AA / Petroria / Hassan Isilow
South Africa’s seventh democratically elected president, Cyril Ramaphosa, was officially sworn in on Wednesday for a second term following his re-election by Parliament last Friday.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo administered the oath of office to Cyril Ramaphosa at a ceremony attended by several heads of state and government in the capital Pretoria.
“I, Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, swear that I will be loyal to the Republic of South Africa,” the 71-year-old said.
Interfaith prayers were held before the inauguration ceremony, with religious leaders praying for the new president and the national unity government.
Cyril Ramaphosa was re-elected president of South Africa on Friday by the new Parliament, while his party the ANC reached an unprecedented government agreement with the main opposition party, the liberal DA.
Ramaphosa, 71, obtained 283 votes, far ahead of other candidate Julius Malema of the radical left party EFF who obtained 44 votes.
The legislative elections at the end of May marked a historic turning point for South Africa, putting an end to thirty years of hegemony of Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC).
The future government will gravitate “around the center”, between the ANC, which remains in the majority with 159 of the 400 deputies, the Democratic Alliance (DA, 87 seats) and the Zulu nationalist party Inkhata (IFP, 17 seats).
*Translated from English by Hajer Cherni
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