South Africa’s first 10 years of democracy have paved the way for solving many of the country’s remaining problems in the next decade, President Thabo Mbeki said after his inauguration on Tuesday for a second term in office. He addressed thousands who had gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria for his induction.
Mbeki takes the oath
Mandela, Mugabe cheered
Pretoria was a hive of activity on Monday with last-minute preparations for Tuesday’s inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings and the celebration of South Africa’s 10th year of democracy. With security forces keeping an eye over the city, VIPs have started trickling into Gauteng from all over the world.
Inauguration ‘sullied’ by Mugabe
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/41909/10-X-Logo.gif" align=left>Minutes after learning his party would have no representation in the National Assembly after a poor performance in Wednesday’s general election, National Action leader Cassie Aucamp quipped that he would have no choice but to stand on a street corner begging for money.
<li><a class=’standardtextsmall’ href="http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3_fl2.asp?o=40922">Special Report: Elections 2004</a>
The State might get another chance to prosecute apartheid-era chemical and biological warfare expert Wouter Basson. The Constitutional Court agreed on Wednesday to consider certain constitutional issues arising from an appeal against his acquittal.
South African Oscar-winner Charlize Theron on Monday got back a piece of the gold she so proudly dedicated to her home country. At a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki in Pretoria, the actress was presented with an ounce of gold still ingrained in the rock in which it was formed.
Leaders and supporters of rival political parties put aside their differences on Friday for the opening of a refurbished rural high school in the village of KwaNxamalala in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Thousands of children, their parents and villagers walked long distances to the Mnyakanya secondary school opening.
The plight of white South Africans feeling the pressure of affirmative action was taken up on Tuesday by a seemingly unlikely benefactor in the form of the Inkatha Freedom Party. IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi signed an accord with labour union Solidarity on non-discriminatory affirmative action.
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/ 13 February 2004
Eight years after being jailed for life for an array of apartheid-era crimes, former policeman Eugene de Kock comes across as a man committed to the South African ideal he formerly fought to suppress. Appearing before a commission probing prison malpractices, he told of his efforts from jail to help improve the country and its people.
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/ 12 February 2004
There was laughter in the public gallery on Thursday as a prisoner questioned the man who accused him of fabricating evidence for submission to the Jali commission probing prison maladministration. The commission chairperson had to stop a heated exchange between the two convicted murderers to ask the audience to behave.
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/ 2 February 2004
With a nervous eye on land invasions in Zimbabwe to the north, South African farmers have taken fright at legal changes to boost their government’s land expropriation powers. But legal experts say the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill pose little reason for real concern.