All eyes on Zuma as SAfrica awaits new cabinet

New South African President Jacob Zuma unveils his cabinet Sunday with all eyes on the key finance portfolio tasked with steering the country through approaching recession.

Zuma has promised to boost the country's lacklustre public service and at his inauguration Saturday reiterated that much work lay ahead in a speech that balanced themes of reconciliation and sober challenges.

"The dreams and hopes of all the people of our country must be fulfilled. There is no place for complacency, no place for cynicism, no place for excuses," he told 5,000 invited guests and 50,000 onlookers at his swearing-in in Pretoria.

"Together we must build a society that prizes excellence and rewards effort, which shuns laziness and incompetence," he added.

While speculation is rife on who will be named to the country's fourth democratic government, the 67-year-old has warned that there will be no favours when he announces his line-up.

This is despite pressure to please leftist backers who supported him throughout an eight-year corruption probe and drove his stunning come-back from a political wasteland after his firing as deputy president in 2005.

will also face expectations of quick returns on populist promises to improve education, unemployment and alarming crime levels after years of frustration at growing inequalities during his party's 15 years in power.

But his team takes office as South Africa heads into its first recession since the fall of apartheid 15 years ago.

"We must acknowledge that we find ourselves in difficult economic times," Zuma said on Saturday.

"We will not be spared the negative impact, and are beginning to feel the pinch. However, the foundations of our economy are strong and we will need to continue to build on them. This will require more hard work than ever before."

The finance portfolio is the most closely watched with popular, long-serving minister Trevor Manuel tipped for a redeployment after 13 years at the helm, which made him a favourite of investors.

Manuel is credited with steering South Africa's banks safely through the global meltdown, and the charismatic finance chief also oversaw the country's first budget surplus in 30 years.

Also key is Zuma's choice of health minister after years of AIDS denialism that let the world's worst HIV crisis spiral to lethal proportions.

Activists want Zuma to retain no-nonsense veteran activist Barbara Hogan who was appointed to the post late last year by Zuma's predecessor, benchwarmer president Kgalema Motlanthe.

Motlanthe is tipped to serve as his deputy where he is likely to be viewed as a steady hand and welcome sign of continuity in the presidency.

"There will be a mix of old and new" in Zuma's cabinet, political analyst Adam Habib told AFP.

The new president will have to pick a team who can drive economic inclusion but also balance the competing priority of business, he said.

"The answer is not one or the other. The answer is, how do you force the president to look over his right shoulder and his left so that we get a balance of priorities. I think that's the big agenda we confront."

Zuma took office after his ascent to power was nearly derailed by corruption claims and bitter in-fighting within the ruling African National Congress (ANC).

His fierce rivalry with former president Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela's immediate heir, sparked a dramatic power struggle within the party.

Zuma ultimately took control in December 2007 and pushed the ANC to sack Mbeki as head of state nine months later, provoking a breakaway from the former liberation movement.

Despite the dissent, he led the party to a 66 percent victory in general elections on April 22.