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South Africa Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on South Africa
Official Name: Republic of South Africa
Capital: Pretoria (administrative); Cape Town (legislative); Bloemfontein (judicial)
Area: 1,221,040 square kilometres (471,446 square miles)
Major cities (Population)
Cape Town 2,671,000 (1995)
Johannesburg 1,849,000 (1995)
Durban 1,149,000 (1995 estimate)
Pretoria 1,073,000 (1995 estimate)
Port Elizabeth 303,353 (1991)
Germiston 134,005 (1991)
Bloemfontein 126,867 (1991)
Population: 41,465,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 2.2 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Republic
Independence: 31 May 1910 (from the United Kingdom)
Constitution :
December 1996 (by 1999 it will have gradually replaced the interim constitution of 1994)
Voting Rights: Universal at age 18
Government
Voters in a Historic Election
The president exercises executive power in consultation with at least two deputy presidents. He or she is chosen by an elected parliament on the basis of the majority party’s recommendation. One deputy president comes from the majority party and one from the strongest opposition party. Any party with at least 5 per cent of the seats in parliament has the right to a post in the president’s cabinet.
Parliament has two houses, a 90-member senate and a 400-seat national assembly. The National Assembly is elected directly by the people, while the Senate members are elected by the country’s nine provinces, each province choosing ten members. All citizens are eligible to vote at age 18, regardless of race. Until recently, South Africa’s parliament had three houses: one for whites, one for Coloureds, and one for Asians. Blacks had no representation. The 1994 elections were the first since 1936 in which blacks had the right to vote, and marked the start of a new and fully democratic system of government.
A new constitution was approved by the country’s highest court and signed into law by the president, Nelson Mandela, in December 1996. This constitution will gradually replace the interim constitution, and will take full effect by 1999.
Recent History
Nelson Mandela: President of South Africa
Following its election to power in 1948, South Africa’s National party began to construct the system of apartheid that separated the country’s population into racial groups: blacks, Coloureds, Indians, and whites. In 1961 the country gained independence from the United Kingdom, and subsequently withdrew from the Commonwealth because of British criticism of its racial policies. In the 1960s, South Africa became the scene of violent turmoil that lasted for approximately three decades. The African National Congress (ANC), formed in 1912 to fight for black rights, was banned in 1960. It then launched, with other groups, a guerrilla campaign against the South African government. Many ANC leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were jailed. In July 1985 a state of emergency was declared that gave police broad powers to deal with black protesters, leading to an increase in tension.
When Pieter Willem Botha resigned in 1989, Frederik Willem de Klerk took office and began implementing a series of reforms. South Africa was in turmoil at this time due to a number of international and internal pressures including economic problems; increasing pressure from the liberation movement, and Coloured and Indian election boycotts. The Nationalist party began to consider constitutional change. In an expression of goodwill, de Klerk set about meeting the terms laid down by the ANC for negotiations. Hospitals and other public facilities were desegregated; political prisoners—including Nelson Mandela—were freed; the state of emergency was lifted; and the ANC was given legal status. When talks began, Mandela suspended the ANC’s violent campaign against the government.
Violent clashes involving rival black political groups and the police continued, however, especially between the Zulu members of the Inkatha Freedom Party led by Chief Magosuthu Buthelezi (who were supported by the police), and ANC supporters. These two groups had long been in disagreement about the course of South Africa’s future and other issues.
Nearly all apartheid provisions were abolished in 1991, and trade sanctions were lifted to welcome South Africa back into the international community. In 1992 de Klerk won a clear victory in the referendum held to determine white voters’ support for his reforms. Mandela and de Klerk won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for their efforts and—after the Inkatha party had been persuaded not to boycott them—multiracial and multi-party elections took place on schedule. Despite sporadic violence preceding the voting and predictions of disaster, the elections were relatively peaceful. The ANC won with 62.7 per cent of the vote and 252 seats in the National Assembly; the National party received 20.4 per cent of the vote and 82 seats in the National Assembly; and Inkatha received 10.5 per cent of the vote and 43 seats. Nelson Mandela was sworn in as president on 10 May 1994 and South Africa entered a new period of its history. Mandela appointed F. W. de Klerk of the National party and Thabo Mbeki of the ANC as his two deputy presidents and Chief Buthelezi as his home minister, asserting that the future of South Africa depended on the cooperation of citizens of all races.
Over the next months, Mandela implemented his Masakhane (Nguni for “Let us build each other”) campaign, and gradually introduced the Reconstruction and Development Plan (RDP). Two national anthems (one Afrikaans, one African nationalist), a new flag, new names for old apartheid-era places, free school lunches for all, new housing projects, better health care, and the promotion of both white and black values all became part of the campaign and South Africa’s transformation. The challenges of black poverty, land rights, jobs, and housing are formidable, but the country seems ready to address them as fairly and quickly as possible. After years of negotiations, a new constitution was approved in December 1996 to replace the interim constitution and take full effect by 1999. This new constitution barrs discrimination on any basis, including race, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, language, religion, and physical disability. It also guarantees broad freedoms of speech and association and is considered to be one of the most liberal in the world.
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