The Government in South Africa

The government of South Africa is a federal parliamentary democratic republic in which the President is the head of the government and of a multi-party system. Executive Power is implemented by the government. Legislative Power is exercised both by the government and the 2 assemblies of the Parliament, the National Assembly and Council of Provinces. The Judiciary has sovereignty from the executive and the legislative. The only nation in the world with 3 capital cities is South Africa. Cape Town, the legislative capital, and biggest in the three; Pretoria is the administrative capital; and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital.

The current president of South Africa is Thabo Mbeki who was unanimously elected in 2004 and shall remain in the office for 5 years. The National Council of Provinces (upper house) is composed of 90 members while the National Assembly has 400 members. Elections for both assemblies are held after every 5 years. The African National Congress (ANC) is currently the dominating political party in South Africa. It gained about almost 70% of the vote in the 2004 general election and about 66.3% during the 2006 municipal voting. The Democratic Alliance Party, headed Helen Zille, is the second force in South African politics. Other parties include the Inkatha Freedom Party and Independent Democrats.

South Africa’s government had experienced significant development especially after the apartheid era. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner, led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which aims to study human right abuses during the apartheid period, grant official pardon to perpetrators, and propose compensation to victims of crimes.