ANC Expected to Be Re-Elected as South Africans Vote
June 3, 1999 - 0:0
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa South Africans of all races waited patiently in lines that snaked for blocks Wednesday while voting in a test of the new democracy forged after decades of struggle fighting apartheid. Wearing blankets and building fires to ward off the pre-dawn chill, South Africans took part in elections that will lead to the replacement of President Nelson Mandela, whose election five years ago ended the tyranny of apartheid.
Mandela, who is credited with bringing about the amazingly peaceful transition of power to an angry black majority five years ago, will retire on June 16, ending a term aimed at reconciliation in a nation still divided by a shameful past. His hand-picked successor, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, is expected to win in a landslide and begin a term aimed at materially improving the lives of millions of disadvantaged blacks desperate for relief promised by the governing African National Congress. Mandela and Mbeki were among the many who waited for the chance to vote.
In black townships, lines were up to a half-kilometer (third of a mile) long, with some people standing outside polling stations all night long. ``There is a lot of enthusiasm,'' beamed Mbeki. ``It is a wonderful experience,'' declared Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years for fighting apartheid which denied blacks the vote. Mandela asked South Africans to vote for the ANC - but above all to vote peacefully.
About 100,000 soldiers and police patrolled the country. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has called on South Africa's 1.2 million Muslims to defy a boycott call and vote in elections Wednesday, President Nelson Mandela said Tuesday after telephone talks with Khatami. Mandela said the Iranian leader had "informed me that he would like all sections of the South African population, including Muslims, to take part in the election tomorrow" during a telephone discussion with Khatami on Tuesday, AFP said.
"...his approach was more or less the same as Colonel (Muamar) Khadafi who feels that the Muslim community in South Africa should take part in the elections, which is going to decide the direction which their own country, South Africa, is going to take," Mandela said. A small group calling itself the Islamic Unity Convention (IUC) called last week on Muslims to boycott the polls as an act of "defiance" against the political parties contesting the election.
Mandela, who is credited with bringing about the amazingly peaceful transition of power to an angry black majority five years ago, will retire on June 16, ending a term aimed at reconciliation in a nation still divided by a shameful past. His hand-picked successor, Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, is expected to win in a landslide and begin a term aimed at materially improving the lives of millions of disadvantaged blacks desperate for relief promised by the governing African National Congress. Mandela and Mbeki were among the many who waited for the chance to vote.
In black townships, lines were up to a half-kilometer (third of a mile) long, with some people standing outside polling stations all night long. ``There is a lot of enthusiasm,'' beamed Mbeki. ``It is a wonderful experience,'' declared Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years for fighting apartheid which denied blacks the vote. Mandela asked South Africans to vote for the ANC - but above all to vote peacefully.
About 100,000 soldiers and police patrolled the country. Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has called on South Africa's 1.2 million Muslims to defy a boycott call and vote in elections Wednesday, President Nelson Mandela said Tuesday after telephone talks with Khatami. Mandela said the Iranian leader had "informed me that he would like all sections of the South African population, including Muslims, to take part in the election tomorrow" during a telephone discussion with Khatami on Tuesday, AFP said.
"...his approach was more or less the same as Colonel (Muamar) Khadafi who feels that the Muslim community in South Africa should take part in the elections, which is going to decide the direction which their own country, South Africa, is going to take," Mandela said. A small group calling itself the Islamic Unity Convention (IUC) called last week on Muslims to boycott the polls as an act of "defiance" against the political parties contesting the election.