South African President-elect Cyril Ramaphosa was officially sworn in as the President of South Africa on Thursday evening by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, following his election in Parliament. 

Ramaphosa told Parliament he felt humbled by being chosen to lead the country and would seek to work with all political parties.

He said he planned to meet with the opposition, "so that we can try and find a way to work together and I am heartened by some of the sentiments expressed here of working together."

Ramaphosa said he believed he faced a difficult task, and was humbled to have been entrusted with it.

"I will do all of this as the servant of our people. I will seek to execute that task with humility, with faithfulness and with dignity too."

Ramaphosa lightly rebuked Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane for warning, in congratulating him on his election, that the African National Congress faced uphill in the 2019 national elections . 

"Leave 2019 aside let us deal with the current moment and work together on how we are going to improve the lives of our people rather than grandstanding."

He said the opposition's call for government to tackle corruption and state capture was "on our radar screen".