Democracy celebrated

last updated 8 January 2015

Pretoria

South Africa this week celebrated a decade of freedom since the end of apartheid with a spectacular party centered around the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki for a second term. At least 40 heads of state attended the inauguration, including Zimbabwe’s dictatorial President Robert Mugabe, a longtime Mbeki ally. The Freedom Day celebrations marked the anniversary of the end of white racist rule and the election of Nelson Mandela as the country’s first black president. “Having served as the prime example of human despair, Africa is certain to emerge as a place of human hope,” Mbeki said in his inauguration speech. He pledged to devote his second term to addressing the poverty that still afflicts much of the nation’s black majority.