1.
South African general election, 2014
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The 2014 South African general election was held on 7 May 2014, to elect a new National Assembly and new provincial legislatures in each province. It was the election held in South Africa under conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994. It was also the first time that South African expatriates were allowed to vote in a South African national election. The National Assembly election was won by the African National Congress, the official opposition Democratic Alliance increased its share of the vote from 16. 7% to 22. 2%, while the newly formed Economic Freedom Fighters obtained 6. 4% of the vote. Eight of the nine provincial legislatures were won by the ANC, the EFF obtained over 10% of the vote in Gauteng, Limpopo and North West, and beat the DA to second place in the last two. In the other six provinces won by the ANC, the DA obtained second place and this included KwaZulu-Natal, where the DA for the first time beat the Inkatha Freedom Party to second place. In the Western Cape, the province not won by the ANC. South Africa has a system of government, the National Assembly consists of 400 members elected by proportional representation with a closed list approach. Two hundred members are elected from party lists, the other 200 are elected from provincial party lists in each of the nine provinces. The President of South Africa was chosen by the National Assembly after the election, the provincial legislatures, which vary in size from 30 to 80 members, are also elected by proportional representation with closed lists. The premiers of each province will be chosen by the majority in each provincial legislature. The National Council of Provinces consists of 90 members, ten elected by each provincial legislature, the NCOP members will be elected by the provincial legislatures in proportion to the party makeup of the legislatures. On 26 November 2013 the Electoral Amendment Act,2013, came into force and it allows South African citizens resident outside South Africa to register and vote in the election of the National Assembly. A new regulation added in 2013 that was enforced for the first time on 7 May 2014 is the prohibition of photographing marked ballot papers, which aims to inhibit voter intimidation. They were re-elected with increasing majorities in 1999 and 2004, the ANC is led by Jacob Zuma. In 2012, Zuma was re-elected to a second term as President of the African National Congress, beating his only rival and deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe. Cyril Ramaphosa was elected as Deputy President of the ANC, succeeding Motlanthe who had declined a second term after losing to Zuma, the official opposition Democratic Alliance received 16. 7% of the vote in 2009, up from 12. 4% in 2004. At provincial level, the DA has been in power in the Western Cape province since 2009, traditionally, the DA was seen as a party rallying against apartheid laws, especially in the 1980s
2.
Pietermaritzburg
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Pietermaritzburg is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and is also regarded as the birth place of legends. It was founded in 1838 and is governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu is the used for the district municipality. Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in English and Zulu alike, and it is a regionally important industrial hub, producing aluminium, timber and dairy products. It is home to schools and tertiary education institutions, including a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. It had a population of 228,549 in 1991, the current population is around 500,000 and has one of the largest populations of Indian South Africans in South Africa. The city was founded by the Voortrekkers, following the defeat of Dingane at the Battle of Blood River, britain took over Pietermaritzburg in 1843 and it became the seat of the Natal Colonys administration with the first lieutenant-governor, Martin West, making it his home. Fort Napier, named after the governor of the Cape Colony, in 1893, Natal received responsibility for their own government and an assembly building was built along with the city hall. In 1910, when the Union of South Africa was formed, Natal became a province of the Union, there exist two interpretations about the origin of the citys name. One is that it was named after Piet Retief and Gert Maritz, the other is that it was originally named after Piet Retief alone, since his full name was Pieter Maurits Retief. In this interpretation the name was Pieter Maurits Burg, later transliterated to the current name. Retief in fact never reached Pietermaritzburg and was killed by Dingane, successor to Shaka, Maritz died of illness on 23 September 1838 near the present-day town of Estcourt, some hundreds of kilometres northwest of Pietermaritzburg. This was after the battle with the Zulus at Bloukranz, in 1938, however, the city announced officially that the second element Maritz should also honour Gert Maritz. At the time of the rise of the Zulu Empire, the site that was to become Pietermaritzburg was called Umgungundlovu and this is popularly translated from the Zulu as Place of the Elephant, although it could also be translated to mean The elephant wins. Umgungundlovu is thus thought to be the site of some Zulu kings victory since Elephant is a name taken by the Zulu monarch. Legend has it that Shaka had his warriors hunt elephant there to sell the ivory to English traders at Durban, today, the town is still called by its Voortrekker name, although the municipality of which it is part bears the Zulu name. During apartheid, the city was segregated into various sections, 90% of the Indian population was moved to the suburb of Northdale while most of its Zulu inhabitants were moved to the neighbouring township of Edendale. The University of Natal was founded in 1910 as the Natal University College, the two campuses were incorporated into the University of Natal in March 1949
3.
