REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Demographics Size: 1,219,912 sq. km. (twice the size of Texas!) Population: 47.9 million. (as of 2008 estimate) GDP per Capita: Almost $10,000. Government: Constitutional democracy. 79% black; 9.6% white; 8.9% colored* ; 2.5% of

Asian descent. Religion: 80% Christian; 1.5% Muslim; 15.1%

indigenous/have none; 3.7% other. President: Jacob Zuma. (2009-) Percentage of Population with HIV/AIDS: 25% among

all adults, 31% percent among pregnant women. Life Expectancy: 42.5 years. Has 3 separate capitals: Pretoria (administrative),

Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial).

Provinces of South Africa

Eastern Cape Free State Gauteng KwaZulu-Natal Limpopo Mpummalanga Northern Cape Northwest Western Cape

History of South Africa Mid-1600’s: First Europeans settlers (of primarily

Dutch descent) come in South Africa, established small colony. Settlers were known as Boers (farmers) or Afrikaners.

1795-1806: British invade Cape Town colony for 11 years, took control permanently in 1806.

1820: British settlers begin to arrive in Cape colony. 1835-1840: “Great Trek”: Boers fed up with British

rule, head northeast (now Gauteng and the Orange Free State) to regain influence in those areas; Battle of Blood River (of which Bloemfontein's name is derived from) established Afrikaner presence in these areas.

1895: British Cape Town governor Cecil Rhodes asks English workers to fight the Dutch; Boer War begins in 1899 and lasts until 1903.

History of South Africa, continued

1910: Union of South Africa established. 1912: African National Congress (ANC) formed. 1914: National Party (Afrikaners) established. 1948: National Party comes into power, apartheid becomes

official policy until 1994. 1960: Sharpeville Massacre occurs after South African police

shoot a black crowd of protesters that were there to oppose recent pro-apartheid laws.

1964: Nelson Mandela and others arrested and jailed/exiled for terrorist activities.

1983-4: New constitution is instated; gave Indians and colored peoples representation, but not blacks.

1990: F.W. de Klerk is elected president; lifts three decade ban on anti-apartheid parties, such as the ANC and South African Communist Party (SACP) and apartheid is slowly eliminated. Mandela is released from jail.

1994: Nelson Mandela is elected president of South Africa after almost 30 years in jail; marks the first South African election to grant universal suffrage.

Nelson Mandela First South African president to be

elected in a democratic election. Major anti-apartheid activist; was once

the leader of the ANC’s Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”, shortened to MK), a military wing of the party.

Was identified as a terrorist in the 1960’s, convicted of sabotage and placed in jail for almost 30 years.

Mandela was initially against violence but co-created the MK in 1961.

Thabo Mbeki Mandela’s vice-president, succeeded him as

president when Mandela retired in 1999. While his presidency brought good economic

growth, a successful foreign policy (except for Zimbabwe) and lots of foreign investment to South Africa, he is best known for the many controversies that have riddled his administration. (AIDS denial, relations with Zimbabwe, 2008 race riots.)

Resigned in 2008 after a scandal involving then Deputy president Jacob Zuma.

Jacob Zuma Current president of South Africa. (2009-) Succeeded Thabo Mbeki as head of the ANC, but has

strong ties to the South African Communist Party (SACP). Like Mandela, Zuma was politically active in the 1960’s;

he too was arrested on accounts of being a terrorist served 10 years on Robben Island.

Left South Africa in 1975; became based first in Swaziland and then Mozambique.

After the ban on anti-apartheid parties was lifted, he returned; became National Chairperson for ANC in 1994.

Became executive Deputy President for Thabo Mbeki in 1999, but was “relieved” of the position after allegations of corruption were named; was elected by parliament in 2009 to become president.

Zuma has described himself as “socialist” occasionally and has received support from both trade unions and the SACP.

Important Political Institutions in South

Africa African National Congress South African Communist Party Congress of South African Trade

Unions National Party

African National Congress (ANC)

Democratic socialism, left-wing nationalism. Has been the main party in power since

1994, but has a tripartite alliance with SACP and Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU).

Formed in the wake of black oppression during the early 1900’s.

Was once in favor of non-violence until the formation of the Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”, commonly abbreviated to MK), its military wing; once commanded by Nelson Mandela.

South African Communist Party (SACP)

Marxist/Communist, left wing. Once known as Communist Party of

South Africa; was declared illegal in 1950, reemerged as SACP underground in 1953.

Has a triple alliance with ANC and COSATU for power.

Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)

Was formed in 1985, yet it’s one of South Africa’s largest trade unions.

Although it currently is in alliance with the ANC, it has been critical of some of the party’s policy; the ANC’s primary use to the COSATU has been purely for political benefits to its members.

They have also been a huge help in the anti-apartheid movement, from having wage strikes to mobilization of support in other factories and towns across South Africa.

