16 June 1999
Thabo Mbeki was sworn in as South Africa's second democratically elected president in front of a vast crowd of dancing and cheering supporters. The inauguration came just two days before his 57th birthday.
The occasion was also a farewell to South Africa's first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, who ended his public life with a wave of the hand and a few humble words. Seconds after Mbeki took the oath of office, he and Mandela locked hands above their heads while more than 50 000 spectators erupted in applause. It was the first transfer of authority in South Africa's fledgling democracy after decades of white minority rule.
Mbeki paid tribute to Mandela in his inaugural address when he spoke of "a generation that pulled our country out of the abyss and placed it on the pedestal of hope, on which it rests today". He acknowledged that his Government would have to ensure that the black majority reaped the benefits of the new South Africa at a rapid pace saying "The full meaning of liberation will not be realised until our people are freed both from oppression and from the dehumanising legacy of deprivation we inherited from our past."
Mbeki's inauguration came two days after he was elected president. As the leader of the ANC and as former deputy president who had handled day-to-day affairs for Mandela for five years, his succession was seen by many as inevitable.
The inauguration coincided with the 23rd anniversary of the 1976 Soweto uprising, in which white police officers fired on black pupils taking part in a peaceful protest against the use of Afrikaans in schools.
Earlier in the day, Mandela placed a wreath at the memorial to Hector Pieterson, the first child to be killed in the protest. As he rose, he said: "I have reached the end of my political career and now I hand it over to a young man."
Sources:
Adapted from Victor, R. (2003). Sowetan, 18 June, p.15.