The South African deputy President, Thabo Mbeki, has said South Africa remains a country of two nations, four years after the first multi-racial elections.

Mr Mbeki, who's expected to succeed President Mandela when he steps down next year, was speaking in a parliamentary debate on reconciliation.

He said one of these nations was white and relatively prosperous; the other was black and poor, with the worst affected being women and people in rural areas.

A BBC correspondent in South Africa says Mr Mbeki's speech shows he's not prepared to leave the country's inequities unchallenged, but it remains unclear how far he is prepared to go to reverse the injustices left by apartheid.