South+Africa's+Political+Systems


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The founding and development of European colonies and republics began the long and bitter conflicts between the history of leaders among the African chiefs, British and Afrikaners, and whites and black Africans. Since 1994, the country has had universal voting rights and a multi-party nonconstituency "party list" parliamentary system, with executive powers vested in a state president and a ministerial cabinet (South Africa - traditional, n.d.). South Africa's parliamentary building is shown in the picture on the left.

In more detail, the Republic of South Africa is a constitutionaldemocracy with a three-tier system of government that combines aspects of parliamentary and presidential systems. The president is elected from the Parliament to serve a fixed term. The national, provincial and local levels of government all have legislative and executive authority in their own spheres, as defined in the South African Constitution. Operating at both national and provincial levels are advisory bodies drawn from South Africa's traditional leaders. The first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela (pictured on the right), is respected and held in high honor among the people of South Africa. There are nine provinces with a premier selected by the local ruling party and provincial ministerial executives. The party in power since 1994 has been the African National Congress, although, two of the provinces are currently controlled by other parties. Resources: Culture of South Africa - traditional, history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social, dress, marriage, men, life, immigrants, population, religion, rituals. (n.d.).Countries and Their Cultures. Retrieved December 5, 2010, from [] Google Images. (n.d.). Google. Retrieved December 5, 2010, from http://www.google.com/imghp Government of South Africa. (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved December 5, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_South_Africa
 * Legislature: The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Executive: The President, who is both Head of State and Head of Government
 * <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Judiciary: The Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal, and the High Court