PRETORIA, South Africa Thabo Mbeki became South Africa's second post-apartheid president Wednesday, taking over the leadership of a racially divided country from Nelson Mandela with promises to improve the lives of millions of impoverished blacks. Seconds after Mbeki took the oath, Mandela and his successor held hands high above their heads in a victory salute before a cheering crowd. Mbeki's inauguration marked the first transfer of power in South Africa between two democratically elected governments.

The former deputy president inherits leadership of Africa's richest country but one plagued by crime and uneven, racially based distribution of wealth. As president, Mbeki has indicated he will shift the focus of government away from reconciliation toward making good on the promises of better life 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 dlrs 245 a month. Ten million people still live in shacks on land they neither rent nor own.