President Nelson Mandela has praised whites in his country for their co-operation in the peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy.
"A negotiated solution in South Africa would not have been attained without the co-operation of whites, especially the Afrikaners of ex-president Frederik de Klerk," Mr Mandela told the Lisbon newspaper Publico.
"They surpassed all my expectations and responded to my calls to help improve living conditions in rural areas". Mr Mandela said he was proud that "in five years [South Africa] ceased to be a pariah and became a country that is welcome throughout the world."
He said: "We have defied the prophets of doom who expected a great civil war in South Africa. Some of the most serious political analysts had predicted that there could never be a peaceful transition in this country."
The 80-year-old leader acknowledged that the African National Congress had not fulfilled all the promises made to "a people ground down by three centuries of colonialism and apartheid".
He praised his deputy, Mr Thabo Mbeki, saying: "I have total confidence in him. . .He has wisdom, and in addition it is he who has led the government for the past five years."
Newly remarried, Mr Mandela said that after stepping down he wanted to return to his native village of Qunu in the southern Transkei region and "devote more time to my 27 grandchildren."
Mr Chris Landsberg, an analyst with the Centre for Policy Studies, said: "The Mandela legacy is about a larger-than-life man who turned South Africa into something special in the world. But beyond his towering image, Mr Mandela leaves a commitment to reconciliation that will never be equalled."
Most people attribute the country's relative political peace to Mr Mandela's skill in giving expression to black anger while soothing white fears. But he shrugs off comparisons to other great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi.
"It is a mistake to think it is the work of one man," Mr Mandela said recently. "It is not an individual that is responsible for the last five years. It is the movement."
"I step down with a clear conscience because I have contributed in a small way, a very humble way, to what is happening in this country."
Mr Stanley Mogoba, leader of the Pan Africanist Congress, believes Mr Mandela spent too much time trying to reconcile blacks and whites and failed to bring about black unity. But he says: "Mandela is one of the great people we have produced in this country. . . not only in this country, but in the world."