Cyril Ramaphosa speaks after being re-elected as president of South Africa
HABARI DAILY I Kampala, Uganda I The National Assembly has re-elected Cyril Ramaphosa to serve a second term as the President of the Republic of South Africa.
This was during its first sitting of the 7th Parliament later this week, where the assembly executed its constitutional mandate which requires that at its first sitting after the national election, it should elect a woman or a man from among its members to be the President.
Ramaphosa was elected with 283 votes against Julius Malema with 44 votes.
According to a recent statement from the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, when elected President, a person ceases to be a member of the National Assembly and, within five days, must assume office by swearing or affirming faithfulness to the Republic and obedience to the Constitution.
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.
“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 (OPA),” reads part of the statement.
For the first time in the history of democratic South Africa, the President was elected through a coalition arrangement, where his party had to strike a deal with political rivals.
Due to its waning popularity and weak standing at the polls, the African National Congress had to join forces with weaker parties in order to stay in power.
The two other parties that joined the coalition deal were the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Patriotic Alliance, which has drawn attention partly because its leader, Gayton McKenzie, served a prison sentence for bank robbery.
Some parties, including Malema’s Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), refused to join.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen said his white-led main opposition party formally signed a governing agreement with the ANC and part of it would make Ramaphosa president.
Politics in the country has been dominated by the ANC since it swept to power in the 1994 elections following the end of apartheid.
But late freedom fighter Nelson Mandela’s party, long seen as unbeatable in national elections, lost support in recent years due to high levels of poverty, inequality and crime, rolling power cuts and corruption in party ranks.
The 71-year-old Ramaphosa came to power following President Jacob Zuma’s resignation in February 2018. He was elected unopposed as President of South Africa by the National Assembly on 15 February 2018.
