/ 29 April 1999

VOTING DAY TO BE PUBLIC HOLIDAY

CABINET on Wednesday announced that June 2, the day when the country goes to the polls for its second democratic elections, will be a public holiday. The cabinet also announced that the new Parliament will convene on June 14 to elect the country’s new president and the National Assembly’s presiding officers. The country’s nine provincial legislatures will meet on June 15 to elect the premiers of the provinces, the cabinet said in a statement. The new president — almost certainly Thabo Mbeki, the current deputy president — will be inaugurated on June 16, and make an inaugural address on June 25.