President of South Africa - history, legislation and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:43

The racial conflict between the black majority and the white minority has become a key moment in the history of the Republic of South Africa. In the middle of the twentieth century, the apartheid regime (a policy of racial segregation) was established, which lasted until the nineties. The position of President of South Africa was only established in the summer of 1993.

History of the Presidency

The President is the highest government post in the Republic of South Africa. In the early nineties, negotiations began between the opposing parties on the introduction of a democratic racial system. The date of the first presidential election in the history of the country - April 27, 1994 - was agreed upon as part of negotiations in the summer of 1993. The interim constitution was ratified a few months later.

In May 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first President of South Africa. Under him, a new constitution was drafted and put into circulation. Mandela chose to resign, refusing to run for a second term. The first president supported Thabo Mbeki in his bid to become the new political leader of the SouthAfrican Republic.

Nelson Mandela's successor won the election with confidence. In 2005, he dismissed Jacob Zuma, the fourth president of South Africa. Zuma was accused of involvement in a serious corruption scandal. Later, all charges against the politician were dropped, and the then president resigned ahead of schedule - on September 24, 2008, T. Mbeki announced his resignation.

MPs elected Kgalem Motlanthe as the new president. He was to hold office until the next parliamentary elections. Motlante was later replaced by Jacob Zuma, who is the current president of South Africa. Zuma has almost surpassed the record for the longest reign - he has been in power for more than 8 years, while one of his predecessors - Thabo Mbeki - was president for 9 years and 100 days. Zuma was elected for a second term without a vote, as there were no other candidates.

Legislative powers

According to the main document of the Republic of South Africa, namely the constitution, the president is the head of the country, the executive branch and commander in chief. The president is elected from among the deputies of the National Assembly after each parliamentary election. The term of office is 5 years, and you can be re-elected no more than twice.

The powers of the President of the Republic of South Africa include:

• sending bills to the National Assembly for reconsideration;
• approval and signing of laws;
• sending draft laws to the ConstitutionalCourt to decide on the conformity of the bill with the current constitution;
• official appointments;
• extraordinary convocation of the National Assembly, Council, Parliament;
• appointment of the commission of inquiry;
• appointment of diplomatic representatives, consuls, ambassadors;
• honoring awards;
• the right to pardon or commute;
• reception and recognition of diplomatic representatives of foreign states and so on.

List of Presidents of South Africa

To date, four politicians have managed to visit the Republic of South Africa as president. All of them are representatives of the African National Congress party. List of Presidents of South Africa:

1. Nelson Mandela (1994-1999).
2. Thabo Mbeki (1999-2008).
3. Kgalema Motlante (2008-2009).
4. Jacob Zuma (2009-present).

Nelson Mandela

South African President N. Mandela is one of the most famous fighters for human rights. The politician was awarded the Peace Prize. A. Nobel in 1993, but the award was presented to him in absentia, since Mandela was in prison. His total prison term was 27 years. This is the oldest and longest-lived president of South Africa (he took office at the age of 76, and at the time of the end of his political career he was 81 years old).

As president, Nelson Mandela became the first black man in the country's history. The head of state appointed Frederick Willem de Klerk as the first deputy,who became the last white leader of the country, and the second - Thabo Mbeki - his future successor.

During the years of his tenure in high office, Nelson Mandela adopted a number of important socio-economic laws, the main purpose of which was to eliminate the social and economic inequality of South African citizens. Its key actions can be called:

1. Introducing free medical care for children under six, pregnant women, young mothers.
2. Initiation of the "Reconstruction and Development" program that finances housing and communal services, education, social security, he althcare.
3. Increased budget spending on social payments to the population.
4. Introduction of financial assistance for the maintenance of black children in rural areas.
5. Introduction of equality in the appointment of benefits, assistance from now on should have been provided to all those in need, regardless of race, religion, and so on.
6. Increased funding for education.
7. Passing a law, according to which, persons deprived of land as a result of the reform of 1913, could demand the return of property.
8. Protection of tenants of land engaged in agriculture; under this law, citizens over 65 years of age could not be deprived of land at all, and those who were younger were deprived only by a court decision.
9. Introducing child poverty grants.
10. Introduction of a mechanism for advanced training right at the place of work.
11. Adoption of a law that fairly regulated labor relations in enterprises.
12. Adoption of the law onequal employment opportunities for people of different races.
13. Mass connection of residents to telephone and electric networks.
14. Reconstruction of many hospitals.
15. Ensuring easy access to water for citizens.
16. Introducing a compulsory education system for children aged 6 to 14.
17. Providing free school meals.
18. Improve working conditions for miners.
19. Starting a course to provide all those in need with essential medicines and life-saving medicines.

After resigning at the age of 81, former South African President Nelson Mandela began to actively call for coverage of HIV/AIDS issues, remained an honorary member of many universities. In 2001-2002, an assassination attempt was being prepared on him, the plan of which was thwarted. The perpetrators were arrested and sentenced to prison.

Thabo Mbeki

From 1999 to 2008, Thabo Mbeki was president. The politician deserved a mixed assessment from his contemporaries. He not only repeatedly denied the viral nature of AIDS, but also fired colleagues who did not agree with this position. The Minister of He alth (a protégé of the President) actively opposed the spread of antiviral drugs and criticized "Western medicine". This state of affairs led to a surge in deaths from AIDS - according to various estimates, during the presidency of Thabo Mbeki in South Africa, from 333 thousand to 365 thousand sick people died.

Kgalema Motlanthe

Kgalema(Khalema) Motlanthe became the first president of South Africa to speak the language of the Tswana people living in Botswana and some neighboring states. It is difficult to find information about his actions in high office - the politician was in power for too short a time (only 226 days).

Jacob Zuma

The current President of the Republic of South Africa is Jacob Zuma. In his work, he focused on the economic development of the country, fruitful international cooperation, improving the quality of life of the people and protecting the country's territory. It is known that the current president of South Africa has a negative attitude towards homosexuals. Regarding teenage pregnancy, the politician says that children should be taken away from such mothers, and the girls themselves should be sent to receive education.

Zuma is the first president in the history of South Africa who is an adherent of the traditional Zulu polygamy. He has five official wives and three unofficial ones. The politician has eighteen legitimate children.