Pretoria,
Friday, 14 June 2024,
McCreadie Andias
The National Assembly of south Africa has, during its first sitting of the 7th Parliament on Friday, elected Cyril Ramaphosa as the President-elect of the Republic of South Africa.
Ramaphosa He has been re-elected to serve a second term in office as President.
Ramaphosa was elected with 283 votes against ELF’s Julius Malema with 44 votes.
According to the South African Constitution , a person elected as president ceases to be a member of the National Assembly and, within five days, must assume office by taking an oath.
The President-elect will be inaugurated during a ceremony in Pretoria which, according to the Constitution, should take place within five days after the President’s election.
Ramaphosa’s first mandate is expected to formalize a coalition government following ANC’s unprecedented flop in the 2024 General elections where for the first time since the Anti-apartheid regime, the Party failed to hit a 50% majority in the polls forcing an inevitable coalition arrangement.
According yo multiple reports, the Ruling ANC has already agreed coalition talks with runner up DA (Democratic Alliance) which ammased 22% of the votes against 40% by the ANC.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the coalition deal is on track and that the agreement with opposition parties is a “remarkable step”.
“We are engaging beyond this sitting on what needs to be done to constitute the government of national unity. Our work doesn’t stop,” he said.
An alliance between the centre-right DA and the ANC is unprecedented as the two parties have been rivals for decades.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the deal was a “new chapter in our history”.
He told journalists that in return for the DA’s support of Mr Ramaphosa, the ANC would back the DA’s Annelie Lotriet as deputy speaker of parliament.
He also said the power-sharing arrangement would involve cabinet positions for the DA which has until now been an opposition party.
The deal also includes the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a conservative party with a strong Zulu base, which got 4% of the vote, and the Patriotic Alliance (PA), which draws support from the coloured community, as people of mixed-race are known in South Africa.
Once the President has taken the oath of office, he will proceed to form a cabinet, selecting ministers who will head various government departments and execute the administration’s policies. Additionally, the President will convene a joint sitting of the newly established National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces for the Opening of Parliament Address.