Thabo Mbeki, the man poised to take over from Nelson Mandela as president of the African National Congress and, 18 months down the line, as president of South Africa, remains an enigma to many of his compatriots.

A former member of the central committee of the South African Communist Party, Mr Mbeki is closely associated with an economic policy - growth, employment and redistribution, or GEAR - which has drawn sharp criticism from the Communist Party as a "neo-liberal" document.

An ANC leader who was not shy to be photographed celebrating his 50th birthday with casino mogul Sol Kerzner and similarly rich whites, Mr Mbeki has been described as an Africanist, meaning a politician who subscribes to the view that the claims of indigenous blacks have priority over those of South Africa's minority whites, coloureds and Indians.

A pipe-smoking man with a ready smile, he has the reputation of being a ruthless eliminator of rivals.

The withdrawal from the political arena of Cyril Ramaphosa and Tokyo Sexwale, the former secretary-general of the ANC and the outgoing premier of Gauteng province respectively, bears witness to that. Both have crossed Mr Mbeki during his rise to the position of Mr Mandela's heir-apparent.

Former Transkei leader Bantu Holomisa is another politician who incurred Mr Mbeki's wrath: he did not retire hurt as a contestant for the ANC leadership but was expelled from the ANC.

An unanswered question is how he would deal with ANC Women's League president, Winnie Madiki zela-Mandela, who has publicly criticised the ANC leadership for "deserting the masses". Her criticisms are a direct challenge to Mr Mbeki as well as her former husband, Nelson Mandela.

So far Mr Mbeki has manoeuvred quietly but efficiently to isolate her.

These cameos represent aspects of Mr Mbeki which, far from representing a contradictory picture of the man, provide insights into his political personality.

Having been a communist when membership of the party was believed to have been important to progress to the top - the Communist Party played a central role in directing the ANC underground army during the armed struggle - Mr Mbeki has shifted position ideologically since the collapse of communism in eastern Europe and the old Soviet Union.

To describe him as an opportunist is unfair; he is better seen as a pragmatist. His former communist convictions are, moreover, the product of another influence: his father, Govan Mbeki, was a leading member of the Communist Party at a time when it was associated with resistance to apartheid rather than Stalinism.

Mr Mbeki's friendship with rich celebrities and his presiding zeal on behalf of the black populace are not necessarily irreconcilable: when it was important to reassure whites that their positions were not under threat from the ANC and its Communist Party ally, Mr Mbeki represented the reasonable face of the ANC.

Now, when the ANC risks losing black support because of slow delivery on its election promises, Mr Mbeki is quick to reassure them that their plight is receiving special attention in post-apartheid South Africa.

He makes a salient point on the issue. He argues that fulfilling black aspirations and assuaging white fears are two sides of the same coin. There can be no lasting reconciliation - the ultimate reassurance for whites - unless black grievances are addressed. Reconciliation without eradication of black poverty is a contradiction in terms, he says.

An aide summarises his position with this pithy observation: when the poor rise they rise against us all.

Mr Mbeki, however, is convinced that the way to tackle poverty is through GEAR, differing with the present generation of communist leaders that its essential elements - attracting foreign investment, privatisation of select assets and rigorous fiscal discipline - are impediments to combating poverty. To him they are preconditions.

Now aged 55, Mr Mbeki, who was born in the Transkei, has one immense advantage when he takes over leadership of the ANC and, later, the country from Mr Mandela: he does so with his full blessing and support. Mr Mandela chose him as his deputy president in 1994 and has gradually ceded power to him ever since.

Mr Mbeki's career so far shows him to be a versatile man. An economics graduate of the University of Sussex in Britain and of a military training course in the Soviet Union, he has also served as the ANC's representative in Nigeria and headed its Department of International Affairs.

He has emerged during the past two years as an advocate of an African renaissance. He wants Africa to rid itself of its image as a continent of incompetence, corruption and dictatorship.

To that end he has played a pivotal role in South Africa's quest to promote peace and development in the sub-continent, as manifest by its intervention as an honest broker in the conflict in the former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Many South Africans of all colours believe, however, that the African renaissance, like charity, should start at home.