Johannesburg  - 2008 in South Africa was bookended by two watershed political events that reflected the coming of age of the teenage democracy, despite accompanying signs of growing demagoguery and intolerance.

December 16, 2007 was the opening day of the landmark African National Congress leadership conference in Polokwane at which prickly ex-president Thabo Mbeki was trounced for the top post by populist Zulu politician, Jacob Zuma.

A year later to the day, on December 16, 2008, in equally exultant scenes, a group of Mbeki loyalists and fellow losers in the battle for control of Africa's oldest political party launched a new party to challenge the ANC in upcoming elections.

COPE was formed by a group of breakaway ANC members, led by former party chairman Mosiuoa Lekota, who quit the ANC after the party demanded that Mbeki step down as president in September.

The ANC seized on a ruling in Jacob Zuma's corruption case, which implied Mbeki had meddled in the decision to charge Zuma, to finish the job of burying Mbeki that had begun in Polokwane.

The charges against Zuma were thrown out of court, clearing the last hurdle on Zuma's path to the top office

Zuma's supporters claimed the ruling vindicated their view that the corruption charges were a politically-motivated attempt to bar Zuma, the candidate of leftist factions within the ANC, from succeeding the centrist Mbeki.

Despite Mbeki's poor legacy on issues such as HIV/AIDS, crime and human rights abuses in neighbouring Zimbabwe, his axing, a few months before he was due to step down at the end of his second five-year term, sat uneasily with many South Africans.

The ANC spawned what Lekota termed a "terrible beauty" - the first opposition party to present it with a credible challenge.

Analysts say that although the ANC is almost certain to win general elections slated for early 2009, it could see its more-than- two-thirds parliamentary majority trimmed by COPE.

COPE is campaigning for a moral regeneration in politics while being somewhat tainted by association with the machiavellian Mbeki.

If the emergence of new opposition party was seen as a sign of a vibrant democracy the way in which the ANC met the challenge with name-calling, intimidation and threats was worrying.

Zuma and the leaders of the allied trade union federation COSATU and ANC Youth League branded COPE "traitors," "dogs," and "snakes" and ANC youths tried to break up COPE's first meetings.

Analysts say however that apathy among grassroots ANC members, rather than COPE, may be the biggest threat to the ANC come election time.

The growing frustration among poor black South Africans at still being ensnared by poverty, 14 years after getting their political freedom, bubbled over this year in a spate of xenophobic attacks that killed at least 62 African migrants and sent tens of thousands of others fleeing to their home countries.

Township dwellers accused the migrants who have poured into Africa's biggest economy in recent years of providing unwelcome competition for jobs and housing.

The attacks bruised the moral clout of the Rainbow Nation, perhaps irrevocably and suddenly sparked fresh speculation about a possible Plan B venue for the football World Cup.

South Africa is set to become the first African nation to host the World Cup in 2010.

While a slow start to the construction on new stadiums sparked fears FIFA might take the tournament elsewhere, the critics were silenced when the stadiums started sprouting up apace and the 2009 Confederation Cup draw went off without a hitch.

Apart from focusing minds on the need to improve security and public transport, preparing for the World Cup has also helped buffet South Africa from the fallout of the global financial crisis.

The loss of thousands of jobs in manufacturing and mining in recent months have been mitigated somewhat by a boom in the construction sector. (dpa)