Focus on South Africa.

• Position: Editorial

The world salutes South Africa and wishes it the best in its new incarnation as a democracy in which all its people have finally been welcomed to the voting booth. Those people have spoken joyously, eloquently, by installing a president who, after nearly three decades of imprisonment and torture, sounds like the voice of sweet reason no one had any right to expect the imprisoned, tortured black millions to heed.

The world notes the crises those millions have endured. As The New York Times put it about a week after the election, there were "homeland coups, a gun battle in the business district, fratricidal political violence, a state of emergency, an expose of police atrocities, car bombs - and that's just in the last six weeks."

Nelson Mandela, who took office in early May, has made promises to the white community - and concessions to the white capitalists - that no one could have predicted a democratically elected black politician would be willing to make.

While those concessions and promises are contributing to the "honeymoon" he can expect, they are bound to cause problems in the future. The poorest of the poor - all black - have always borne South Africa's burdens, and the richest of the rich - all white - have always monopolized the wealth of a wealthy land. And that will not change overnight.

And so the world wonders how long a newly enfranchised people will continue to endure impoverishment at the hands of its elected leaders. Mandela's concessions - his disavowal not only of communism but also of socialism - allowed for a relatively peaceful electoral process and governmental transition. But he has also suggested that the voting age be lowered to fourteen.

And so one wonders about the widely quoted remarks by Bafana Khumalo, who writes for the Weekly Mail newspaper, that "blacks are too tired for revenge and realize it won't restore slain relatives and bull-dozed houses." Today's teenagers are being led to expect more than they're going to get anytime soon. And Nelson Mandela, the voice of sweet reason, is seventy-five years old and can't keep speaking to them forever.

As the world salutes and watches and wonders over these next months and years, and hopes that the sticks and spears and automatic assault weapons - and rubber-tire necklaces - will be put aside, the world outside South Africa must come to terms with its responsibility. Yes, we can salute South Africa for finally achieving an electoral democracy. But shouldn't we ask...