South African general election, 1994
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General elections were held in South Africa on 27 April 1994. The elections were the first in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, the election was conducted under the direction of the Independent Electoral Commission, and marked the culmination of the four-year process that ended apartheid. Millions queued in lines over a voting period. Altogether 19,726,579 votes were counted and 193,081 were rejected as invalid, the new National Assemblys first act was to elect Nelson Mandela as President, making him the countrys first black chief executive. The date 27 April is now a holiday in South Africa. The 400 members of the National Assembly were chosen from party lists in proportion to each partys share of the national ballot, the 90 members of the Senate were chosen,10 from each province, by the newly elected provincial legislatures. Each provinces Senate seats were allocated in proportion to the representation in the provincial legislature. Members of the legislatures were elected from party lists in proportion to each partys share of the provincial ballot. The following table summarises the result, showing only parties that won at least one seat, the majority party in each legislature is indicated in bold. The following tables detail the results in each province, denel Dynamics Seeker unmanned aerial vehicles were used to monitor the elections. The election was commemorated on its 20th anniversary due to its historic importance, US Department of the Army, South Africa Country Study, The 1994 Elections IEC results for 1994 election Proportional representation and alternative systems
4.
South African general election, 2009
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South Africa held national and provincial elections to elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each province on 22 April 2009. The National Assembly consists of 400 members elected by proportional representation with a closed list approach, two hundred members are elected from national party lists, the other 200 are elected from provincial party lists in each of the nine provinces. The President of South Africa is chosen by the National Assembly after each election, in 2009, the premiers of each province are chosen by the winning majority in each provincial legislature. This was the general election held since the end of the apartheid era. The North Gauteng High Court ruled on 9 February 2009 that South African citizens living abroad should be allowed to vote in elections. The judgment was confirmed by the Constitutional Court on 12 March 2009, also, registered voters who found themselves outside their registered voting districts on election day were permitted to vote for the national ballot at any voting station in South Africa. The African National Congress was the party in parliament going into the 2009 elections. Zumas victory in the election was due to the wide degree of support for him from the ANC Youth League, the South African Communist Party. In light of the findings, the ANCs National Executive Committee asked Mbeki to resign as president of the country. Mbeki was replaced by Kgalema Motlanthe, who had been elected as ANC deputy president at the 2007 conference, Motlanthe was not the presidential candidate of the ANC for the 2009 general election, but rather the current President of the ANC, Jacob Zuma. The ANCs electoral list was led by Zuma, followed by Motlanthe, Deputy President of South Africa Baleka Mbete, finance minister Trevor Manuel and Winnie Mandela, former wife of Nelson Mandela. With a disproportionate focus on the Western Cape province, which it had identified as winnable and it released its manifesto on 14 February. The party was expected to perform strongly in the Western Cape, the ANCs support in the province was on the wane, while the DA had performed well in by-elections in the province leading up to the poll. The party projected that it would govern in the Western Cape province — a task easier by the ANC-COPE split — though it expected to need to form a governing coalition in order to do so. The DAs relationship with ANC breakaway party Cope started strongly, Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota showed a willingness to co-operate with Zille in the future. Subsequently, Zille criticised COPEs internal structures and suggested many of the new members were merely Mbeki loyalists hoping to resurrect defunct political careers. In the closing stages of the DAs campaign, it launched its Stop Zuma drive and she later claimed the decline in the ANCs support base and the concomitant increase in that of her own party was a result of the DA Stop Zuma campaign. A number of communities, organisations, social movements and well-known personalities threatened not to vote in the 2009 elections, the most well-known personality was Archbishop Desmond Tutu who at first said he would not vote but then changed his mind
5.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
6.
