Thabo Mbeki

Born: Eastern Cape homeland (Transkei) on June 18th, 1942.

Who is he? South African foreign minister. Deputy leader of the African National Congress (ANC).

Why is he in the news? About to succeed Nelson Mandela as ANC leader.

And? Practically guaranteed to become president of South Africa when Mandela steps down in 1999.

Background: Master's degree in economics at Sussex University. Later went to the Soviet Union for military training and a grounding in Marxism (1970).

Set up and ran ANC offices in Britain, Zambia, Swaziland and Nigeria. Became political secretary to then ANC president Oliver Tambo. Returned to South Africa in 1990 when ban on the ANC was lifted. Became deputy president of ANC, with Mandela's blessing, in 1994.

But: Many disenfranchised blacks distrust him. They, along with trade unionists and communists, feel Mbeki's economic blueprint gives too much to the haves and not enough to the have-nots. Members of the white minority share the distrust, if for a different reason.

His father: Govan Mbeki was a prominent member of the ANC leadership and its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe - "Spear of the Nation" - before he was imprisoned on Robben Island along with Mandela in 1964.

What's Thabo like? A goateed pipe-smoker, small and suave. A consummate diplomat and a very, very private man. Is seldom seen in public with his wife Zanele. Thabo's son from a previous relationship disappeared in the 1980s.

Sometimes attacked in the press for his lack of charisma, Mbeki is credited with turning the tide of internecine conflict in KwaZuluNatal province, where ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party supporters have waged a 12-year turf war that killed at least 20,000 people.

Last word: Goes to Thabo. Responding to doubts about his capacity to fill the president's shoes: "I don't imagine there's any such requirement. Anyway, he's got very big feet," he said. "I don't believe I could grow taller or start wearing strange shirts."