Government of South Africa

South African Government
Central government
Coat of Arms
Overview
Established	6 September 1968; 55 years ago (1968-09-06)
State	South Africa
Leader	President (Cyril Ramaphosa)
Appointed by	National Assembly of South Africa
Main organ	Cabinet of South Africa
Ministries	30
Responsible to	Parliament of South Africa
Annual budget	R2,37 trillion (2024)[1]
Headquarters	Union Buildings, Pretoria
Website	www.gov.za

The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary republic with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a parliamentary system. Legislative authority is held by the Parliament of South Africa.

Executive authority is vested in the President of South Africa who is head of state and head of government, and his Cabinet.

The President is elected by the Parliament to serve a fixed term.

South Africa's government differs from those of other Commonwealth nations. The national, provincial and local levels of government all have legislative and executive authority in their own spheres, and are defined in the South African Constitution as "distinctive, interdependent and interrelated".

Operating at both national and provincial levels ("domes") are advisory bodies drawn from South Africa's traditional leaders. It is a stated intention in the Constitution that the country be run on a system of cooperative governance.

The national government is composed of three inter-connected branches:

• Legislative: Parliament, consisting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces
• Executive: The
  Head of Government
• Judicial: The
  Supreme Court of Appeal, and the High Court

This section is an excerpt from Parliament of South Africa.[edit]

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of South Africa
Constitution Bill of Rights
Executive President Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President Paul Mashatile Cabinet Departments Shadow Cabinet
Legislature National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Leader of the Opposition John Steenhuisen
Judiciary Chief Justice Ray Zondo Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal President: Mahube Molemela High Court Magistrate's courts Electoral Court
Elections General 1910 1915 1920 1921 1924 1929 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1961 1966 1970 1974 1977 1981 1984 1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024 Municipal 2000 2006 2011 2016 2021 Referendums 1983 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts Metropolitan municipality District municipality list )
Foreign relations Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister: Naledi Pandor Diplomatic missions of / in South Africa Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Related topics Human rights National debt Political assassinations Protests Repression Social Welfare Taxation
Provincial Politics Politics of the Eastern Cape Politics of the Free State Politics of Gauteng Politics of KwaZulu-Natal Politics of Limpopo Politics of Mpumalanga Politics of the Northern Cape Politics of North West Politics of the Western Cape
South Africa portal Other countries
v t e

The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is

National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces.^[2][3][4] The current twenty-seventh Parliament

was first convened on 22 May 2019.

From 1910 to 1994, members of Parliament were elected chiefly by the South African

1994

.

Both chambers held their meetings in the Houses of Parliament, Cape Town that were built 1875–1884. A fire broke out within the buildings in early January 2022, destroying the session room of the National Assembly. It was decided that the National Assembly would temporarily meet at the Good Hope Chamber.^[5]

Executive

The

The third branch of the national government is an independent judiciary. The judicial branch interprets the laws, using as a basis the laws as enacted and explanatory statements made in the Legislature during the enactment. The legal system is based on

This section is an excerpt from Provincial governments of South Africa.[edit]

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of South Africa
Constitution Bill of Rights
Executive President Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President Paul Mashatile Cabinet Departments Shadow Cabinet
Legislature National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula Leader of the Opposition John Steenhuisen
Judiciary Chief Justice Ray Zondo Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya Courts Constitutional Court Supreme Court of Appeal President: Mahube Molemela High Court Magistrate's courts Electoral Court
Elections General 1910 1915 1920 1921 1924 1929 1933 1938 1943 1948 1953 1958 1961 1966 1970 1974 1977 1981 1984 1987 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019 2024 Municipal 2000 2006 2011 2016 2021 Referendums 1983 1992 Political parties
Administrative divisions Provinces Districts Metropolitan municipality District municipality list )
Foreign relations Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister: Naledi Pandor Diplomatic missions of / in South Africa Nationality law Passport Visa requirements Visa policy
Related topics Human rights National debt Political assassinations Protests Repression Social Welfare Taxation
Provincial Politics Politics of the Eastern Cape Politics of the Free State Politics of Gauteng Politics of KwaZulu-Natal Politics of Limpopo Politics of Mpumalanga Politics of the Northern Cape Politics of North West Politics of the Western Cape
South Africa portal Other countries
v t e

The nine

Chapter Six of the Constitution of South Africa

.

The provincial governments are structured according to a

departments

of the provincial administration.

The powers of the provincial governments are circumscribed by the national constitution, which limits them to certain listed "functional areas". In some areas the provincial governments' powers are concurrent with those of the national government, while in other areas the provincial governments have exclusive powers. The constitution prescribes a principle of "co-operative government" whereby the various layers of government must co-ordinate their actions and legislation; it also lays down a series of rules for resolving conflicts between national and provincial legislation.

Municipalities are governed by municipal councils which are elected every five years. The councils of metropolitan and local municipalities are elected by a system of mixed-member proportional representation, while the councils of district municipalities are partly elected by proportional representation and partly appointed by the councils of the constituent local municipalities.^[8]

Opposition

In each legislative body, the party or coalition of parties holding a majority of seats forms the government. The largest party not in the government is recognised as the official opposition.

References