President Thabo Mbeki was sworn in for a second term yesterday as South Africa celebrated 10 years of post-apartheid democracy, its joy tempered by glaring problems ranging from poverty to AIDS.
Mbeki, whose African National Congress was re-elected in a landslide victory two weeks ago, took the oath at Pretoria's Union Buildings and vowed to bring all South Africans a share in the nation's wealth.
"Endemic and widespread poverty continues to disfigure the face of our country. It will always be impossible for us to say that we have fully restored the dignity of all our people as long as this situation persists," he said.
Cheers erupted as anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela arrived at the swearing-in ceremony -- an echo of the momentous day 10 years ago when he became South Africa's first black president.
"If it wasn't for him we would not be standing here in Pretoria now. We love him so much," said 21-year-old Portia Nthabu, one of the thousands of people gathered for the inauguration and celebratory concert shown live on TV.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, accused of political repression at home by his opponents, also received a standing ovation, and noisy cheers went up for a delegation from the world soccer body FIFA, which next month decides whether South Africa wins the race to host the 2010 World Cup.
Mbeki's inauguration falls on the anniversary of South Africa's first democratic election on April 27, 1994, which saw Mandela lead the ANC to triumph in polls that ended centuries of oppression by whites.
Many feared those polls would trigger bloody ethnic violence or autocratic rule. But the "rainbow nation" has largely defied the doomsayers, rising as Africa's most powerful economy and one of its most stable democracies.
But South Africa faces huge challenges, not least an HIV/AIDS epidemic that affects one in nine of the population, steep unemployment and high levels of violent crime.
Prominent writer Zakes Mda, writing in yesterday's New York Times, described his homeland as an "ailing nation" where a new elite, both black and white, was failing the impoverished majority.
"A well-placed section of South African society is moving forward at a breathtaking speed. Unfortunately, it is too oblivious of those it leaves behind to be fearful of them."
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