Cyril Ramaphosa was elected as South Africa's president in a parliamentary vote Thursday and pledged to tackle endemic corruption after scandal-ridden Jacob Zuma resigned on strict orders from the ruling African National Congress. Ramaphosa faces an uphill battle in revitalizing growth, creating jobs and stamping out a culture of graft in a nation still polarized by race and inequality more than two decades after the end of white-minority rule.

South Africa's main stock market index jumped by as much as 5 percent Thursday, heading for its biggest one-day gain in more than three years, on hopes that Zuma's exit will pave the way for new leaders to quicken the pace of economic growth.

Africa's most developed economy needs faster economic growth if it is to reduce high unemployment – currently at 27 percent, up from around 22 percent in the year before Zuma first took power – and alleviate persistent, widespread poverty that aggravates inequality and stokes further instability.

Zuma and the Guptas have always denied wrongdoing.

The EFF, which has 6 percent of the seats in Parliament, had sponsored a no-confidence motion in Zuma that would have gone ahead Thursday had Zuma not jumped.

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