South Africa diary: Day two

BBC Africa correspondent Barnaby Phillips spends a week testing the mood in South Africa a decade after the end of apartheid and ahead of elections. His second stop is Cape Town.

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I've spent the day wilting in Cape Town. The sun has been absolutely ferocious, with not a cloud in the sky, and Table Mountain shimmering in the heat.

Fortunately we are hiding in the shade on the steps of the Parliament building, interviewing the passing politicians.

First up is Tony Leon, the leader of the opposition Democratic Alliance.

There is no doubt that Mr Leon has a grasp of the sound bite.

We do a live radio interview and he rattles off statistics: Crime is up, unemployment is up, and so is HIV/Aids.

He says South Africans deserve better.

But it's not clear how many voters will be choosing Mr Leon as an alternative to the ANC - a white politician with a combative Westminster style, he' s struggling to appeal to a black electorate.

I suggest that Mr Leon would do well by taking a more consensual, dare I say, African approach to politics.

He's not impressed, and fires back: "Look how combative politics is in Kenya, or Senegal, or heaven help us, Zimbabwe," and he rolls his eyes in horror.

Ministers

Next, the government ministers stroll past.

Cape Town: A major tourist destination and home to parliament

There's a genial, relaxed atmosphere amongst these ANC leaders.

They certainly don't look like a bunch of men and women afraid of losing their jobs in the forthcoming elections.

The ANC will cruise to victory, veteran commentator Allistair Sparks tells me.

The only provinces where the results are in any doubt are KwaZulu-Natal and here in the western Cape.

The leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, walks by.

He is looking a bit more venerable these days, and I ask him if he still has the stomach for a political fight.

"Why not?" he snaps back.

"I am the same age now that Nelson Mandela was when he became president."

And Mr Buthelezi tells me that Mr Mandela has recently been in touch with him, expressing concern about the possibility of electoral violence in ZwaZulu-Natal where the race between Inkatha and the ANC is expected to be close.

Outsider

Patricia de Lille, the outspoken MP who has just formed her own party, the Independent Democrats, turns up for an interview.

SOUTH AFRICAN TOUR Barnaby Phillips will be reporting from the above locations throughout the week

She says fighting the Aids pandemic will be a central theme of her campaign - so will government corruption.

But Ms de Lille admits it will not be easy for a small party to take on the ANC.

Would she be happy with 5% of the vote ?

She smiles and says that is a conservative estimate.

At last, the sun is beginning to drop.

Local radio says the temperature in the nearby Karoo desert reached 40 degrees Celsius today.

I'm not surprised.

Read the first diary from the gold mining town of Welkom