Why do MPs vote for the president?
South Africans do not directly elect the president, instead they vote for parties and the seats in the parliament are directly proportionate to the share of the vote each party received.
The MPs then go on to vote for the president at the first sitting of parliament. That vote is expected to happen in the next few hours.
Since the start of the democratic era 30 years ago, this vote has been a formality as the ANC always held more than 50% of the seats in the National Assembly.
But this time it has had to find coalition partners as it did not get an absolute majority. A deal to back Cyril Ramaphosa for a second term was only agreed a few hours ago.