Legislature
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A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments, in the separation of model, they are often contrasted with the executive. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation, legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The members of a legislature are called legislators, each chamber of legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a number of legislators present to carry out these activities. Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are delegated to committees made up of small selections of the legislators. The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties, the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs, the internal organization of a legislature is also shaped by the informal norms that are shared by its members. Legislatures vary widely in the amount of power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries. In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary Powers Index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures, such a system renders the legislature more powerful. Legislatures will sometime delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies, legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. For example, a legislature that has 100 seats has 100 members, by extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a seat, as, for, example, in the phrases safe seat and marginal seat. In parliamentary systems of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature which may remove it with a vote of no confidence, names for national legislatures include parliament, congress, diet and assembly. A legislature which operates as a unit is unicameral, one divided into two chambers is bicameral, and one divided into three chambers is tricameral. In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is considered the upper house. In federations, the upper house typically represents the component states. This is a case with the legislature of the European Union. Tricameral legislatures are rare, the Massachusetts Governors Council still exists, tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. Legislatures vary widely in their size, among national legislatures, Chinas National Peoples Congress is the largest with 2987 members, while Vatican Citys Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7
7.
Parliament of South Africa
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The Parliament of South Africa is South Africas legislature and under the countrys current Constitution is composed of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. It has undergone many transformations as a result of the countrys torturous history, from 1910 to 1994, it was elected mainly by South Africas white minority, before the first elections with universal suffrage were held in 1994. The predecessor of the Parliament of South Africa, before the 1910 Union of South Africa, was the bicameral Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope and this was composed of the House of Assembly and the Legislative Council. The buildings of the Cape Parliament went on to house the Parliament of South Africa, when the Union of South Africa was established in 1910, the Parliament was bicameral and consisted of the King or the Queen, the Senate, and the House of Assembly. The King was represented by the Governor-General, the Senate consisted of senators nominated by the four provinces, and by the Governor-General, initially for a period of ten years. The number of senators was changed from time to time, the Senate was chaired by a President of the Senate chosen by the senators from among themselves. The House of Assembly consisted of members who were elected by the voters. Each MP represented a district, and most of them were elected on the basis of their political party. The number of constituencies and parliamentary seats was increased from time to time, the House was chaired by a Speaker chosen by the MPs from among themselves. Only white men could be senators or MPs, in 1934, Parliament was declared the sovereign legislative power in and over the Union. From 1950, white voters in South West Africa, which was under South African administration at that time, were represented by four senators and six MPs. From 1957, Coloured voters were separated from the whites – in the Senate they were represented by separate senators, representation of black voters was ended in 1960. Voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 in 1960, in a referendum held in 1960, a small majority of the white voters approved the conversion of the country from a Commonwealth Realm to a republic. The Republic of South Africa was established in 1961, the only change made to the composition of the Parliament was the substitution of the State President for the Queen. A few significant changes were later, Coloured representation was ended in 1968. South West Africa ceased to be represented in Parliament from 1977, the Senate was abolished in 1981, changing Parliament to a unicameral legislature. A new Constitution, introduced in 1984, re-enfranchised the Coloured population, each house consisted of members elected to represent constituencies, plus a few additional members elected by the MPs, and some nominated by the State President. Each house legislated on own affairs exclusive to its own race group, in practice, the House of Assembly, which had more MPs than the other two houses combined, continued to dominate the legislature
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National Party (South Africa)
