Crime is also unabated. Some 25 vehicles are hijacked each day in the Johannesburg-Pretoria region alone. More than 1,000 police officers have been murdered since 1994. Yet they have not been called to task. And as part of his 80th-birthday celebration last year, Mandela set free 9,000 convicts who were nearing their release dates.
Criminality is fueled by the masses of unemployed.
Since 1994, employers have shed 500,000 jobs, even as the economy grew. At least one third of black South Africans are jobless, and the unemployment rate rises by 2 to 3 points each year. But not all of the government's policies have pandered to the left. Having spent many years in exile, mainly in London, Mbeki is expected to have a less sentimental attachment to allies from the struggle. He already has announced that government executives will be held to measured standards of performance.