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PRETORIA, April 27: President Thabo Mbeki was sworn in for a second term on Tuesday as South Africa celebrated 10 years of democracy, vowing to fight the crushing poverty that threatens his nation's post-apartheid triumph.
"Endemic and widespread poverty continues to disfigure the face of our country," said Mr Mbeki, whose African National Congress was re-elected in a landslide victory two weeks ago despite mounting problems with joblessness and AIDS.
"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. Thousands of people gathered for a massive celebratory concert to mark the inauguration, which took place 10 years to the day after anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela led the ANC to victory in the first all-race elections, burying decades of white apartheid rule.
Cheers erupted as a frail-looking Mandela, 85, 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, looking on from the crowd. Three South African Airways jumbo jets thundered overhead after the ceremony, drowning out the audience's delighted applause, while military aircraft swooped through the skies and African choirs and dancers performed for a show broadcast on TV.
CHEERS FOR MUGABE: Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, accused by critics of political repression at home, received a standing ovation and noisy cheers went up for officials from the world soccer body FIFA, which next month decides whether South Africa wins the race to host the 2010 World Cup.
Other guests included the presidents of Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Mozambique - although most countries from beyond the continent sent fairly low level delegations.
Mr Mbeki's inauguration fell on the anniversary of South Africa's first democratic election on April 27, 1994, polls many feared 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. South Africa nevertheless 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.
Writer Zakes Mda, writing in Tuesday's New York Times, described his homeland as an "ailing nation" where a new elite, both black and white, was failing the impoverished majority. -Reuters
