South Africa parliament elects ANC's Ramaphosa as president

South Africa’s parliament duly elected the ruling African National Congress (ANC)‘s Cyril Ramaphosa to retain the office of the president.

Ramaphosa was widely expected to be retained as president by the 400 lawmakers in parliament’s National Assembly lower house, where his party holds the majority. He will be inaugurated on Saturday.

“I will seek to act and be the president of all South Africans and not just the president of those who voted for the party I lead and those who voted for the parties represented here,’‘ Ramaphosa said while addressing the parliament after his election.

The ANC easily won South Africa’s May 8 general election, but its vote share fell to a post-apartheid low, reflecting anger at corruption and racial inequality still entrenched a generation since the former liberation movement took power.

Since replacing Zuma, Ramaphosa has pledged to fight corruption, reform struggling state-owned companies and revive a sclerotic economy. But he has struggled to enact reforms in the face of opposition from party rivals.