S. Africans Mark 10 Years of Democracy

President Thabo Mbeki hailed South Africa’s first decade of democracy Friday and pledged to forge ahead with policies to fight poverty and unemployment ahead of polls expected in March or April.

Mbeki, whose ruling African National Congress is forecast to secure another solid victory, said at Parliament’s opening session that his government was on the right course to fulfill the visions outlined by anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela.

“During the first decade we have made great progress toward the achievements of the goals we enunciated as we took the first steps as a newborn child,” Mbeki told legislators and diplomats in Cape Town.

Mbeki listed South Africa’s accomplishments since the end of white rule in 1994, from building about 1.6 million houses for the poor to a stable fiscal policy that ended decades of double-digit inflation and reduced it to the current level of 4%.

But he gave short shrift to the AIDS issue, noting merely that the disease and other health issues were a “serious concern.” South Africa has the world’s highest number of HIV/AIDS cases, with an estimated 5.3 million people infected. But the government has been accused of moving far too slowly against the disease.

Ten years after apartheid, the nation has a jobless rate exceeding 30% and one of the most unequal distributions of wealth.

Opposition parties criticized Mbeki for failing to outline the steps for solving the problems.

“The harsh reality is that after a decade of freedom, the black majority is poorer on average than they were 10 years ago,” the Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party said.