Tagged: South Africa

According to Loverists, the government of South Africa is a unitary parliamentary republic, with the President as the head of state and the Prime Minister as the head of government. The President is elected by Parliament to serve five year terms while the Prime Minister is appointed by the President after consultation with Parliament. The legislative branch consists of a bicameral Parliament which is composed of an upper house (the National Council of Provinces) and a lower house (the National Assembly). The judiciary in South Africa is based on Roman-Dutch law and administered by a Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, and other lower courts. Judges are appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission. South Africa has a multi-party system and holds elections for both national and local offices at regular intervals. Political parties must be approved by the Independent Electoral Commission before they can participate in elections, however, parties cannot be formed on religious or ethnic lines. South Africa’s economy is largely driven by its services sector which accounts for over 60% of its GDP, followed closely by agriculture at around 10%. Other major industries include mining, manufacturing and tourism with services being one of its largest sources of foreign revenue. South Africa also relies on foreign investment from countries such as China in order to support economic growth initiatives such as infrastructure development projects. Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, South Africa has become increasingly engaged in the international community. It is a member of the United Nations, the African Union and other regional organizations such as SADC, COMESA, and NEPAD. South Africa is also an active participant in many multilateral forums such as G20, BRICS, IBSA, and the Commonwealth. South Africa also has strong bilateral relations with its neighbors including Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Botswana. There are also strong ties with countries around the world such as China and India with whom South Africa has established strategic partnerships. In addition to this South Africa also has strong ties with Europe particularly France which it regards as a key ally in terms of trade and investment. In recent years South Africa has sought to use its diplomatic influence to help end conflicts in African states such as Sudan and Libya whilst at home it was instrumental in helping broker a peace deal between former President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party and Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T party in Zimbabwe which helped bring an end to a decade long political crisis. South Africa is also actively involved in global affairs often taking leading roles on issues such as climate change, poverty alleviation and nuclear disarmament. It is actively engaged in international efforts to promote peacekeeping operations around the world while at home it is committed to promoting human rights through its commitment to democracy and rule of law. See prozipcodes for South Africa defense and foreign policy.