South African President Thabo Mbeki has opened a new session of parliament in Cape Town by pledging to act against poverty - and signalling a tougher stance against trade unions.

He also praised South Africa's achievements since the release of political prisoners and the unbanning of the African National Congress a decade ago.

MPs arriving at parliament were greeted by crowds of singing trade union members.

But the president's speech suggested the government was distancing itself from the demands of the unions, even though the Congress of South African Trade Unions remains formally allied with the ANC.

He said that post-apartheid laws favouring workers would be amended so as to strike a balance between "labour standards and fostering economic growth", but did not give further details.

President Mbeki warned that the government would not tolerate any attempt by striking workers to interfere with economic growth and frighten away foreign investors.

Tony Leon, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, welcomed Mr Mbeki's comments on labour, but said he had heard them before.

"It's the details I'm waiting to see," he said.

Poverty

The president re-asserted his government's policy of reducing unemployment and assisting the millions of South Africans who still live at or below the poverty line.

Official figures say about a third of the South African population is out of work.

"This poverty is intimately related to issues of racism and sexism," Mr Mbeki said.

"Its elimination is fundamental to the realisation of the goal of the restoration of the dignity of all our people."

Praise for ANC

The president gave an upbeat assessment of the ANC's performance since the organisation was legalised 10 years ago.

"In the course of a mere decade, we ended the entrenched and pernicious systems of apartheid white-minority rule," he said.

He said the ANC - which has been in power since South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 - had turned around an economy which had been heading towards "a catastrophic melt-down".

The ANC has pinned its hopes on an economic upturn over the next 12 to 18 months.

Our Southern Africa correspondent Greg Barrow says there is an assumption within the party that if economic growth improves, jobs will follow, crime will fall and the high levels of poverty will disappear.

While political opponents say the ANC has been ineffective in promoting growth, the party's defenders argue that South Africa has done well by surviving the Asian crisis which threatened developing economies throughout the world