While he is expected to coast to an easy victory, President Mbeki has come under sharp criticism from opponents because of his repeated denials of both the extent to which AIDS has spread in South Africa, and of the existence of a link between the HIV virus and AIDS. Mbeki has been quoted as saying publicly “personally I don’t know anyone who has died of AIDS.” For its part, the opposition Democratic Alliance has promised free anti-retrovirals for all South Africans and hopes to increase its share of the vote.

South Africa presently is in an early nationalist phase of its political existence, with the ANC after securing an end to apartheid emerging quite easily as the nation’s dominant party, a political configuration which is likely to continue until new generations of voters with weaker links to the party enter voting age.

This year’s elections come as the country grapples with unemployment rates which exceed 40%. Democracy in South Africa is now solidly grounded, with a robust free press, a liberal and respected constitution, plentiful opposition parties and civil society organizations, and a legal system which is clean, if slow. Strong unions and wage controls, however, have discouraged firms from hiring, and a black middle class still has yet to emerge. Daily life continues to be largely segregated by race, a fact which also is true for political parties – such as the Xhosa-dominated ANC, the predominantly Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party, the English-speaking white Democratic Alliance, and the Afrikaans-speaking New National Party. But promisingly, the political violence of the country’s first post-independence years has waned, and relations among race communities have been bolstered significantly by the work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.