Mbeki elected for second term

2004-04-23 14:27

Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki was elected unopposed for a second term Friday after his African National Congress scored its biggest victory yet in a decade of multiracial democracy.

Parliamentarians broke into cheers after re-electing Mbeki at their first session since April 14 general elections.

The ANC, which has governed since apartheid ended in 1994, won 270 of the national assembly's 400 seats and also lead in voting for nine provincial assemblies.

Minstrels, gymnasts and a military band welcomed South Africa's new lawmakers to parliament on Friday.

Mbeki, dressed in a blue suit and silver tie, was among the first members to be sworn in by Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson.

Lining up in groups of 10 at the front of the chamber, members raised their right hands and pledged to "obey, respect and uphold the constitution and all the other laws of the republic".

The assembly's first official act was to elect Deputy Speaker Baleka Mbete speaker of the house, replacing Frene Ginwala who has held the post since 1994. Mbete was fighting back tears as she took her new seat.

Minstrels

"I am awed by the confidence and responsibility bestowed on me," she told the assembly, adding that hard work lay ahead them. "We dare not fail our people."

ANC lawmaker Gwen Mahlangu-Nkabinde was elected unopposed as Mbete's deputy.

Earlier, traditional minstrels in painted faces and brightly coloured uniforms marched through Cape Town to parliament, where a military band welcomed lawmakers with popular tunes.

Three gymnasts performed a routine with red ribbons in the courtyard, and a choir dressed in black and gold sang for members as they filed into the national assembly.

Over the next week, the nine provincial assemblies will also meet to select delegates to the 90-member national council of provinces, parliament's second chamber.

Mbeki will be sworn in as president on April 27, the day South Africa celebrates its first decade of multiracial democracy.

- AP