Political system of South Africa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Composition of the South African parliament since the first general election in 1994. Elections are shown as vertical lines, points in time when a large number of MPs changed political groups / parties as dashed lines.
  • ANC: African National Congress
  • (N) NP: (New) National Party
  • DP / DA: Democratic Party / Democratic Alliance (DP)
  • COPE: Congress of the People
  • IFP: Inkatha Freedom Party
  • UDM: United Democratic Movement
  • EFF: Economic Freedom Fighters
  • Other

    • The political system of South Africa after the official end of apartheid in 1994 is essentially organized as a parliamentary system of government .

    The state is divided into nine provinces and has had federal elements since the constitution of 1996 .

    Constitution

    From 1984 until the end of apartheid, the Republic of South Africa had a constitution that established a three-chamber system. The democratic state worked between 1994 and 1996 according to a transitional constitution, which ensured the equality of all citizens of South Africa and reintegrated the so-called homelands into the state. The final constitution was adopted in 1996 and has been in force since February 1997.

    The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on May 8, 1996, recognized by the Constitutional Court of the country on December 4, and entered into force on February 4, 1997. It consists of an introduction and 14 chapters. Each chapter has a focus on a specific topic.

    The heart of the constitution of South Africa is the so-called Bill of Rights , the second chapter. It includes rights and obligations in political, economic, social and civil matters. Particular attention is paid to questions of equality between genders, cultures and skin colors.

    Positions on a democratic transitional constitution and new state structure

    Important apartheid laws were repealed in the 1991 session of the South African Parliament. This inevitably raised the basic question of the future form of government in South Africa. In the run-up to these legislative initiatives, there was accordingly a very controversial debate. The spectrum of opinion moved between positions of continued ethnic separation with the resulting political and administrative boundaries and, on the other hand, the formation of a structurally uniform state with equal civil rights for all residents.

    Regarding the future development of South Africa, Carel Boshoff , chairman of Die Afrikaner Volkswag , said in April 1990 that his organization considered the impending interim period for the possible creation of a unified state to be problematic.

    Robert van Tonder from the Boerestaat Party took the view in June 1990 that every ethnic group should exercise political power in its area and that blacks should only be allowed to stay in the “Boerestaat as guest workers ”. According to the ideas of his party, southern Africa would in future form an economic community with political and cultural independence and economic cooperation.

    Andries Treurnicht from the Konserwatiewe Party expected in May 1990 from the constitutional development of his country a smaller “white” state than the previous South Africa.

    In May 1990 Lucas Mangope , the then President of the Bantu state Bophuthatswana , expressed a similar idea , according to which his country would not oppose an "economic federation of South Africa" ​​based on the loose example of the European Community . He affirmed this position in April 1990 with a government declaration in the national assembly of his Bantu state, according to which a federal structure in South Africa with a strong decentralization of power in regional components was desirable.

    The Democratic Party was of the opinion that a future South Africa should receive a new geographical federation with 15 to 20 non-racial states with the abolition of the previous internal borders. This position was specified in May 1991 by their member of parliament, Tommy Abrahams, according to which he considered a “patchwork quilt” like KwaZulu to be unworkable in South Africa .

    Gabriel Ramushwana , the head of the then military leadership of the Bantu state Venda , saw in April 1991 the future of his homeland in the reintegration into South Africa.

    The National Party abandoned the policy of independent homelands and sought a new constitutional order for South Africa. In June 1990 the Minister for Constitutional Development Gerrit Viljoen expressed key points for the future constitutional framework. Within his considerations, nine regions should in future form the basis for reorganizing the internal borders and as replacements for the previous homelands, provinces and other regional services council areas.

    Mangosuthu Buthelezi , chairman of the Inkatha Freedom Party , campaigned in April 1991 for a "sensible and sensible" system for the protection of group rights in South Africa. At the same time he advocated the regionalization of future power structures and said that KwaZulu / Natal would have its future place in a new South Africa.

    Benny Alexander , the then General Secretary of the Pan Africanist Congress , spoke on behalf of his organization in favor of democracy in a "non-racial" multi-party system including uniform, equal suffrage with common electoral lists.

    The African National Congress published a working paper in April 1991, on the basis of which the content and structure of a new constitution for South Africa could be publicly discussed. At the center of this initiative were three key messages:

    • a unified South Africa based on a catalog of fundamental rights ( Bill of Rights paper),
    • the reintegration of the independent homeland states,
    • a tripartite system of state administration with central, regional and local decision-making levels.

    In this context, the ANC also called for the establishment of a constitutional court . In May 1991, Nelson Mandela , who was then vice-president of the ANC , spoke out in favor of creating a structural guarantee within the framework of a new constitution so that the white population would not be dominated by blacks in the future.

    president

    The President of the Republic of South Africa (so called since 1994) is also head of government . He is elected by the members of the National Assembly and can be voted out by a destructive vote of no confidence . A new president must be elected within 30 days, otherwise the parliament can be dissolved. Official statements by the President are published in the Government Gazette .

    houses of Parliament

    Interior view of the South African Parliament

    structure

    Executive and legislative branches of the Republic of South Africa

    The national parliament has two chambers, the National Assembly (National Assembly) with 400 elected MPs and the National Council of Provinces ( National Council of Provinces , NCOP) with ten delegates from the nine provinces, nine of them will be decided by the provincial assemblies ( Provincial Legislatures ) and the Prime Minister of each province is an ex-officio member of the National Provincial Council.

    Parliament is the legislative authority in South Africa and has the power to create and change laws. The ordinances are officially published in the Government Gazette .

    The National Assembly consists of 400 members who are elected by the people every five years. The number of seats that each party receives for itself is proportional to the percentage of votes it received in the elections. There is no threshold clause .

    From 2002 to 2009 it was possible to change parties and keep the mandate within a certain period ( floor crossing ).

    Since the 1994 election , the ANC has had an absolute majority in the National Assembly and the National Council of the Provinces.

    Judiciary

    The legal system in South Africa is based on a hybrid of Anglo-American Common Law and Roman Dutch Law , which is derived from Roman law . The judiciary is under constitutional non-partisan and independent.

    At the top is the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa in Johannesburg , which is the final instance in constitutional questions. The chair is held by the Chief Justice , who is also the country's highest judge. The Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa is the highest court for all other legal issues. These include the 14 divisions of the High Court , which are essentially responsible for the respective province. The jurisdiction of the divisions extends to criminal and civil law . These include the Regional Courts and, at the district level, the Magistrate's Courts . Traditional court cases between "Africans" are conducted locally by chiefs and headmen in common law .

    The public prosecutor's office forms the National Prosecuting Authority . The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development , based in Pretoria, headed by the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, has national jurisdiction over the courts .

    Parties

    In 2005 the New National Party (NNP), which was the successor to the National Party (NP), dissolved.

    See also

    literature

    • Dana de la Fontaine (Ed.), Franziska Müller (Ed.), Claudia Hofmann (Ed.), Bernhard Leuboit (Ed.): The political system of South Africa. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg 2016, ISBN 978-353-119067-9 .

    Web links

    Individual evidence

    1. ^ The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996
    2. ^ SAIRR : Race Relations Survey 1991/92 . Johannesburg 1992, pp. 78-80
    3. ↑ Republic of South Africa: National Council of Provinces on www.parliament.gov.za ( Memento of April 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
    4. ↑ a b c d South African courts at justice.gov.za (English), accessed on February 13, 2018
    5. ↑ judiciary.org.za , accessed December 6, 2018
    6. ^ Department website , accessed February 16, 2018