Chapter 11: South Africa
*Political Organizations
Political System
Parliamentary democracy and federal republic
Regime History
Governed by an African National Congress-led coalition from 1994. Between 1910
and 1994 governments were formed by parties representing a white minority and
were elected through racially restricted franchises. A British dominion until 1961 and
then a republic.
Administrative
Structure
Nine regional governments sharing authority with a national administration. Regional
governments have few exclusive legislative powers and can be overridden on most
significant issues by national legislatures.
Executive
President elected by parliament. President selects cabinet.
Legislature
National assembly and regional legislatures elected on the basis of party list
proportional representation. National Council of Provinces made up by delegations
from each regional government serves as a second chamber of parliament.
Judiciary
Independent constitutional court with appointed judges.
Party System
Multiparty system. African National Congress predominates. Other important parties:
Democratic Alliance, Congress of the People, Inkatha Freedom Party, United
Democratic Movement, Freedom Front.
*Chronology of South Africa’s Political Development
1688: Establishment of settlement at Cape Town by Dutch East India Company.
1799: First Frontier War in the Eastern Cape between settlers and Xhosa kingdoms.
1806: Incorporation of Cape Colony in British Empire.
1820: Arrival of British settlers in Eastern Cape.
1833: Abolition of slavery.
1836: Great Trek and subsequent establishment of Afrikaner republics of the Orange Free State and the
Transvaal (South African Republic)
1860: Arrival of first Indian indentured laborers in Natal.
1899-1902: Anglo-Boer War and British occupation of Afrikaner republics.
1910: Act of Union
1912: Formation of the African National Congress
1913: Land Act
1922: Rand Rebellion by white mineworkers.
1923: Native Urban Areas Act codifies urban racial segregation.
1926: Institution of job reservation for white workers in the Mines and Works Amendment Act.
1948: Election into power of National Party and the inception of Apartheid program.
1960: Sharpeville massacre and prohibition of the two main African nationalist organizations, the ANC and the
PAC.
1976: Soweto uprising.
1986: Repeal of the pass laws.
1990: Unbanning of the ANC and the PAC and release of political prisoners.
1992: Opening of constitutional negotiations.
1994: First universal suffrage election under a transitional constitution.
1996: Adoption of final constitution.
1999: Thabo Mbeki succeeds Nelson Mandela as president.
2009: ANC wins fourth victory in national elections. Jacob Zuma becomes president.
2008: Thabo Mbeki resigns from presidency after criticism for putting pressure on the Directorate for Public
Prosecutions.
2010: South Africa hosts the World Cup Soccer tournament, a recognition of the country’s transition from
apartheid to democracy.
Section 1: The Making of the Modern South African State
*Politics in Action
-African irredentism: the belief that South Africa should be governed mainly or even exclusively by
“indigenous’ Africans.”
*Geographic Setting
-Twice the size of Texas.
-In 2011, population was about 50 million.
-61% lives in towns and cities.
-Government statistics divide the population into 4 main race groups.
1. Africans
A. Nearly 40 million Bantu-language-speaking people. Descended from successive waves of
migrants from Central Africa.
2. Whites
A. 4.5 million.
B. The first European settlers arrived in the 17th century.
3. Coloured
A. 4.4 million
B. A group whose ancestry includes the earliest indigenous hunter-gatherers, as well as slaves from
Indonesia and the offspring from unions between white settlers and these groups.
4. Indian/Asian
-Under the apartheid regime (1948-1993), each group had different legal status.
-Now racial segregation is no longer the law.
-But the communal identities created by official racial classification still influence social life.
-Most blacks still live in historically segregated ghetto-like neighborhoods.
While most whites live in the more comfortable suburbs.
*Critical Junctures
-Settlement (1688-1911)
-In 1652 the Dutch East India Company arrived.
-Bantu-language-speaking Africans had settled in the region at least 2,000 years previously.
1. When the Dutch settlers came, Bantu speakers → drove away/merged with earlier San and the Khoi–
Khoi hunter-gatherers and pastoral communities
-By the 18th century Dutch settlers in South Africa identified themselves as Afrikaners.
1. They spoke a distinctive variant of Dutch called Afrikaans.
