OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Monday 4.00pm
MPs on Monday unanimously chose African National Congress leader Thabo Mbeki to take over from Nelson Mandela as president of South Africa.
The announcement, by Constitutional Court president Arthur Chaskalson, that he had been elected unopposed was greeted with a roar of applause and a standing ovation from all parties in the 400-member National Assembly.
Mbeki will be inaugurated at a lavish ceremony at the Union Buildings on Wednesday, two days before his 57th birthday.
He told MPs in an acceptance speech that he was aware that millions of South Africans expected the government would move faster in pursuit of a better life for all.
In a voice cracking under the strain of what he said was a bout of flu, Mbeki said he was also aware of the negative consequences of a failure to do this in a credible and sustained way.
Many of the country’s problems required the greatest possible unity in a society that continued to be divided along racial and other lines.
“The new presidency will have to focus on all these matters, in the interests of the country as a whole,” he said.
Mbeki was formally congratulated by all opposition leaders.