Mbeki: born into struggle, ruling in triumph

TODAY South Africans will go to the polls for the country's third elections under democratic rule.

President Thabo Mbeki is set to win comfortably despite low turnout fears.

Two weeks before the 1999 election, Mr Mbeki - then South African deputy president - visited his mother in the village of Nyili in the Eastern Cape.

It was supposed to be a warm, family visit. Instead, Mr Mbeki had a lecture by his mother Epainette, who told him about the slow pace of land redistribution and the conditions bedevilling farmers in the area. What was Mr Mbeki's new government going to do about this?

Later that day, sitting with 100 intellectuals, businessmen and top civil servants in the town of Umtata, Mr Mbeki listened to the group chairman complain about the town falling apart.

Mr Mbeki told them of the places he had seen and the challenges of the poor.

"Surely among you here is the talent and ability to do something about these problems? It is a matter you need to seriously address instead of complaining about what can be done for you," he scolded.

Although Mr Mbeki had - with President Nelson Mandela's blessing - huge power as deputy president, when faced with the poor he had the demeanour of one still learning, asking questions, preparing for power. Only when faced with the educated, who were bitter about what they saw as the slow pace of change, did he scold.

Now, five years later - after braving controversies around the HIV/Aids pandemic and Zimbabwe - how he will conduct his second term?

Mr Mbeki is bluntly saying what he intends to do: Consolidate.

"We do not foresee any need for new and major policy initiatives. The task we face during the decade ahead will be to ensure the vigorous implementation of these policies," Mr Mbeki said in February.

That assertion is a pointer to his political style and the legacy he intends to leave.

Two strands ran through his rise: Poverty eradication without upsetting the ruling white capitalist class, and rejuvenating African economies while restoring their international stature.

These themes are as old as Mr Mbeki and his struggle against apartheid.

Mr Mbeki was born in 1942 to communist Govan Mbeki - a newspaper publisher and teacher - and Epainette, a teacher who ran a shop to feed the four children.

His father was active in the ANC and, when the apartheid government arrested him, Mr Mandela and others, the young Mbeki was sent out of South Africa and went to Sussex to study economics. He spent 28 years in exile.

These two strands - rural and international - came through in his first term and will define the next. "I was born into the struggle," he has said.

He left Sussex to work in the ANC's London office, followed by spells in the Soviet Union for military training; Zambia, Botswana, Swaziland and Nigeria.

From 1978 he rose in the ANC under the tutelage of Oliver Tambo, the organisation's president.

He was ANC chief spokesman and in the late 1980s was one of five ANC leaders who negotiated a settlement with Pretoria.

Mr Mbeki's rise was contested. Others also hoped to succeed Mr Mandela.

However, they were outmanoeuvred by Mr Mbeki who courted important constituencies in the ANC - youth, women, veterans.

When the time came to succeed Mr Mandela, they chose Mr Mbeki.

Mr Mbeki also swung international leaders behind his rejuvenation plan, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad). He got Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac to endorse it.

The greatest damage to Nepad is his refusal to condemn Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, and Mr Mbeki's ideas on the causal link between HIV and Aids.

Domestically, he has not done too badly. The budget deficit has come down and total public sector debt fell. Inflation is down to 4%.

However, Mr Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have entreated Mr Mbeki to move faster on Aids. At least 4.7 million South Africans are HIV- positive and his government has refused to give out anti- retroviral drugs. ""

His stance has done him major damage internationally and at home.

In the election tomorrow, however, Mr Mbeki does not have to worry.

Background to elections

When are the elections being held and how do they work?

South Africa's third democratic general elections are being held on 14 April.

Voting for the 400 seats in parliament is by proportional representation. The president is then voted for by the newly-elected MPs.

The ruling African National Congress is expected to retain its majority and then vote in President Thabo Mbeki for his second five-year term.

What are the main issues?

Essentially the debate will be about whether the majority of people's lives have improved in the past decade under the ANC.

The ANC say it has made huge strides on basic needs like housing, electricity and water and have run a successful economy.

The opposition say it has presided over sharp increases in unemployment, crime and the spread of Aids. They also allege growing corruption and anti-democratic tendencies.

The ANC is seeking to extend their electoral domination. At present thanks to defections and alliances it controls all provinces except KwaZulu-Natal. It really wants to win the province this time round.

It also wants to retain its narrow two-thirds majority in parliament which enables it to amend the constitution.

Who are the opposition?

The main opposition party is the Democratic Alliance led by white politician Tony Leon.

It only secured 10% of the vote in 1999. It has though arranged a strategic alliance with the Inkatha Freedom Party, which still controls KwaZulu-Natal province and is strongly supported among the Zulus.

The former ruling party during apartheid, the National Party, transformed itself into the New National Party, and has formed an election alliance with the ANC.

Any controversies likely to arise?

The live coverage of an ANC rally ahead of the announcement of an election date by the state broadcaster has already prompted angry complaints from the opposition of state media bias.

Mr Mbeki's heavily criticised handling of the Aids crisis remains a sensitive issue.

Many thousands of people died in election related violence KwaZulu-Natal in the early 1990s.

With the ANC targeting the province, tensions are running high, and there has been recent campaign violence and a number of political deaths.