Politics

South Africa is a federal parliamentary representative democratic republic, wherein the President of South Africa, elected by parliament, is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of Parliament, the Council of Provinces and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature. Government is three-tiered, with representatives being elected at the national, provincial and local levels.

Constitution

Following the 1994 elections, South Africa was governed under an interim constitution. This constitution required the Constituent Assembly (CA) to draft and approve a permanent constitution by 9 May 1996.

The present Constitution of South Africa was certified by the Constitutional Court on 4 December 1996, was signed by then President Mandela on 10 December 1996, and entered into effect on 3 February 1997; it is being implemented in phases.

The Government of National Unity (GNU) established under the interim constitution ostensibly remained in effect until the 1999 national elections. The parties originally comprising the GNU - the African National Congress (ANC), the National Party (NP), and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) - shared executive power. On 30 June 1996, the NP withdrew from the GNU to become part of the opposition.

Executive Branch

Under the Constitution, the President is both head of state and head of government.

Legislative Branch

South Africa has a bicameral parliament: the ninety members of the National Council of Provinces (the upper house); and the four hundred members of the National Assembly (the lower house). Members of the lower house are elected on a population basis by proportional representation: half of the members are elected from national lists and half are elected from provincial lists. Ten members are elected to represent each province in the National Council of Provinces, regardless of the population of the province. Elections for both chambers are held every five years. The government is formed in the lower house, and the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly is the President.

Judicial Branch

The Judiciary of South Africa is an independent branch of government, subject only to the South African Constitution and the laws of the country. The Judiciary interprets the laws of South Africa, using as the basis of its interpretation the laws enacted by the South African Parliament as well as explanatory statements made in the legislature during the enactment.

Chapter 8 of the Constitution of South Africa defines the structure of the South African judicial system. This chapter also guarantees the independence of the courts and requires other organs of the state to assist and protect the courts in order to ensure their "independence, impartiality, dignity, accessibility and effectiveness". In addition, Chapter 2 of the Constitution guarantees every person the right to have a dispute or trial heard by a fair, impartial and independent court.

The South African court structure consists of:

• The Constitutional Court
• The Supreme Court of Appeal
• High Courts
• Magistrates Courts

Other courts established by or recognised in terms of an Act of Parliament (such as the Land Claims Court).

Permanent judges in the higher courts are appointed by the President of South Africa, in consultation with the Judicial Service Commission as well as the leaders of the political parties represented in South African National Assembly. The appointment of magistrates fall under their own commission.

There is also a single national prosecuting authority that is responsible for the institution of criminal proceedings on behalf of the state.

The primary sources of South Africa law were Roman-Dutch merchantile law and personal law with English Common law, as imports of Dutch settlements and British colonialism. The first European based law in South Africa was brought by the Dutch East India Company and is called Roman-Dutch law. It was imported before the codification of European law into the Napoleonic Code and is comparable in many ways to Scottish law. This was followed in the 19th Century by British law both common and statutory. Starting in 1910 with unification, South Africa had its own parliament which passed laws specific for South Africa, building on those previously passed for the individual member colonies.

Political Parties

General elections are held every 5 years. The first fully multi-racial democratic election was held in 1994, the second in 1999, and the most recent in 2004. The next general elections are due in 2009. Elected officials are allowed to change political party, while retaining their seats, during set windows occurring twice each electoral term, due to controversial floor crossing legislative amendments made in 2002. The last two floor crossing windows were in 2003 and 2005.

The ANC currently holds a sufficient majority in the national legislature (over 66%) to unilaterally alter the constitution.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the South African Communist Party (SACP) are in a formal alliance with the ruling ANC, and thus do not stand separately for election.

Military

South Africa's armed force, known as the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), was created in 1994. Previously known simply as the South African Defence Force (SADF), the new force consists of the forces of the old SADF, as well as the forces of the African nationalist groups, namely Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA) and the former homeland defence forces. The SANDF is subdivided into four branches, the South African Army, the South African Air Force, the South African Navy, and the South African Military Health Services.

In recent years, the SANDF has become a major peacekeeping force in Africa, and has been involved in operations in Lesotho, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, amongst others. It has also participated as a part of multi-national UN peacekeeping forces.

South Africa undertook a nuclear weapons program in the 1970s and may have conducted a nuclear test over the Atlantic in 1979. It has since renounced its nuclear program and, after destroying its small nuclear arsenal, signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991. It is the only African country to have successfully developed nuclear weapons and, to date, the only country in the world to have voluntarily dismantled its entire nuclear weapons arsenal.