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African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Deputy, Paul Mashatile, were on Friday sworn in as South Africa’s 7th Parliament began its inaugural session.
The first sitting of South Africa’s National Assembly took place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on Friday, marking the beginning of the 7th Parliament.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo convened the session, which followed the ANC’s significant loss of 71 seats in the general elections, dropping from 230 seats in the 6th Parliament to 159 seats in the current assembly.
Ramaphosa, who is a nominee for the position of President, was sworn in alongside former Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina and Ronald Lamola.
Former Ministers Malusi Gigaba and Dina Pule have also returned to Parliament.
Following the swearing-in of all MPs, the next steps would be the election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, with the election of the President scheduled for Friday as well.
The process of swearing-in MPs for the seventh democratic Parliament commenced with MPs being called in batches of ten to take the oath.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema and his deputy, Floyd Shivambu, were among those sworn in, as were Patriotic Alliance (PA) leader Gayton McKenzie and his MPs.
Chief Justice Zondo who presided over the ceremony said, “After I have countersigned the certificates, members will receive one of the certificates for their records. Each certificate will be sent to the members through their party representatives.”
