From 1994 South Africa has been a democracy, it has been led by a government which is decided upon by the people of South Africa in quadrennial national elections. This essay specifically expands upon the 2014 elections and will elaborate on every factor of these elections.
South Africa is a multiparty, constitutional three tier democracy. South Africa’s three arms of state are the Executive (the Presidency and its cabinet), the Legislature (Parliament) and the Judicial. The Legislature has between 350 and 400 seats which are made up of representatives from various parties that are determined through proportional representation from the country’s quadrennial national elections. i.e. if 15% of the country votes for ‘Party A’, Party A will hold 15% of the seats in Parliament. Parliament discusses and decides upon Bills introduced to it by municipalities as well as deciding upon the President of the country, the majority party with the most seats therefore generally has its head as President. The President chooses the rest of their cabinet ministers and is the apex of South Africa’s government.
The multiparty system in South Africa allows a wide variety of choice to the voting citizens in South Africa. The elections which are held every four years not only determine the Legislature for the country but also how their respective municipalities are governed, these local governments are also based on proportional representation. Municipal leaders choose local leaders and both govern for five years until the next set of elections, unless they are unable to continue the position for any reason in which case elections are held again for that specific municipality. The dividing of government into sectors allows South Africans to make a dif...
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...ople u to date with any problems that have/may emerge with parties and so help in giving the voter an opportunity to make an informed vote. The internet will have a big influence on how South Africans vote in the 2014 elections as social media allows people to stay in the news feed at all times. With web pages giving supporters a chance to stay in touch with the party of their choice and media like Twitter, Facebook and Youtube giving parties a chance to campaign over screens, the 2014 elections will see much more involvement on the part of the younger generations. Media allows voters to be more involved with elections.
The 2014 elections are the fifth set of national elections in South Africa. These elections will allow every eligible citizen to show the true nature of democracy as they are given freedom in choosing how they believe South Africa should be governed.
...s vote for a party instead for an individual, and when the votes are tallied for the region the regional representative seats for that region are divided among the parties in proportion to the share of the vote that each party received.
...bances began to emerge, and the economy began to drop. Unrest cost many lives, until demands for change were heard and the political system was revised. In 1994, the South African people went to the polls for the first time and held a democratic election in which Nelson Mandela became president. The country of South Africa has made strides in healing their broken country.
As a representative of the Algo ethnic group, I want to say that our people would like the new state to introduce a parliamentary system of governence. Parliamentarism is a system of government in which the head of government is elected by and accountable to a parliament or legislature. One could rightfully ask: What is our reasoning for desiring this? We think it is justified because in presidential systems the populace at large votes for a chief executive, who is the President, in a nation-wide election. This is revenant as the Algo comprises the minority of the population of the Republic of Jarth, which consists of only 1.1 million representatives in the whole state, compared to that of 2.9 million Randies, 3.8 million Dorfas and 2.2 million Takas living in the Republic of Jarth. One can reasonably assume that the outcome will most likely be that the cumulation of the majority’s vote will hinder the representation (in numbers) of the members of the minority in office. Subsequently, the Algo will have to live under the control of a leader from another ethnic group again, which the Algo members tremble at the thought of because we are proud of their ethnicity and do not wished to be shamed for it. On the other hand, in parliamentarism, the first step is an election of members of parliament, which are the political parties. This is imperative since it will allow the Algo to be able to choose the party we really share interests with....
Within parliamentary systems, the government i.e. the legislature consist of the political party with the most popularly elected Members of Parliament (MPs) in the main legislative parliament e.g. the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister is appointed by the party to lead as the executive decision-maker, and the legislature work to support and carry out their will (Fish, 2006). In presidential systems, the President is directly elected with the support of their political party, with the legislative being separately elected and, in the case of the United States, being made up of representatives from different states (BIIP, 2004). This essay will provide examples to suggest that Presidents are generally more powerful than Prime Ministers. As two of the oldest forms of parliamentary and presidential governments (Mainwaring and Shugart, 1997), the United Kingdom and the United States will be the main focus of this essay, but other parliamentary and presidential countries will be mentioned.
