New+Bolivian+head+on+visit+to+learn+from+SA,+Star



=**New Bolivian head on visit to learn from SA**=


 * The Star, Johannesburg, January 10, 2006**


 * By Peter Fabricius**

Controversial left-wing Bolivian president-elect Evo Morales was to arrive in South Africa today and will meet President Thabo Mbeki tomorrow.

During his three-day visit, he will meet other political and civil society leaders and the chief negotiators of South Africa's new dispensation.

His visit has been organised by the pro-democratic NGO Idasa and the Club de Madrid, a group of former presidents which includes ex-US leader Bill Clinton and ex-Mozambican leader Joaquim Chissano.

The club is sponsoring Morales' tour of several countries, including China, Brazil, France and Spain, so that he can exchange views before his inauguration on January 22

In South Africa, the president-designate will meet ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe; SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande; former National Party chief negotiator Roelf Meyer; and three of the ANC's chief negotiators: Pravin Gordhan, now SA's tax chief; former cabinet minister Mac Maharaj; and Ebrahim Ebrahim, former foreign policy adviser to then deputy president Jacob Zuma.

Last night, Idasa was still trying to arrange a meeting with Nelson Mandela.

According to Meyer, the main purpose of Morales' visit is to learn about South Africa's efforts to reconcile the once- divided nation.

It was Meyer and Ebrahim who invited him to visit South Africa when they met in Bolivia last year at a conference on establishing a constituent assembly to draft a new Bolivian constitution more sympathetic to indigenous Bolivians.

Morales is the first indigenous Indian to be elected president of Bolivia.

He has promised to introduce socialist policies to uplift his mostly poor fellow Indians, including nationalising the country's gas industry.

This is causing jitters among conservative governments around the world.

Sapa-AP reports that in Beijing yesterday, Morales declared China his ideological ally and invited Beijing to help his country develop its vast gas reserves.

He met President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People, China's legislative seat.

"I made a priority of answering the invitation of China (to visit Beijing) because I consider it to be a political, ideological and programmatic ally of the Bolivian people," Morales told Hu.

From: http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=129&fArticleId=3059249