The election 25 years ago of South Africa's first black president, the late Nelson Mandela, who inspired the struggle against apartheid, was a time of soaring hope that the bruised country would reconcile after decades of discrimination and inequality.
"You have mandated us to change South Africa from a country in which the majority lived with little hope to one in which they can live and work with dignity, with a sense of self-esteem and confidence in the future," Mandela said at his inauguration.