Monitor: All the News of the World The South African press contemplates the general election taking place on Wednesday

THIS NEWSPAPER has attempted to provide an open forum for the views of all parties represented in the midlands region, but at best the party pundits have slugged it out in stereotypical fashion without ever really capturing the imagination of the public. We hope that the people of this country will go to the polls, vote carefully and do so with a due sense of responsibility. The Natal Witness will not insult its readers by suggesting how they should vote. But at the end of the day, the parties should remember what binds them together and not what divides them. The problems of unemployment, poverty, lawlessness and crumbling public education are too profound for any party to pretend it has a monopoly of truth. Inclusive solutions require that rarest of commodities in a politician - the ability to discern wisdom in the viewpoint of an opponent.

Natal Witness

INDICATIONS ARE that Mbeki, who chose the ANC's premiers, will carefully guide the composition of the notoriously fractious provincial cabinets. While this emasculates the premiers, it will at least ensure that more time is spent on implementing central government policy than on internal squabbles. This should ensure that the programme of transformation is accelerated. The process of getting where we are in the management of the affairs of this country has taken five years. Now is the time to deliver, and a vote for Mbeki is what is needed to expedite this transformation.

The Star

MBEKI IS a man of detail, method and the long game. His vision will be realised or fail on detail - on the extent to which he and his government succeed in fostering an environment that enables people to get on with the details of their own lives. In achieving such an environment, he will face more than enough practical problems. He will need to be able to delegate, which means finding people on whose abilities, not only personal loyalties, one can rely. He will also need to recognise that the autonomy of others is a source of complementary creativity.

Daily Mail and Guardian