President Jacob Zuma has congratulated Francois Hollande on winning the French presidential election.
Zuma said in a statement yesterday that the South African government looks forward to consolidating its political and trade relations with the government of France under Mr Hollande's leadership."
Hollande was elected France's first socialist president in nearly two decades yesterday, dealing a humiliating defeat to incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and shaking up European politics.
The result will have major implications for Europe as it struggles to emerge from a financial crisis and for France, the eurozone's second-largest economy and a nuclear-armed permanent member of the UN Security Council.
