Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected for a second term as South African President.
As expected, President Ramaphosa defeated Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema in the newly established National Assembly elections held late on Friday night to take the country's top position.
The election campaign provided a glimpse into what a seventh government, a coalition of the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA), Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and Patriotic Alliance (PA) might look like.
On Friday morning, the Progressives caucus (comprised of the EFF, United Democratic Movement (UDM), United Africans for Change (UAT), Pan African Congress of Azania (PAC), African Movement for Transformation (ATM) and Al Jama'aah) expressed dissatisfaction that their MPs have been sidelined in the Government of National Unity (GNU) talks. The caucus has little interest in competing for the position of national president, but rather is focused on the positions of speaker and deputy speaker in talks with the ANC.
But during the day things changed.
Despite all indications that the state elections would turn out the same as the elections for the two incumbent chairpersons, the Progressives Caucus, by all appearances heavily defeated by the ANC, DA, IFP and PA voting bloc, forged ahead to ensure that the number one election was not an easy one.
BREAKING | Cyril Ramaphosa elected President of South Africa:
The result was as expected: Ramaphosa received 283 votes to Malema's 44.
In his inaugural address, President-elect Ramaphosa said: “I want to be very clear: this is not a grand coalition government of two or three parties. What we are establishing is a government of national unity, and that is what we have always done. In 1994 we sought to unite the country and bring about reconciliation. We are now here to act in accordance with what the people voted for, and to work together to ensure that the challenges facing our people are addressed. This is what we will do. This is what I am committed to achieving as President of the Republic of South Africa.”
President-elect Cyril Ramaphosa will be sworn in at a ceremony presided over by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday this week.
