Post by Sovereignty of South Africa on Mar 21, 2006 20:40:29 GMT -5
Backround: The Sovereignty of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of the African continent. It borders the countries of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. Lesotho is an enclave entirely surrounded by South African territory.
South Africa has experienced a significantly different evolution than other nations in Africa arising primarily from two facts: immigration from Europe reached levels not experienced in other African communities and a level of mineralogical wealth that made the country extremely important to Western interests particularly during the Cold War. As a result of the former, South Africa is a very racially diverse nation. It has the largest population of people of Coloured (i.e., mixed racial background), European, and Indian communities in Africa. Black South Africans account for roughly 75% of the population.
Racial strife between the white minority and the black majority have played a large part in the country's history and politics, culminating in apartheid which was instituted in 1948 by the National Party. The laws that defined apartheid began to be repealed or abolished in 1990 after a long and violent struggle by the black majority, as well as some White, Coloured, and Indian South Africans.
The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century; black South Africans were only enfranchised in 1994. The economy of South Africa is the largest and best developed on the continent, with modern infrastructure common throughout the country.
South Africa is often referred to as The Rainbow Nation - a term coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and later elaborated upon by then-President Nelson Mandela as a metaphor to describe the country's newly-developing multicultural diversity in the wake of separatist apartheid ideology.
Modern Backround:South Africa has a bicameral Parliament, comprising the National Council of Provinces (or upper house) with 90 members, and a National Assembly (or lower house) with 400 members. Members of the lower house are elected on a population basis by proportional representation: half of the members are elected from national lists and half are elected from provincial lists. Ten members are elected to represent each province in the National Council of Provinces, regardless of the population of the province. Elections for both chambers are held every five years. The government is formed in the lower house, and the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly is the President.
Due to recent events around the world, War Emergency Powers were enacted, giving the President full control of the country (for all intents and purposes). While Parliamentary still exists, while under such rule the country is known as the Sovereignty of South Africa as opposed to the Republic of South Africa, to reflect a more defensive and militaristic posture.
Capital: Cape Town (Legislative), Pretoria, (Administrative), Bloemfontein (Judicial)
Largest city: Johannesburg
Official language(s): Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda
Government: Parliamentary democracy
President: Thabo Mbeki
Independence: Declared From Great Britain: May 31, 1910
Area
• Total: 1,219,912 km²
• Water (%): Negligible
Population
• 2005 est: 44,344,136
• Density: 36/km²
South Africa has experienced a significantly different evolution than other nations in Africa arising primarily from two facts: immigration from Europe reached levels not experienced in other African communities and a level of mineralogical wealth that made the country extremely important to Western interests particularly during the Cold War. As a result of the former, South Africa is a very racially diverse nation. It has the largest population of people of Coloured (i.e., mixed racial background), European, and Indian communities in Africa. Black South Africans account for roughly 75% of the population.
Racial strife between the white minority and the black majority have played a large part in the country's history and politics, culminating in apartheid which was instituted in 1948 by the National Party. The laws that defined apartheid began to be repealed or abolished in 1990 after a long and violent struggle by the black majority, as well as some White, Coloured, and Indian South Africans.
The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century; black South Africans were only enfranchised in 1994. The economy of South Africa is the largest and best developed on the continent, with modern infrastructure common throughout the country.
South Africa is often referred to as The Rainbow Nation - a term coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and later elaborated upon by then-President Nelson Mandela as a metaphor to describe the country's newly-developing multicultural diversity in the wake of separatist apartheid ideology.
Modern Backround:South Africa has a bicameral Parliament, comprising the National Council of Provinces (or upper house) with 90 members, and a National Assembly (or lower house) with 400 members. Members of the lower house are elected on a population basis by proportional representation: half of the members are elected from national lists and half are elected from provincial lists. Ten members are elected to represent each province in the National Council of Provinces, regardless of the population of the province. Elections for both chambers are held every five years. The government is formed in the lower house, and the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly is the President.
Due to recent events around the world, War Emergency Powers were enacted, giving the President full control of the country (for all intents and purposes). While Parliamentary still exists, while under such rule the country is known as the Sovereignty of South Africa as opposed to the Republic of South Africa, to reflect a more defensive and militaristic posture.
Capital: Cape Town (Legislative), Pretoria, (Administrative), Bloemfontein (Judicial)
Largest city: Johannesburg
Official language(s): Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda
Government: Parliamentary democracy
President: Thabo Mbeki
Independence: Declared From Great Britain: May 31, 1910
Area
• Total: 1,219,912 km²
• Water (%): Negligible
Population
• 2005 est: 44,344,136
• Density: 36/km²