The United States will send a high-level delegation led by US Trade Representative Ron Kirk to the inauguration of South Africa's president-elect Jacob Zuma, the White House said in a statement Monday.

Kirk is to be accompanied at the 9 May swearing-in ceremony in Pretoria by other senior members of the Barack Obama administration, the statement said without identifying the officials.

Zuma is to be formally elected president in Parliament on Wednesday, after his ruling African National Congress (ANC) party swept to victory with nearly 66 percent of the vote in the country's fourth democratic polls last month.

"The president congratulates the people of South Africa on another successful election ? the fourth in the post-apartheid period ? and looks forward to a close working relationship with the incoming administration in South Africa," the White House added.