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The National Party was a political party in South Africa founded in 1915 and first became the governing party of the country in 1924. It was in opposition during the World War II years but returned to power and was again in government from 4 June 1948 until 9 May 1994, at this time, it began implementing its policy of racial segregation, known as apartheid. Members of the National Party were sometimes known as Nationalists or Nats, the policies of the party included apartheid, the establishment of a republic, and the promotion of Afrikaner culture. During the 1980s, large fractions of the support base left for the Conservative Party. After 1990, the NP opened up its membership to all groups and rebranded itself as a non-racial. It participated in the Government of National Unity between 1994 and 1996, in an attempt to better distance itself from its past, the party was renamed the New National Party in 1997. The attempt was unsuccessful and the new party was disbanded in 2005. The National Party was founded in Bloemfontein in 1915 by Afrikaner nationalists soon after the establishment of the Union of South Africa. Its founding was rooted in disagreements among South African Party politicians, particularly Prime Minister Louis Botha and his first Minister of Justice, after Hertzog began speaking out publicly against the Botha governments one-stream policy in 1912, Botha removed him from the cabinet. Afrikaner nationalists in the Transvaal and Cape provinces soon followed suit, the NP first came to power in coalition with the Labour Party in 1924, with Hertzog as Prime Minister. In 1930, the Hertzog government worked to undermine the vote of Coloureds by granting the right to vote to white women, in 1934, Hertzog agreed to merge his National Party with the rival South African Party of Jan Smuts to form the United Party. A hardline faction of Afrikaner nationalists, led by Daniel François Malan, refused to accept the merger, the Purified National Party used opposition to South African participation in World War II to stir up anti-British feelings amongst Afrikaners. In 1951, the two amalgamated to once again known simply as the National Party. In 1959, the Bantu Self-Government Act established so-called Homelands for ten different black tribes. The ultimate goal of the NP was to move all Black South Africans into one of these homelands, leaving what was left of South Africa with what would then be a White majority, at least on paper. Accordingly, the three parliamentary seats that had been reserved for white representatives of black South Africans in Cape Province were scrapped. The other three provinces – Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and Natal – had never allowed any black representation, Coloureds were removed from the Common Roll of Cape Province in 1953. Instead of voting for the representatives as white South Africans
9.
KwaZulu-Natal
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KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, enjoying a long shoreline beside the Indian Ocean and its capital is Pietermaritzburg and its largest city is Durban. It is the 2nd most populous province in South Africa, with fewer residents than Gauteng. Two areas in KwaZulu-Natal have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, at around 92,100 km2 in area, KwaZulu-Natal is roughly the size of Portugal. It has three different geographic areas, the areas largest river, the Tugela, flows west to east across the center of the province. The coastal regions typically have subtropical thickets and deeper ravines, steep slopes host some Afromontane Forest, the midlands have moist grasslands and isolated pockets of Afromontane Forest. The north has a primarily moist savanna habitat, whilst the Drakensberg region hosts mostly alpine grassland, the province contains rich areas of biodiversity of a range of flora and fauna. The iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park have been declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, along with uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park and Ndumo, are wetlands of international importance for migratory species, and are designated as Ramsar sites. South Africa signed the 1971 Ramsar Convention to try to conserve and protect important wetlands because of their importance to habitats, the former Eastern Cape enclave of the town of Umzimkulu and its hinterland have been incorporated into KwaZulu-Natal following the 12th amendment of the Constitution of South Africa. The amendment also made changes to the southern border of the province. The northwesterly line of latitude and longitude traverses the province from the coast at Hibberdene to northeast Lesotho. KwaZulu-Natal has a varied yet verdant climate thanks to diverse, complex topography, generally, the coast is subtropical with inland regions becoming progressively colder. Temperature drops towards the hinterland, with Pietermaritzburg being similar in the summer, Ladysmith in the Tugela River Valley reaches 30 °C in the summer, but may drop below freezing point on winter evenings. The Drakensberg can experience heavy snow, with light snow occasionally experienced on the highest peaks in summer. The Zululand north coast has the warmest climate and highest humidity, one of these, eThekwini, is a metropolitan municipality and the other ten are district municipalities. The local seat of district municipality is given in parentheses. In 2012, the Ingonyama Trust owns 32% of the land in KwaZulu-Natal and this amounts to about three million hectares, occupied by over 4 million people. The Zulu king is the chairman of the Trust, the coastline is dotted with small towns, many of which serve as seasonal recreational hubs
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South African general election, 1999
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South Africas second non-racial general election, was held on 2 June 1999. This election was won by the African National Congress, who increased their number of seats by 14, incumbent president Nelson Mandela declined to be re-elected again as president. Notable was the decline of the New National Party, previously the National Party. The liberal Democratic Party became the largest opposition party, after being the 5th largest party in the 1994 election, thabo Mbeki was elected president by the new Assembly on 14 June 1999, succeeding Nelson Mandela. The National Council of Provinces consists of 90 members, ten elected by each provincial legislature, the Members of NCOP have to be elected in proportion to the party membership of the provincial legislature
11.
