According to the rules, Chief Justice Zondo will soon call for the nomination of candidates for speaker of the National Assembly.

If only one valid nomination is received, Zondo will declare the nominated candidate elected.

But if more than one valid nomination is received, a vote by secret ballot is called.

Once the result is known the speaker takes the chair and presides over the election of their deputy.

The speaker is a key position in managing what happens in the National Assembly.

Just as Chief Justice Zondo was about to move on to the election of the speaker, the EFF's Floyd Shivambu called for a 30-minute break for a consultation within his party.

Zondo asked why the EFF needs to caucus now, given that the election of the speaker had been known about for days.

In the end, Zondo agreed to a 15-minute "comfort break".

Now that Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has finished swearing in MPs, the next item on the agenda is the election of the speaker.

Following that a deputy speaker is elected - and only after that is the election of the president.

Image source, AFP

The new MPs have now been sworn in - and among their number was Cyril Ramaphosa.

He hopes that the other MPs will elect him for a second term as president soon - at that point he will cease to be an MP.

But parliament must first elect a speaker and deputy speaker.

Farouk Chothia
BBC News

Just a reminder of why getting the ANC and the DA to agree on something in just a matter of days has been difficult.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has previously accused the DA - which draws its support mainly from racial minorities - of being "treasonous" and "reactionary".

The DA's Helen Zille said her party and the ANC had been "strong opponents for decades" and trying to build trust in 10 days had been a "challenge".

Any deal with the DA would be unpopular among many ANC activists.

The DA is an advocate of free market economics, which is at odds with the ANC’s left-wing traditions, and is seen by its critics as representing the interests of the white minority.

The ANC has billed the coalition as a Government of National Unity (GNU), but it failed to get the third and fourth-biggest parties - former President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party and Julius Malema's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) - to join it.

Read more on this story: South Africa government of national unity talks continue between ANC and DA

A live feed of parliament means the public can watch their MPs being sworn in, but the real action has been happening behind closed doors.

For days the ANC and opposition parties have been negotiating what South Africa's new government will look like.

As we mentioned earlier, Democratic Alliance representative Helen Zille said these talks have been "friendly" but "tough".

An ANC spokesperson said they hoped a deal would be reached by the afternoon.

Image source, SA parliament

Up to now, the swearing in has had a solemn tone.

But as soon as the name of Julius Malema - the leader of the EFF, the fourth largest party - was read out, there were cheers.

His party has 39 seats, five fewer than in the last parliament.

All of them have turned up in red boiler suits - which has become their signature attire for parliament.

Image source, SA parliament

Nomsa Maseko
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

It is still unclear what the new government will look like, but we do know the radical left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) won't be involved.

At a press conference in Cape Town on Thursday evening, EFF leader Julius Malema said his party is not against the principle of a national unity government but opposes the inclusion of parties such as the Democratic Alliance and the Freedom Front Plus.

Malema said these two parties were part of an "imperialist" agenda.

Malema also said if uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the party led by former president Jacob Zuma, was not put in charge of the KwaZulu-Natal province, it would then be "a provocation to the people of KwaZulu-Natal".

In last month's election the MK party received the most votes in that province - but not an absolute majority.

Read more:

• Julius Malema - South Africa's radical agenda-setter

Image source, SA parliament

The first business of the day is to swear in all the new MPs.

There are 400 of them - but those from ex-President Jacob Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party - the third largest in parliament - are not present as they are disputing the result of the election.

Earlier this morning, guests were welcomed into parliament by the sweet-sounding tones of a choir.

Led by a conductor, the singers sang with South African flags draped round their necks.

Nomsa Maseko
BBC News, Cape Town

An ANC spokesperson has just confirmed to the BBC that agreements on the formation of a new government have still not been reached.

Mahlengi Bhengu Motsiri said there are still some outstanding issues.

Party representatives are still in talks with opposition parties, she said, and the ANC hopes a deal will be reached before the president is elected this afternoon.

Helen Zille, who has been representing opposition party the Democratic Alliance in coalition negotiations, says the talks have been "cordial" and "friendly" but also "very tough".

"The ANC put forward a crack team – they were reasonable, rational and committed to finding a solution, and I hope that we were too,” she adds.

Zille, the DA's former leader and a major political figure within South Africa, said discussions were still ongoing in the early hours of the morning.

“This morning at 02:00 we thought we had a finalised agreement, but this morning a few issues have arisen and they’re just trying to sort them out,” she says.

Another DA negotiator, Tony Leon, said "We have reached a stage where we just require one or two clarifications. However I have no authority to speak on this. The DA leader will speak soon."

Image source, SA parliament

Before he swears in the new MPs, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo addresses the National Assembly.

He says that 30 years into South Africa's democratic era is "an important milestone because South Africans get an opportunity to look back at the road we have travelled and see where we have made mistakes and see where we have done well... and make sure that in the fourth decade of our democracy we do not repeat the mistakes".

Turning to their task in the new parliament, the chief justice told MPs "so recall the huge responsibility that the people of South Africa have placed on your shoulders".

Image source, Phando Jikelo/Parliament of SA

The inaugural sitting of this parliament - the seventh since the advent of democracy in 1994 - is taking place at the Cape Town International Convention Centre rather than the traditional parliament building.

This is because of the on-going renovations following the extensive damage caused by a fire in 2022.

The authorities have previously used Cape Town's City Hall as a stand-in chamber but the conference centre has been chosen this time in order to accommodate the 400 new MPs and their guests.

Parliament has budgeted 58m rand ($3.1m; £2.5m) for the use of the larger venue.

Image source, Phando Jikelo/Parliament of SA

Many of the new MPs - including Cyril Ramaphosa - are now in the conference hall and they have just sung the national anthem before proceedings begin.

Farouk Chothia
BBC News

The ANC will be facing up to a new reality today - that it is beholden to MPs on the opposition benches.

It cannot vote in the president without the support of the second-largest party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) - or the fourth-largest party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and another small party.

The ANC has never been dependent on the opposition as it held a commanding majority in parliament since the end of the racist system of apartheid in 1994.

This changed in the 29 May election, when the ANC's vote collapsed to 40%. Voters demanded change as the ANC became increasingly arrogant and corrupt, while the economy and public services deteriorated.

Humbled by the electorate, it will now be forced to work with the opposition to survive in government.

Read more: South Africa's ANC edging closer to forming unity government

For the first time in 30 years, the African National Congress (ANC) does not have more than 50% of the 400 seats in the National Assembly.

This has meant that it needed to make a deal with other parties in order to get its leader, Cyril Ramaphosa, elected for a second term.

Negotiations are still ongoing - the ANC says it has made a "breakthrough" but added that it was too early to give details.

The expected order of events is as follows:

• First, the new MPs will be sworn in
• Then the speaker and deputy speaker will be elected
• Finally the MPs will elect the president, who will then be sworn in by the chief justice

Thank you for joining us as we bring you live coverage of events in South Africa's parliament in Cape Town as it meets for the first time since the 29 May general election.