| Republic of South Africa Republiek Zuid-Afrika Timeline: Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum
OTL equivalent: South Africa | ||||||
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| Motto: Ex Unitate Virese (Latin) ("From Unity, Strength") |
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| Anthem: Die Stem van Zuid-Afrika |
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 Location of South Africa
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| Capital | (executive) Pretoria (judicial) Bloemfontein (legislative) Cape Town | |||||
| Official languages | English; Dutch | |||||
| Ethnic groups | Black Africans; Whites; Coloureds; Asians | |||||
| Religion | Christianity; Irreligion; Islam; Traditional religions | |||||
| Demonym | South African | |||||
| Government | Federal state; Constitutional parliamentary republic | |||||
| - | State President | |||||
| - | Vice State President | |||||
| Legislature | House of Assembly of South Africa | |||||
| Establishment | ||||||
| - | Union of South Africa | May 31, 1910 | ||||
| - | Independence from the United Kingdom | December 11, 1931 | ||||
| Currency | South African rand (ZAR) |
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| Time zone | SAST (UTC+2) | |||||
| Internet TLD | .za | |||||
| Calling code | +27 | |||||
South Africa (Dutch: Zuid-Afrika), officially the Republic of South Africa (Dutch: Republiek Zuid-Afrika), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometers (1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighboring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Rhodesia; and to the east and northeast by Eswatini and the Portuguese overseas province of Mozambique; and it surrounds the enclaved country of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere.
More than 50 percent of South Africans are of Bantu ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages. The remaining population consists of Africa's largest communities of European, Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry. South Africa is a multi-ethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. Two of these languages are of European origin: Dutch serves as the first language of most colored and white South Africans, mostly from the Dutch-descended Boer settlers; English reflects the legacy of British colonialism, and is commonly used in public and commercial life, though it is fourth-ranked as a spoken first language.
Politics and government[]
The 1961 Constitution of South Africa establishes the country as a parliamentary republic modeled after the Westminster constitutional system. The branches of government of South Africa are divided into the State President and the Cabinet (executive), the House of Assembly (legislative) and the Supreme Court (judiciary). South Africa has no legally defined capital city. Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament, is the legislative capital; Pretoria is the administrative capital; and Bloemfontein is the seat of the Supreme Court.
The executive power is formally vested in the State President (Staatspresident). Unlike other former British colonies and dominions who have adopted the Westminster parliamentary system, South Africa's president is both head of state and head of government. As the President depends for his tenure on the confidence of the House, the President must commands the parliamentary support every five years and the term can be renewed unlimitedly. The President has sweeping executive powers over matters of "national" concern, such as foreign policy and race relations. He is assisted by the Vice State President (Vise-Staatspresident) who serves in acting position when the president is outside the country's borders, unable to fulfill the duties of the office, or when the presidency is vacant.
The legislative power is vested in the House of Assembly (Volksraad), comprised of 401 members. The Parliament Set of 1994 had re-established a unicameral parliament after a period of tricameralism between 1984–1994 and introduced representation of the Blacks. Each 10% of the seats reserved equally to the whites, Coloreds and Asians (as a single block), and blacks are elected by proportional representation, while leaving the rest of 281 seats to be elected by different types of constituencies: geographic and functional. While it seems a fair representation has been introduced, in reality, geographic constituencies, which are essentially old 200 single-member electoral districts, have been heavily gerrymandered to ensure the blacks are not concentrated into large voting blocks, while functional constituencies, representing different professional interest groups, are handily controlled by the whites who control the defense and economic sectors.
The judicial branch consists of the courts that interpret and enforce laws. The highest court of law is the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad), which is divided into divisions that have authority over a geographic region of the country, including state and local divisions, as well as the supreme courts of the Bantustans as well as an Appellate Division which is the highest court of appeal in the country. The court is composed of a President, a Deputy President, and the number of ordinary judges appointed by the President on the recommendation of the House. The judges serve for a non-renewable term of 12 years or until they reach the age of 70, whichever is earlier; but these limits may be extended by a Set of Day. Magistrate Courts serve as courts of first instance. There are specialized courts and tribunals with power that can be equivalent to the Supreme Court.
History[]
References[]
Further readings[]
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