Speaker (politics)
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The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer. The title was first used in 1399 in England, the speakers official role is to moderate debate, make rulings on procedure, announce the results of votes, and the like. The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to members who break the procedures of the chamber or house. The speaker often also represents the body in person, as the voice of the body in ceremonial, the title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerford in the Parliament of England. By convention, speakers are normally addressed in Parliament as Mister Speaker, if a man, or Madam Speaker, in other cultures other styles are used, mainly being equivalents of English chairman or president. Many bodies also have a pro tempore, designated to fill in when the speaker is not available. The Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives is the officer of the Australian House of Representatives. The President of the Australian Senate is the officer of the Australian Senate. Now constitutional community highlights changes also in this role, in Canada, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the individual elected to preside over the House of Commons, the elected lower house. The speaker is a Member of Parliament and is elected at the beginning of new parliament by fellow MPs. The Speakers role in presiding over Canadas House of Commons is similar to that of speakers elsewhere in countries that use the Westminster system. The Speaker does not vote except in the case of a tie, by convention, if required to vote, the Speaker will vote in favour of continuing debate on a matter, but will not ultimately vote for a measure to be approved. The Speaker of the Senate of Canada is the officer of the Senate of Canada. The Speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of procedure and parliamentary privilege. The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General of Canada from amongst sitting senators upon the advice of the Prime Minister, the Speaker has a vote on all matters. In the event of a tie, the matter fails, at the provincial level, the presiding officer of the provincial legislatures is called the Speaker in all provinces except Quebec, where the term President is used. The presiding officer fulfills the role as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In the United Kingdom, the Speaker of the House of Commons is the elected to preside over the elected House of Commons
12.
Democratic Alliance (South Africa)
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The Democratic Alliance is a South African political party and the official opposition to the governing African National Congress. The present leader is Mmusi Maimane, who succeeded former Mayor of Cape Town, the party is broadly centrist, though it has been attributed both centre-left and centre-right policies. It is a member of the Liberal International and the Africa Liberal Network, the DA traces its roots to the founding of the anti-apartheid Progressive Party in 1959, with many mergers and name changes between that time and the present. The party adopted its current name on 24 June 2000, most recently, it has integrated the smaller Independent Democrats and the tiny South African Democratic Convention. The DA has been governing the Western Cape, one of South Africas nine provinces, since the 2009 general election, having won a bigger majority at the most recent election in 2014. It is the party to have increased its share of the vote in every national election held since 1994. The party draws support from all population groups in South Africa. Since 2016, the DA also governs several of South Africas major metropolitan municipalities, although the Democratic Alliance in its present form is fairly new, its roots can be traced far back in South African political history, through a complex sequence of splits and mergers. The modern day DA is in part a product of the white parliamentary opposition to the ruling National Party. The Progressives sought to change the system from within, but in doing so choose to comply with Apartheid legislation outlawing multi-racial membership. During this time, the party was led by liberal-minded opponents of apartheid, such as Jan Steytler, Helen Suzman, Zach de Beer, Colin Eglin, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and Harry Schwarz. In 1989, it would merge with two smaller reformist organisations to become the Democratic Party, a name that was retained into the 1990s when freedom was achieved. It was marginalized by the National Partys shift towards the center after 1990, the party also became kingmakers in the Western Cape province, where it formed a coalition government with the NNP. With a fractured national opposition standing against an increasingly dominant governing party, to this end, the DP reached a merger agreement with the NNP and the much smaller Federal Alliance in 2000. Together they formed the Democratic Alliance, the merger was ultimately aborted, with both the NNP and FA leaving the DA. Many former NNP members remained, however, and the new name was kept, the DP was disbanded after the 2003 floor crossing period, establishing the DA at all levels of government. The party consolidated its status as the opposition in the 2004 general election. Having gone into opposition in the Western Cape in 2001 when the NNP formed a new coalition with the ANC, in the 2006 municipal elections, the DA narrowly gained control of its largest city, Cape Town, in a multi-party coalition
