Mandela Passes The Torch
With a wave of his hand Wednesday, former South African President Nelson Mandela said good-bye to his countrymen and many of the worldÂ's leaders who came to pay tribute to a man, a legend and his legacy of freedom, reports CBS News Correspondent Sarah Carter.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno were among those who watched the first transfer of power in South Africa between two democratically elected governments.
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Thabo Mbeki became South Africa's second post-apartheid president, taking over leadership of a racially divided country from Mandela with promises to improve the lives of millions of impoverished blacks.
Mbeki—who inherits leadership of Africa's richest country but one plagued by crime and uneven, racially based distribution of wealth—paid tribute to Mandela and others who led the anti-apartheid fight.
"For us, as South Africans, this day is as much a day for the inauguration of the new government as it is a day of salute for a generation that pulled our country out of the abyss and placed it on the pedestal of hope, on which it rests today," the former deputy president said in his inaugural speech.
Mbeki has indicated he will shift the focus of government away from reconciliation toward making good on the promises of better lives for the millions of South Africans disadvantaged and impoverished by decades of racial repression under apartheid.
Five years after the end of white rule, 42 percent of the country's blacks are unemployed and three-quarters of all the blacks with jobs earn less than $245 a month. Ten million people ar still squatters living in shacks.
"Our nights cannot but be nights of nightmares while millions of our people live in conditions of degrading poverty," said Mbeki, whose party won a decisive victory in the June 2 elections.
But he reached out to whites, saying, "We share a common destiny regardless of the shape of our noses."
Mandela devoted his life to the struggle for equal rights. For preaching defiance against white rule, he was sentenced to life in prison, but far from silencing him, Mandela became the symbol of hope breaking the chains of apartheid to emerge after 27 years to lead his people to freedom.
"For us to have achieved this peaceful transformation is perhaps unequaled in the history of the entire world," Mandela said.
Even his former oppressors marvel at his achievement.
"I think if we live up to his aspirations and the way in which he inspired us, then the country must be successful," said Opposition Leader Roelf Meyer.
After the countryÂ's second democratic elections, Mandela can bow out having achieved his goal of a free South Africa finally at peace.
Mandela said he plans to spend his retirement relaxing with his grandchildren and his new wife, and on the eve of his 81st birthday, few would argue that Mandela deserves a rest.