Africa after years of racist oligarchy, Nelson Mandela began his victory address in a conventional style: “My fellow South Africans – the people of South Africa” (Guardian
South Africa has a long history with europe, the Dutch, Portuguese, and finally the British have controlled this land. The country is home to many different groups, from white to black. South Africa is a new country, liberated by the british in 1934. Its history has been dominated by white power and ignorance. When the british left in 1934, The White South Africans were placed in power puting in Apartheid. They separated blacks from whites and oppressed the african people. Many movements started the most famous being lead by a man named Nelson Mandela. Mandela was inspired by the peaceful protest of Mohandas Gandhi and implemented many of his teachings, to one day become south africa’s first black president.
The way that a country is controlled by the government depends on the relationship between the legislative and executive authority. Most democratic nations, today, generally use one of two governmental systems, either a parliamentary system or a presidential system. Today most of Europe prefers to use a parliamentary system, whereas the presidential form of government is preferred in places such as South Korea, South America and the United States. The differences between these two governmental systems are not obvious at first, but there are some key differences. However, neither one of them is necessarily superior to the other.
Every country differs in their preference of political system to govern their countries. For democratic countries, two possible choices of governing are the presidential system and the parliamentary system. Since both the presidential and the parliamentary systems have their own strengths and weaknesses, many scholars have examined these two forms of government, and debate on which political system is more successful in governance. In this paper, I will first provide a detailed analysis of both the parliamentary and the presidential system. I will also evaluate each system’s strengths and weaknesses, addressing any differences as well as any commonalities. Finally, I will conclude by using historical examples to analyze and support the presidential system, which would be a more desirable system for a democratic government.
In 1994, Nelson Mandela was elected to the highest office of the land. Faced with issues like an economic crisis and racial tensions, Mandela inherited a difficult set of problems. While Mandela’s new position had allocated legitimate power, “influence that is created through a title or status”, due to the severity of the issues, Mandela needed new means of acquiring power, “the ability to influence how others behave,” to garnish unified support throughout the country (P. 329). Mandela understood that to achieve this he would have to adopt various techniques to provide leadership, “a process of influence aimed at directing behavior toward the accomplishment of objectives” (P.326).
Charlick, R. (2000) "Popular participation and Local Government Reforms" Africa Notes, New York: Cornell University, (April) pp1-5
Finally in 1990 De Klerk, president of South Africa unbanned the ANC (‘History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). In 1994 the first free multiracial elections were held and the people voted to end apartheid (“History of South Africa in the apartheid era”). Nelson Mandela was elected president (Wright, 66). The opposition to apartheid helped turn things around in South Africa.
Tripp, A, M, 2003. The Changing Face of Africa’s Legislatures: Women and Quotas. Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance. Available from: Quotaproject.org
This fusion of power allows the people’s representatives in the legislature to directly engage the executive in debates discussion in issues that will bring positive development in the state. This is not possible in the presidential system since the legislative and the executives arms are constitutionally separated and thereby restricted to engage the legislature in a discussion in which reasons are advanced against some proposition or proposal. The outcome is that party leaders in parliamentary system are more reliable than those in presidential systems. Presidential systems have turned the aim of electoral campaign into personalities rather than platform and programs because the focus is on the candidate and not on the party in general. But parliamentary systems on the other hand focus much more relating structured they do not do anything outside the scope of the party. We can compare the quality of leadership or administration in British, Canadian prime minister to the United State president. In all the country presidential system of government are chosen because people think been a good leader is by popularity and the ability to win election not minding if the candidate is fit for the task of presidency. But in parliamentary system, the person that has high quality of leadership competent enough and trustworthy is
In 1948, apartheid was introduced to South Africa. Apartheid means apartness and is the political policy of racial segregation. Each racial group was segregated from other races within South Africa. These groups consisted of whites, blacks and coloreds (Asians and Indians). The minority white population had the rule over the whole country. Apartheid did not only detach whites from non-whites, but it also set apart the Blacks from the Coloreds. When apartheid ended in 1994 a legacy was left behind. Crime and violence became replacements for the road to wealth. Segregation never completely disappeared and black children/teens were also not receiving enough education. Families became split due to apartheid and the loss of parents from AIDS. Lastly Nelson Mandela has also made a huge impact on South Africa. Although many negative events occurred after apartheid, improvements have been made for black South Africans today.
In a Parliamentary system there is a power concentration instead of division of powers. The Legislature is the greatest power, the government and the executive branch is dependent on Parliament. In contrast to Presidential systems, parliamentary and semi-presidential democracies have Legislative responsibility. Legi...