Mbeki takes oath for second term

JOHANNESBURG — South African President Thabo Mbeki was sworn in for a second term yesterday at a ceremony attended by President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and other foreign dignitaries.

An estimated 40,000 South Africans witnessed the event at the Union Buildings in the administrative capital, Pretoria, which served as the seat of a white minority government until 10 years ago.

Mr. Mbeki, whose party, the African National Congress (ANC), won a landslide in elections earlier this month, took the oath of office in several of the country’s 11 official languages.

“Widespread poverty continues to disfigure the face of our country,” he said, “and it will always be impossible for us to say that we have fully restored the dignity of all our people as long as this situation persists.”

In the decade since South Africa’s apartheid policies of segregation were abolished, there has been some success in advancing the black majority, but critics have accused the government of ignoring the AIDS crisis and the rising rate of unemployment.

South Africa has one of the highest AIDS infection rates in the world and more than 500,000 — mostly black — workers have lost jobs since majority rule began.

However, the ANC government has provided free primary education to all races and maintains one of the world’s most democratic constitutions.

Those at the ceremony gave a standing ovation to former President Nelson Mandela and the last white president, F.W. de Klerk, who is credited with negotiating the transfer to democracy.

There also was applause for Mr. Mugabe, Mr. Mbeki’s friend, whose repressive policies have been condemned by the United States and other Western countries.

In the past five years, more than 2 million black Zimbabweans have fled to South Africa in the face of widespread human rights abuses by Mr. Mugabe’s government.

Local news media reported that two five-star resorts in Johannesburg had refused to accommodate Mr. Mugabe’s delegation because, in the past, Zimbabwean exiles have surrounded hotels where the president was staying and demanded that he be arrested and tried for torture and embezzlement.

Mr. Mbeki has maintained a policy of “quiet diplomacy” toward Zimbabwe. But in a departure from protocol, his government issued a formal invitation to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change to attend the inauguration.

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson led the U.S. delegation yesterday. He also will visit several U.S.-supported projects focused on housing, youth and HIV/AIDS.

In a telephone call to Mr. Mbeki on April 19, President Bush said South Africa offered a model to countries moving toward democracy and demonstrated the universality of freedom among peoples of all races, religions and nationalities.