Fifteen years ago, Nelson Mandela swept to an historic victory to become the first black President of South Africa. That victory was the start of the dominance of Mandela's African National Congress Party. A decade and a half later, the African National Congress Party's candidate, Jacob Zuma, is again poised to reign supreme. Today is the last day of campaigning before South Africans head to the polls on Wednesday.

To help us understand what Zuma's presumed leadership will mean for South Africa and what the U.S. will be watching in this election, The Takeaway talks to Dan Simpson. Simpson is currently an editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Before taking the reigns at the paper, he was Director of Southern African Affairs in the State Department in the 1980s and has been U.S. Ambassador to several African countries.

As George Mitchell, President Obama's special envoy to the Middle East finishes up a day in the West Bank, we're taking a look at the challenges that lie ahead for all the President's envoys. Both Mitchell and Richard Holbrooke, the special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, have long roads ahead of them. One man who can sympathize: Dan Simpson. Now an editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Simpson served as special envoy to Somalia from 1994 - 1995 and was an Ambassador to Congo and the Central African Republic. He joins us now with his insight into the world of the special envoy.