By Dominic Hughes BBC, Johannesburg

South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki covered more ground than usual during his state of the nation address at the opening of Parliament in Cape Town.

South Africa has made great strides in the past decade

The speech is normally a chance to look back at the past year, to extol the successes of the government, and outline the direction for the future.

But this year President Mbeki reflected on the changes in South Africa since the collapse of the apartheid regime a decade ago.

While he talked about some of the achievements of the last 10 years, he also outlined some of the serious challenges that remain.

It's true that some great strides have been taken, in housing, education and the provision of basic services such as water and electricity.

It's true too that South Africa is now home to a substantial black middle class, something that was unthinkable in the worst years of apartheid.

Poverty

But in his speech President Mbeki acknowledged that not everyone had benefited from the transformation of South Africa.

DECADE OF DEMOCRACY Achievements 1.6m new houses built for poor Stable economy, low inflation 70% households electrified 9m access to water Challenges 30% unemployment 5.3m with HIV/Aids Massive wealth inequality Crime

"Almost 10 years after its liberation from white minority rule, our country still faces many challenges," he said.

"Many of our people are unemployed. Many of our people continue to live in poverty. Violence against the person in all its forms continues to plague especially those sections of our population that are poor and live in socially depressed communities."

In South Africa, the poor appear to have become worse off.

Unemployment blights many black communities, feeding rising levels of crime.

On Thursday in the sprawling township of Soweto, people told me that unemployment was their main worry and many of them linked the poverty that resulted with rising crime.

Aids strain

The poor are also more likely to fall victim to the other great crisis facing South Africa, the spread of HIV and Aids.

About 600 South Africans die each day as a result of the disease, placing an intolerable strain on the health service, and now too the economy.

President Mbeki has been criticised for responding slowly to the disease and even for supporting the few scientists who believe there's no link between HIV and Aids.

In his State of the Nation address, the president made what is for him a rare reference to the disease and the Government has now approved a plan to roll out free anti-retroviral drugs to thousands of its people.

In this election year, the president also said that policies were in place to fulfil the objectives outlined in 1994 by his predecessor, Nelson Mandela : " ...the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfilment, the continuous extension of the frontiers of freedom."

And so President Mbeki said in his speech :"...we do not foresee that there will be any need for new and major policy initiatives."

The president's critics have already said this smacks of complacency, offering no new vision for the future.

But as the looming election campaign will show, South Africa has a robust independent media and a vigorous democracy, as well as a strong trade union movement and a vocal opposition.

All these are causes for celebration 10 years after the end of apartheid.