BBC News - Wednesday, 5 December, 2001
Former Cape town mayor Peter Marais of the New National Party (NNP) was sworn in as premier of the key Western Cape Province.
He immediately announced a new provincial coalition cabinet, divided equally with six members each from the NNP and the ANC.
But in his maiden speech, Mr Marais stirred up a hornet's nest by openly challenging President Thabo Mbeki's stance on Aids.
The two former enemies will co-operate at every level of government and the NNP may be given ministerial posts.
'Nation-building'
The swearing-in marks an historic and controversial coalition between two groups that once stood at either end of the political spectrum in South Africa.
The newly-allied parties have described the deal as a "reshaping of a new political landscape," "nation-building" and "a way to break down the old racial divisions".
But critics say the ANC has simply swallowed up a rival to win control in the only part of the country it did not control.
And the Nationals are accused of turning their backs on their principles in a desperate effort to gain political power in the government - on however small a scale.
As mayor, Mr Marais was at the centre of the row that split the previous ruling Democratic Alliance and led to this new coalition.
Aids controversy
According to the AFP news agency, his inaugural speech contained comments about HIV and Aids that could already ruffle feathers among the ANC leadership.
"HIV causes Aids, fullstop," he said, in a thinly veiled contradiction of President Mbeki's controversial questioning of the link between the two.
Mr Marais went on to call on the government to make anti-retroviral drugs widely available to some 4.7 million HIV-positive South Africans, something Mr Mbeki has always refused to do.
The government says it lacks the resources and infrastructure to distribute the drugs.
Whatever the potential disagreements, the BBC's Alastair Leithead in Cape Town says that the new premier and his cabinet will have to work hard over the Christmas recess to prove that this unlikely alliance can be good for South Africa.
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