Democratic Alliance leader Helen Zille was on Wednesday formally elected as premier of the Western Cape.
Her party toppled the African National Congress from power in the province in last month's general election.
Zille, formerly mayor of Cape Town, will lead a 22 member DA team in the legislature.
The ANC has 14 seats; the Congress of the People, the Independent Democrats and the African Christian Democratic Party share the remaining six.
Zille, wearing a burnt gold suit, was greeted with a burst of applause when she entered the chamber a minute after 10am.
Though the ANC proposed former premier Lynne Brown as its candidate, Zille took the vote by 24 to 14.
There were four spoiled papers.
Her 90-year-old mother Mila, and husband academic Johann Maree, watched from a VIP box as she clenched her fist in a victory salute. - Sapa