about south africa

Head of State: President Cyril Ramaphosa (African National Congress, (ANC).

Deputy President: Paul Mashatile (ANC).

Minister for International Relations and Cooperation: Ronald Lamola (ANC).

Minister of Finance: Enoch Godongwana(ANC).

South Africa is a parliamentary democratic republic (unitary state). The current frame for South Africa’s democracy was established with the enactment of the South African constitution in May 1996, after the half-of-a-century long apartheid regime fell. The constitution is considered to be among the world’s most progressive. In addition to guarding civilian and political rights with a firm focus on equality before the law, allowing affirmative action to redress past unjust discrimination, the constitution also ensures central socio-economic rights such as the right to education and health.

The South African Parliament consists of the National Assembly with 490 members and the National Council of Provinces with members from the nine provincial legislatures.

South Africa has made significant political and economic progress since the first democratic election in 1994, including substantial strides in reducing poverty in all its forms. However, despite the initial decline, the trajectory of poverty reduction was reversed in 2011, leading to a rise in both poverty and inequality (StatsSA, World Bank Group, 2023). Since the economic downturn that began in 2011, there has been increasing dissatisfaction with the ruling African National Congress (ANC), culminating in a significant shift in the political landscape where the ANC lost its absolute majority in parliament at the 2024 election. As a result, South Africa is experiencing a coalition government for the first time. This coalition government represents a new era of political pluralism and cooperation but also brings new challenges in balancing different ideological positions and interests. This requires a high degree of negotiation and compromise.

High levels of inequality and low intergenerational mobility act as a brake on poverty reduction and as a result, poverty is disproportionately high for an upper-middle-income country. Additional, poverty has strong spatial dimensions in South Africa, a demonstration of the persistent legacy of apartheid. Poverty remains concentrated in previously (and continuously) disadvantaged areas, such as the former homelands/townships – areas where black South Africans along ethnic lines were confined to during apartheid (World Bank Group, 2023).

• Approximately 25% of South Africans live in extreme poverty, meaning they are not able to afford to eat enough food to meet their basic physical need.

• In general, children (aged 17 years and younger), black South Africans, females, people from rural areas, those living in the Eastern Cape and Limpopo, and those with little or no education are the main victims in the ongoing struggle against poverty.

• Contrary, close to 13% of the population live in the so-called “first economy”, and around 10% of the total population account for 55% of the total income.

• In comparison, the country has an economy about the size of Denmark’s, yet with a population almost ten-times the size.

• Unemployment rates remain high in the country, and is currently rising, Moreover, unemployment rates are significant higher for the younger population (StatsSA, 2023).

• South Africa continues to have the highest number of people infected with HIV in the world, despite recent significant decline in the number of people contracting the virus.