Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in on Friday as president of Zimbabwe in front of thousands of cheering supporters at Harare's national stadium, bringing the final curtain down on the 37-year rule of Robert Mugabe.
Taking his oath of office, the 75-year-old known as "the Crocodile" vowed to uphold the constitution of the former British colony and protect the rights of all Zimbabwe's 16 million citizens. In a speech, he said elections would go ahead next year and acknowledged there had been "errors" under Mugabe.
He has hailed the "voice of the people" during a dramatic ascent to power. But some wonder whether a man who loyally served Mugabe for decades can bring deep change to a ruling establishment accused of systematic abuses of human rights and disastrous economic policies.