After bitter campaign, South Africans set for local election showdown

\ Two women walk past a wall plastered with African National Congress (ANC) posters in Johannesburg, South Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (Reuters) -- South Africans go to the polls on Tuesday in key local elections after campaigns marked by sporadic violence between rival supporters, bad temper between the parties and widespread apathy among the 19 million voters.

"These elections are not an end in themselves but an important step towards ... fully democratic local government," Cape Town city manager Andrew Boraine told reporters.

In a country with more than 30 percent unemployment where access to resources is crucial, control over land, water and electricity is where the real political power lies.

Several rival supporters have been killed and in one area voters will be asked to vote for a corpse as the Inkatha Freedom Party candidate was shot dead after nominations had closed and therefore could not be replaced on the list.

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Although 79 parties are fielding 30,000 candidates, the only real fight is between the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) -- a merger between the Democratic Party, the New National Party and the tiny Federal Alliance.

The ANC has promised free water and electricity to the poor and accused the DA of ruing the end of apartheid and favoring the minority whites.

For its part the DA has promised free anti-retro viral drugs to HIV-infected pregnant women and accused the ANC of black cronyism and being soft on crime and corruption.

With South Africa topping the international league tables for violent crime, rape and AIDS, these are emotive issues.

Opinion polls show the ANC, in power nationally and in eight of the country's nine provinces, cruising comfortably in rural areas but facing a tough fight in the cities where the undecided voters are expected to swing the outcome.

Nowhere is the race expected to be closer than in Cape Town, the last outpost of white rule in democratic South Africa which epitomizes the massive scion-economic divisions in that it is home to some of the country's richest and poorest people.

With blacks expected to back the ANC and whites the DA, both parties have pulled out all the stops in trying to win over the votes of the 1 million colored, or mixed race, people who form some 60 percent of the Western Cape's electorate.

Both parties put forward colored candidates for the mayor of Cape Town, which in itself accounts for 70 percent of the provincial electorate.

The DA's mayoral candidate, Peter Marais, a maverick provincial politician openly courted by the ANC in the past, has based his campaign on the simple slogan: "Keep the ANC out."

ANC mayoral candidate Lynne Brown has run a low-key campaign, focusing her efforts on undermining Marais in what pundits said was the hope of persuading the colored voters to stay at home on Tuesday, which would favor her party.

Election commentators have predicted a huge stayaway by the country's 19 million registered voters.

In Cape Town, both sides have repeatedly accused each other of lying, and their supporters have expended most of their efforts in tearing down each others' posters.

City manager Boraine has marshaled his forces with military precision both to ensure violence-free voting in an area plagued by gang wars and a spate of urban terror bombings blamed on Muslim vigilantes, and a smooth voting and counting process.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) to 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) and final results are expected before midday on Wednesday.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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