Focusing on South Africa Elections : Television: All-race voting draws on-the-scene coverage from major news outlets, including L.A.’s KCAL Channel 9.

This week’s first-ever all-race elections in South Africa will draw special coverage from network, cable and public television outlets as well as KCAL-TV Channel 9. Voting is scheduled to be conducted Tuesday through Thursday.

ABC’s Peter Jennings is the only anchorman from the three major broadcast networks who will be in South Africa this week, although CBS’ Dan Rather was there last week to work on a series of reports that are scheduled to continue through Wednesday. NBC had intended to dispatch anchorman Tom Brokaw to South Africa, but scrapped those plans when former President Richard M. Nixon had a stroke.

ABC also plans to devote at least one “Nightline” broadcast to South Africa this week. “CBS This Morning” will have live reports from Martha Teichner today and Wednesday.

The Public Broadcasting Service plans to report on South Africa in a pair of ways. Charlayne Hunter-Gault of “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” will report from the scene, and the network’s “Front-line” documentary series on Tuesday night presents “Mandela,” an analysis of Nelson Mandela’s ascent to his expected election as the nation’s first black president, and the political comeback of his ex-wife, Winnie Mandela, following her conviction for kidnaping.

On cable, Bernard Shaw of Cable News Network is also in South Africa to anchor that network’s coverage. Cheryl Martin of Black Entertainment Television is in Johannesburg to provide reports for its news programming Thursday and Friday, as well as follow-up stories for “BET News,” May 6 and 13. C-SPAN plans on airing the victory and concession speeches.

One of the most ambitious coverage plans comes not from a major network or cable service but from KCAL-TV Channel 9. The Walt Disney Co.-owned independent began a two-week series of reports on South Africa last Monday. Today, it begins five days of live reports from Johannesburg by anchorwoman Pat Harvey. (Her reports will appear on all of KCAL’s newscasts but particularly on the 9 p.m. newscast, which emphasizes national and international news.)

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“We think there is a lot of interest in what’s going on in South Africa,” said Bob Henry, KCAL’s senior vice president and director of news. “This is one of those times in world history that a country is making a fundamental change in the way it governs itself. One of the reasons that has happened is there has been a fair amount of information and entertainment that has come out of Southern California in terms of films, movies and records that all have South African connections.”

CNN, with which KCAL is affiliated, will help boost KCAL’s coverage in several ways. CNN will be providing reports of the major day-to-day events, so Harvey will be freed to “look for people with connections to Southern California and do stories we think will be of interest to Southern Californians,” Henry said.

KCAL has frequently dispatched its reporters abroad in the four years since it adopted a three-hour prime-time news block. Other destinations have been Mexico for a visit by Pope John Paul II, El Salvador, the Persian Gulf, Russia and Somalia.

“(Viewers) remember the stories that are done and done well from faraway places,” Harvey said. “People say a lot of folks aren’t interested in what’s happening in other parts of the world, but among our viewers, there is a strong interest there. They look upon our station as a news leader when we are able to do this kind of coverage.”