afrol News, 27 April - South Africa's fourth president is expected to be inaugurated at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria, on 9 May, where the ANC president, Jacob Zuma is largely tipped to win the parliamentary vote to take up the top seat.

The presidential inauguration which is also expected to be attended by numerous heads of state across the region, the continent and the world, will also be linked to other parts of the country through big screens for South African voters to be part of the celebrations.

The big event will be preceded on 6 May by the first sitting of the National Assembly where the Chief Justice and the Head of the Constitutional Court will swear in the new Cabinet and Members of Parliament.

The first sitting of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) will take place the following day on 7 May.

South Africa's parliament is made up of two houses - the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. There are 400 members in the National Assembly and 90 members of the National Council of Provinces.

In the 2009 election which the ruling ANC gained 65.9 percent of the national vote, has won 264 seats in the Nationally Assembly, the DA 67, Cope 30, IFP 18, ID 4, UDM 2, PAC 1, UCDP 1, and MF 1 seat.

The ruling party though winning by a comfortable margin has failed to get a two thirds majority that would make it easily control in parliament, though it is widely expected it may manage to get a number of opposition support to pass law.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) which is now the official opposition received a 16.66 percent of votes with 2,945,829 South Africans backing the party.

The newcomers the Congress of the People, a breakaway party from the ruling ANC, received 7.42 percent with 1,311,027 votes.

Declared generally free and fair by observers in and from outside the country, the South African election escaped the much feared violence, especially in the hotspot of Kwazulu-Natal province where early reports of attempted fraud were heard.

Meanwhile, the outgoing South African president, Kgalema Motlanthe, today praised all South Africans, for the good turn up in the country's fourth general elections.

Speaking at the main Freedom Day celebrations in Durban today, Mr Motlanthe said South Africans were keen to embrace the reality that only collective effort from all sections of society can enabled the country to deal with unique challenges in a way that yields results.

He also congratulated the country's youth for voting in high numbers.

"Grandmothers and grandfathers once more made their mark and took their place as those who had seen dark days but had fought long and hard and won their dignity and now live in the cool climate of freedom," he said.

Mr Motlanthe also praised the remarkable maturity by the citizens saying it was reflected in a largely free and fair election, with very few and insignificant incidents of violence.

The President has also thanked the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for their outstanding performance in the face of a challenging task.

"The fact that we had a demanding but successful Election Day, which was followed by a normal working day without any interruption to our daily life, shows that our electoral system is intact and improving," Mr Motlanthe said.

The president has however said there was still a lot of work to be done in the country to break all walls of the racial past. He said the voting patterns in this year's election disturbingly reflected a divided past.

"Our history is etched with the footprints of those who planted the seeds of freedom of those who laid the foundation for equality. It is our generation that has succeeded in giving the dream of freedom a concrete reality," said Mr Motlanthe further urging South Africans to use Freedom Day to celebrate democracy as well as continue to strive to create conditions for better life for all citizens.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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