South Africa's new president, Mr Thabo Mbeki, steps out from the shadow of his predecessor Mr Nelson Mandela, at a crucial time in his country's development. Significant progress in the area of human rights has been made since the advent of democracy in 1994 but there are still major hurdles to be overcome. A stagnant economy is perhaps the most immediate of these. Images of the Beverly Hills type lifestyle enjoyed by many white South Africans often obscure the fact that the country's GDP per capita remains, despite its vast mineral wealthy, roughly on the same level as that of Botswana.
Ripples from the Russo-Asian economic crisis have washed up on South Africa's shore just as they have done in countries such as Australia. Confidence of investors in the new dispensation is another factor which affects South Africa's economic performance. In order to provide for its people in a manner more equitable than in the past, South Africa's economy needs to develop a strong pattern of growth. Those unsure of Mr Mbeki's policies in this area should be reassured by the fact that it was he, rather than Mr Mandela, who pushed for the use of classical economic policies in the past two years.
The new president's style and his consequent international image is very different from that which helped make Mr Mandela one of the great world figures of the latter half of the century. Mr Mandela's supreme confidence and dignity stemmed from his upbringing in a ruling family of the Xhosa nation. That confidence endowed him with a magnanimity towards his opponents unprecedented in post-colonial politics. Mr Mbeki's background is that of the son of an orthodox Marxist father who spent decades in prison. He represents a new generation of ANC politicians whose formation took place in exile. His education in the civil sphere was at the University of Sussex and in the military at the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow.
Of the two, Sussex appears to have had the greater influence. Mr Mbeki is regarded as introverted, bookish, shy in public, almost Anglicised to the extent that many of his colleagues regard him as unacceptably aloof. There may have been an element of hyperbole in the remark of an African-American observer who described him as "The only man in Africa who ain't got rhythm" but it was not entirely wide of the mark.
The extent of the ANC's victory in the recent elections has given Mr Mbeki a strong mandate. Many are worried that the defensiveness against criticism and the excessive loyalty to comrades, so typical of a former political exile, may manifest themselves in the course of his presidency. His attempts to suppress the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which criticised the ANC's misdemeanours as strongly as those of others have been pointed to as an instance of his willingness to put loyalty before democratic principle.
But the commission's report was published. It saw the light of day because of the intervention of Mr Mandela who, incidentally, has indicated that his stepping down from the presidency will not entail a final break from politics. As an ordinary member of the ANC he will, in his own words, "have the privilege to be as critical as I can be." Mr Mandela's presidency may have come to an end. His influence will continue to be felt.