List of heads of state of South Africa

From May 31, 1910 to May 31, 1961, South Africa was an independent Dominion in personal union with Great Britain . As a result of the referendum of 1960 South Africa is since 31 May 1961, a Republic and is a President ( State President ), later president represented. The South African Constitution of 1983 gave the President special powers from 1984.

South African Union (Dominion)

No.	Surname	Taking office	Term expires	Reason for the end of the term of office
01	King George V of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland	May 31, 1910	January 20, 1936	death
02	King Edward VIII of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	January 20, 1936	December 11, 1936	abdicated
03	King George VI. of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	December 11, 1936	February 6, 1952	death
04th	Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	February 6, 1952	May 31, 1961	Proclamation of the Republic of South Africa

Governor's flag 1910–1931

Governor's flag 1931–1952

Governor's flag 1952–1961

No.	Surname	Taking office	Term expires
Governors General of the Union of South Africa
01	Herbert Gladstone, 1st Viscount Gladstone	May 31, 1910	September 8, 1914
02	Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton	September 8, 1914	17th November 1920
03	Arthur of Connaught	17th November 1920	January 21, 1924
04th	Alexander Cambridge	January 21, 1924	January 26, 1931
05	George Villiers	January 26, 1931	April 5, 1937
06th	Patrick Duncan	April 5, 1937	July 17, 1943
07th	Nicolaas Jacobus de Wet	July 17, 1943	January 1, 1946
08th	Gideon Brand van Zyl	January 1, 1946	January 1, 1951
09	Ernest George Jansen	January 1, 1951	November 25, 1959
10	Lucas Cornelius Steyn	November 26, 1959	December 11, 1959
11	Charles Robberts Swart	December 11, 1959	April 30, 1961
12	Lucas Cornelius Steyn	April 30, 1961	May 31, 1961

No.	Surname	Taking office	Term expires	Political party
Presidents of the Republic of South Africa (apartheid)
01	Charles Robberts Swart	May 31, 1961	May 31, 1967	NP
02	Theophilus E. Doenges	May 31, 1967	December 10, 1967	NP
0-	Jozua François Naudé (acting)	June 1, 1967	April 10, 1968	NP
03	Jacobus Johannes Fouché	April 10, 1968	April 9, 1975	NP
0-	Johannes de Klerk (acting)	April 9, 1975	April 19, 1975	NP
04th	Nicolaas Diederichs	April 19, 1975	August 21, 1978	NP
0-	Marais Viljoen (acting)	August 21, 1978	October 10, 1978	NP
05	Balthazar Johannes Vorster	October 10, 1978	4th June 1979	NP
06th	Marais Viljoen	4th June 1979	3rd September 1984	NP
07th	Pieter Willem Botha	3rd September 1984	August 15, 1989	NP
08th	Frederik Willem de Klerk	August 15, 1989	May 10, 1994	NP
Presidents of the Republic of South Africa (Post-Apartheid)
01	Nelson Mandela	May 10, 1994	June 16, 1999	ANC
02	Thabo Mbeki	June 16, 1999	September 24, 2008	ANC
03	Kgalema Motlanthe	September 25, 2008	May 9, 2009	ANC
04th	Jacob Zuma	May 9, 2009	February 14, 2018	ANC
05	Cyril Ramaphosa	since February 15, 2018		ANC