South Africa's next President Zuma has work ahead - media

African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma is undoubtedly South Africa's next President but had Nelson Mandela's legacy to uphold amid massive challenges ahead, newspapers said yesterday.

The country's main dailies, most with pictures of Mr Zuma celebrating, led with the party's likely landslide victory with a two-thirds lead despite no official final result from Wednesday's poll.

The weekly Mail and Guardian warned that the popular but controversial Mr Zuma would face huge challenges.

"If he is not yet frightened by the magnitude of unemployment, poverty and crime, and by faltering health and education systems, then he will be soon," it wrote in an editorial.

"We will soon be able to see whether Mr Zuma is ready... to write evidence of his leadership into the great blank that is our knowledge of his true intentions," the newspaper said.

"He can go down as the man who betrayed Madiba's (Mandela) legacy or the man who delivered his promise," it added.

The newspaper said it was desperately anxious for Mr Zuma to succeed as the country entered a period that will decide if democratic South Africa fulfilled its promise or lapsed into failure.

"Mr Zuma, you owe (Nelson) Mandela, you owe the exalted and the nameless dead, you owe all of us. Don't let us down," it urged. Popular tabloid Sowetan urged Mr Zuma to lead all South Africans.

"Now is the time to heal the divisions that the elections would have created," it said.

The less conciliatory Citizen put the rise of Mr Zuma down to ousted former President Thabo Mbeki whom it said was a secretive man who demanded total loyalty.

"It is thanks to Mbeki that the region is now saddled with (Zimbabwe President) Mr Mugabe and Mr Zuma.

"Not everyone is grateful," it wrote in its editorial.

With around half of all results released, the ANC held a two-thirds majority over its smaller rivals. The party won nearly 70 per cent of the vote in 2004.

Parliament elects a new head of state early next month.