identified as necessary, and to foster on a vast scale entrepreneurial activ-
ity among the im.poverished black majority."98
Indeed, the economy remained in poor shape throughout the first year
of Mbeki's presidency. In May 2000, the only good news that Mbeki could
muster in response to opposition challenges was a recent increase in man-
ufacturing production and exports, which, he said, made him confident
that growth would average 3.6 percent over the next three years.99 How-
ever, that seemed to be overly optimistic. South Africa's gross domestic
product increased by only 0.9 percent in the first quarter of 2000 and re-
mained nearly stagnant thereafter. Throughout his first year as president,
more unskilled people lost their jobs, more skilled people emigrated, for-
eign investment declined, and the rand continued to drop sharply in value
against the u.s.dollar,"?" On June 30,2000, the South African Bureau for
Economic Research reported that consumer confidence fell 16 points
(from +3 to -13) in the second quarter of the year, which brought the in-
dex to its lowest since 1993. "Confidence fell across all racial and income
groups, with bla.ck people pessimistic for the first time since before the
country's first democratic elections in 1994. "101