SOUTH AFRICA: President Thabo Mbeki has been re-elected unopposed by South Africa's new parliament but a defiant move by the former speaker caused ripples of controversy on a day that was expected to be a purely formal occasion.
Members of the new parliament who gathered in Cape Town yesterday were greeted by a military band, acrobats and a choir as they entered the National Assembly buildings in an attempt to give proceedings a festive atmosphere.
The opening session followed procedure established 10 years ago after the country's first democratic election in 1994. The new deputies took their seats by swearing-in or by affirmation, according to their personal beliefs, in a parliamentary complex which once promulgated the racist laws of the apartheid regime and where the architect of apartheid, Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, was murdered by a crazed parliamentary usher in 1966.
In those days parliament was confined to white members but yesterday, following the ANC's crushing election victory on April 14th, it was the faces of the majority community that dominated with the ANC nominating more than 270 of the National Assembly's 400 members.
One thing did not go according to plan. The outgoing speaker, Ms Frene Ginwala, was not nominated for re-election by the ANC's National Working Party headed by President Mbeki and was replaced by her former deputy, Ms Baleka Mbete.
ANC officials expected Ms Ginwala would then take her place as number 15 on the party's list as an MP and as such become a member of the Pan African Parliamentary Assembly.
But Ms Ginwala headed straight for the gallery rather than join the groups of MPs preparing for the swearing-in ceremony. "I'm not being sworn-in and I don't want to be sitting on the benches of parliament. What am I going to do there?" she told reporters. Behaviour such as Ms Ginwala's is extremely rare in the ANC which demands, and usually gets, unquestioning loyalty from its members.
Mr Mbeki's re-election tookplace in more predictable circumstances after the fragmented opposition failed to name an opponent when Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson called for nominations. The new president was then formally congratulated by Mr Tony Leon whose Democratic Alliance is the largest opposition party with 50 seats.
The two men are known to have very little time for each other on a personal basis but Mr Leon swallowed hard and congratulated Mr Mbeki on his "handsome victory as a consequence of a free and fair election".
Mr Mbeki will be inaugurated as president at a solemn ceremony in Pretoria on Tuesday, the 10th anniversary of South Africa's first democratic election. The following day he is expected to announce his cabinet and speculation on its composition continued yesterday. The ANC's election list reflected rankings within the party. Mr Mbeki was first on the list, followed by Deputy President Jacob Zuma and Foreign Minister Nkozazana Dlamini-Zuma with Education Minister Prof Kader Asmal in fourth place.
But despite this high rating, there was been consistent speculation in the media that Prof Asmal will not receive the education portfolio in the new cabinet although he has been mentioned as a possible justice minister. He told The Irish Times he did not expect any news of the new cabinet until after President Mbeki's inauguration.