Following much pomp and ceremony, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo will administer the Presidential Oath of Office, after which Ramaphosa will give an address
Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.Lost your password? Please enter your username or email address. You will receive a link to create a new password via email.President of the African National Congress Cyril Ramaphosa gestures after he was announced South African president after members of parliament voted during the first sitting of the country's new parliament in Cape Town on June 14, 2024.
“That position is not even in the Constitution. Why do you talk about something that is not there? I am very happy as a member of the GNU,” Hlabisa said. Build One South Africa leader Mmusi Maimane said Ramaphosa’s inauguration was ushering in “a new journey” for South Africa. As Ramaphosa had used his skill in working in South Africa’s constitutional transition, he was going to need it even more now, in what was effectively a grand coalition, Maimane said.
Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema, who was fielded as a challenger by a loose alliance of disgruntled left-wing parties, secured 44 votes. Ramaphosa said the coalition would not consist of two or three parties but “many” and insisted that despite criticism of his use of the term, it was a government of national unity, “not a grand coalition”.
“We refuse to sell out, we never did so when we were young and we will not do so now. We will be the best opposition we can be.” Before Zondo called for nomination for the post of president, EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu rose to remind newly elected speaker Thoko Didiza that his party had filed a draft motion again calling for Ramaphosa’s impeachment.
But by raising it on Friday in a draft motion, the EFF showed that it would waste no time in stress-testing the coalition by contriving a scenario where the DA’s readiness or not to defend Ramaphosa on the Phala Phala controversy will be at issue. But there was to and fro till the last minute as to what would happen if general consensus proved elusive.
The IFP agreed earlier this week to enter the coalition but delayed signing the declaration of intent till late on Friday — after the election of Thami Ntuli as premier of KwaZulu-Natal in a sitting of the provincial legislature. Before Chief Justice Raymond Zondo called for nominations, EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu stood up and announced that the party had tabled a draft motion calling for the legislature to commence impeachment proceedings against Ramaphosa in relation to the Phala Phala controversy.She told him that she had received the letter, which the EFF had promptly sent out to the media.
Earlier the Democratic Alliance’s Annelie Lotriet was elected as the deputy speaker of the National Assembly. She received a standing ovation not only from her party but from ANC MPs with Ramaphosa rising to his feet to applaud.“This is a tremendous honour and privilege, as well as a great responsibility, that has been bestowed to me,” Lotriet added.
The pact confirms that parties will share power in the executive and the legislature, meaning the DA will take up cabinet portfolios.It is understood the IFP was waiting for the election of Thami Ntuli as premier of KwaZulu-Natal in a sitting of the provincial legislature, which finally happened shortly before Lotriet was announced as deputy speaker.
It could not be, Shivambu repeated a few times, that only the presiding officer was present when this exercise took place. While vote counting was under way, ANC secretary general Fikile Mbabula told journalists that his party was “still talking to the MK” party. MK party members of the provincial legislature attempted to prevent Poyo-Dlwati from announcing the results and to force a recount, but they stopped doing so after she threatened to have them removed from the house by protection services.Minister Thoko Didiza. Photo : Gallo Images/Frennie Shivambu)
DA federal chairwoman Helen Zille confirmed that the agreement would also see the party enter into cabinet, although which portfolios it would control would only be decided in coming weeks. In the opening paragraphs of the nine-page deal clinched on Friday morning, parties said the outcome of last month’s vote held the risk of “further political and social fragmentation” in South Africa.
It also includes “livelihood support, land reform, infrastructure development, structural reforms and transformational change, fiscal sustainability, and the sustainable use of our national resources and endowments”, and a promise to fight corruption.Where general consensus cannot be achieved, decisions will be taken by “sufficient” consensus, defined as having the support of parties who hold 60% of seats in the National Assembly.
Gauteng’s judge president, Dunstan Mlambo, presided over the official swear-in ceremony of all members of the provincial legislature. Zille confirmed that the DA had tried to win agreement that the speaker would come from its ranks but said she believed Didiza and Lotriet would make a formidable team.
“We wanted checks and balances in this document. We wanted the ANC to understand that they did not win an overall majority in this election and that things have changed for them, and so we wanted that to be reflected in the document. She said talks about revisiting contentious legislation and potentially devolving powers to provinces would follow in coming weeks.The ANC nominated Thoko Didiza for National Assembly speaker on Friday when the sitting resumed after a brief caucus the EFF demanded. Didiza accepted the nomination.
“It is natural that this happens in a government of national unity, or a coalition if you prefer to call it that.”The vote for speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature has gotten off to a dramatic start, with the Umkhonto we Sizwe party requesting that members use black pens to protect their identities.
Boyce was nominated by Inkatha Freedom Party MPL Mntomuhle Khawula and seconded by Democratic Alliance provincial leader Francois Rodgers, whose parties are part of the proposed government of provincial unity along with the National Freedom Party .The Economic Freedom Fighters have two seats. This marks a major coalition talks victory for the ANC, as opposition parties had been adamant that the same party should not lead both the executive and the legislature.
The Economic Freedom Fighters, which has found itself sidelined in the negotiations, marched in late. The party’s MPs took their seats well after Zondo had started swearing in elected MPs. Speaking during a media briefing, EFF deputy leader Floyd Shivambu called on the ANC not to agree to a coalition government with the DA.
UDM leader Bantu Holomisa said if the ANC was honest from the start, it would have shared its agreement with all parties. “We have never demanded any positions,” he said. Rise Mzansi’s Sabine Meabe said the party believed that “the party that leads the executive cannot lead the legislature”. However, the ANC has not agreed to this, which is also the view of the DA.The party has not finalised coalition talks with the ANC. It will resume talks after Friday’s sitting.– Today is the first sitting of the National Assembly as determined by the Chief Justice, Raymond Zondo.
If only one valid nomination is received, Chief Justice Zondo declares the nominated candidate duly elected.
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