National Party (NP) Was the party in rule from 1948 up until

1994; it has been defunct since 2005. Created and geared towards Afrikaners

(Boers), this is the party that instituted apartheid into South African life.

Support at its strongest during the 1960’s and 1970’s but during the late 1980’s under the leadership of P.W. Botha, instability began to rise and he resigned. F.W. de Klerk was instated in 1989 and began to dismantle apartheid policies.

P.W. Botha

First executive State President of South Africa.

Very pro-apartheid, first came into politics as a member of the NP in 1948, was appointed Deputy Minister of International Affairs in 1958 before becoming President in the 1980’s.

Proposed a new constitution that gave the coloreds and Indians their own houses (House of Representatives and House of Delegates, respectively.)

Resigned in 1989.

F.W. de Klerk Last apartheid-era President of South

Africa. He can be attributed to apartheid’s

disintegration. Major contributions include lifting the

bans on anti-apartheid group, disarment of nuclear weaponry and also releasing Nelson Mandela and others from jail.

He also served as Mandela’s vice-president until 1996.

Legislative in South Africa Bicameral parliament, was once

tricameral parliament (went away in 1994).

National Council of Provinces. (90 seats, 10 members, each having 5-year terms.)

Protects regional interests, including safeguarding of cultural and linguistic traditions among minorities.

National Assembly has 400 seats and are elected by popular vote via proportional representation every 5 years.

Results of the Most Recent Election

National Council of Provinces: N/A ANC: 65.9% DA: 16.7 % COPE: 7.4% IFP: 4.6% Other: 5.4%

Seats by Party

ANC: 264 DA: 67 COPE: 30 IFP: 18 Other: 21

Executive in South Africa Chief of State/Head of Government is

Jacob Zuma. Executive Deputy: President Kgalema

Motlanthe. Cabinet appointed by President,

President is elected by National Assembly.

Presidents are eligible for a second term.

Judiciary in South Africa

Has Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Appeals, High Courts and Magistrate Courts.

Independent to other branches in the government.

Political Culture in South Africa

One major component was apartheid; this has gone away since 1994.

Extreme racial segregation. ANC has brought the culture of a

liberation movement. Lots of corruption in the government,

yet its citizens are still supportive of it.

Foreign Policy During the apartheid era, South Africa was a more

isolated country but post-apartheid, it has become key in African diplomatic relations.

Member of the U.N. since 1945 (but does not have a permanent seat), as well as being a member of the African Union and Commonwealth of Nation.

It, for the most part, strives for peaceful relations with the rest of the world, although this is has proved challenging with a growing drug trade problem the country has.

South Africa has also received some criticism with how it treated Zimbabwean refugees, including deportation back to Zimbabwe and mistreatment of the refugees.

Economy Middle-income emerging market. Modern infrastructures supporting

efficient distribution of goods. 17th largest stock exchange in the

world. Unemployment remains high. Electricity crisis in 2007 because of

plants that were not modernized. Daunting economic problems remain

from apartheid era, including poverty, lack of economic empowerment and shortage of public transportation.

Economy, Continued

They focus on controlling inflation, maintaining a budget surplus and using state-owned enterprises.

Fiscally conservative, but pragmatic. Want to increase job growth and

household income. GDP per capita is still low but has

chance of improvement.

Various Percentage Rates Growth rate: 2.8% Labor force: 18.22 million Unemployment: 21.7% (!!!) Distribution of income: 65 Budget: 83.85 billion dollars Inflation rate: 11.3% Production rate: 3.8% Imports: 83.7 billion dollars Exports: U.S. makes up 11.9%,

Germany 8%, Japan 11.1%, U.K. 7.7%, China 6.6%, Netherlands 4.5%.

HIV/AIDS Problems and Rates Adult prevalence rate: 18.1%

5.7 million people in South Africa living with AIDS.

350,000 deaths per year are due to AIDS.

Miscellaneous

National holiday is Freedom Day (April 27th).

Suffrage is obtained at 18 years of age.

39.69 billion dollars in debt.

Natural Resources

Gold Coal Iron ore Salt Natural gas Diamonds

Tin Nickel Copper Manganese Uranium

Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, students should be able to outline the basics of the Apartheid system and four major affects that

are visible today describe the primary ethnic/cultural groups that make up the South

African population explain how the relationship between the Afrikaner and the English

settlers influenced the establishment of the Apartheid system identify the major elements of the Apartheid system and the reasons for

their importance in the repressive regime explain the role of import substitution in maintaining the Apartheid

regime describe the roles played by F. W. deKlerk, Desmond Tutu, Nelson

Mandela, and Thabo Mbeki in establishing the new South African regime explain the concept of the “hurting stalemate” as it applies to South

Africa outline the major steps in the transition process from the Apartheid

regime to the new South African regime identify the major parties in South Africa today describe the major public policy challenges facing the government

today