South Africa's parliament has elected the ruling ANC's deputy leader Kgalema Motlanthe as the country's interim president.
Mr Motlanthe was sworn in at a ceremony this afternoon.
He will guide the country toward elections due next year while aiming to bridge the gaping divide within the ANC.
In his first speech to parliament after taking his oath of office, Mr Motlanthe praised the work of his predecessor Thabo Mbeki.
'We have been privileged to have him as our president these last nine years,' Mr Motlanthe said.
'There is no value that we can place on the service he has rendered to our country, nor any tribute that can adequately capture his contribution to building this nation.'
The vote came after the resignation of Mr Mbeki as head of state on Sunday.
It places Mr Motlanthe at the helm of a nation coming to grips with its worst political crisis since the end of apartheid in 1994.
Known as the elder brother for his level-headed approach to even the roughest political waters, Mr Motlanthe was one of the first to enter the house this morning and walked in quietly, with no fanfare.
ANC President Jacob Zuma and other political heavyweights sat in a packed public gallery, while groups of parliamentarians sang and danced as they entered the house.
Mr Motlanthe attended Mr Mbeki's last cabinet meeting yesterday, trying to send a message of continuity within the government after a third of the county's top leaders, including the country's deputy president, resigned in solidarity.
Zuma election win is widely expected
While it is expected that seven will stay on in the new administration, several others have said they are not willing to.
Nevertheless, Mr Zuma, who in December 2007 replaced Mr Mbeki as ANC leader, yesterday insisted that the resignations had not sent the country into crisis.
'There is no problem, the situation is under control, there must be no panic,' he said.
As party leader, Mr Zuma is widely expected to be voted into the country's top office in elections next year.
Mr Mbeki bowed to a call to resign from the presidency following a damning court ruling that hinted he was instrumental in a decision to prosecute his longtime rival Mr Zuma, whom he fired as the country's deputy president in 2005.
He has denied the allegations and is appealing that aspect of the ruling in a bid to clear his name from the insinuation of judicial meddling.
In a farewell letter to his cabinet published in a newspaper today, Mr Mbeki said he had accepted the ANC's decision in the interests of South Africa and without resistance or rancour.
The sudden end to Mr Mbeki's nine-year administration leaves an embarrassing stain on the legacy of the man who succeeded anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela.
The political turmoil has rattled the economy, with currency markets shaken by the decision of the widely-respected finance minister, Trevor Manuel, to resign with the other top officials.
Mr Manuel's spokesman later made it clear that he was ready to serve the new administration.
Mr Zuma said the decision to recall Mr Mbeki had been one of the most painful and difficult decisions taken in the party's history.
The outgoing president had been increasingly at loggerheads with his party, which split into two camps behind him and Mr Zuma when he made his failed bid to run for a third term as party president at a crunch ANC conference last year.
