Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected president of South Africa by the new parliament.

The ANC won the 8 May general election with 58% of the vote.

According to the constitution, whereas voters elect MPs, the president is elected by those lawmakers during the inaugural session of parliament.

DA leader Mmusi Maimane has congratulated Cyril Ramaphosa on his election as President of the country with a plea to make sure those who are implicated and found guilty of corruption end up in prison.

Maimane says the DA will be behind Ramaphosa in tackling corruption but also to hold him to account.

“To Ntate Cyril Ramaphosa, I want to say from our party and from me personally, I wish you great success and I wish to say to you that when the decisions that you take are for the interests of our nation and for the people of this country. We will be the first ones to support you.”

Under South Africa’s 1996 Constitution, electors vote for a party, and the party selects individuals who go to the National Assembly, which then chooses the head of state.

Ramaphosa, 66, is a trade unionist who played a prominent part in the struggle against white minority rule before becoming a successful businessman after the end of apartheid.

He will be serving his first full five-year term since taking over last year from President Jacob Zuma who was forced out over a series of corruption scandals.

Ramaphosa’s first test as he starts his new term will be his choice of a cabinet, a task beset by rival factions within the ANC.