South Africa's Political History

Currently, South Africa is considered a Constitutional Democracy with the ANC, African National Congress, as the dominant political party. They have been since 1994 when Nelson Mandela became President. Currently Jacob Zuma is President.

South Africa was colonized by the British and the Boers, but it wasn't until the discovery of precious diamonds and gold in the late 19th century that started a power struggle. This resulted in the Anglo-Boer War.

The first laws of South Africa were established by the Dutch East India Company During the Dutch and British colonial years, segregation was mostly informal with loose legislation like the pass laws were created. In the Boer republics segregation became a legalized system classifying the population into 3 ethnic classes: white, coloured and black with different rights and restrictions applicable to each.

South Africa became a Republic in 1961, but a free general election didn't occur until 1994 when the current ANC party took control with Nelson Mandela as the new president. The ANC still holds the majority of the vote, claiming 60-70% of voters.