
Twitter users were abuzz with the sighting on Saturday with others later claiming the same lights were seen over Durban and Johannesburg.
User Nicolas tweeted a picture of the light above Long Street in Cape Town on Saturday saying: “Everyone’s tweeting about a UFO sighting off Long Street. Please let it be aliens. But nice aliens.”
Others posited even weirder theories including one who uploaded a YouTube video suggesting the lights are inter-dimensional portals.
The conspiracy theory video mistakenly showed a picture of a green light above the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban, while mentioning Cape Town – and shows fake pictures of a flying saucer.
