Provinces of South Africa

South African Provinces
North West Northern Cape Gauteng Limpopo Mpumalanga Free State KwaZulu-Natal Eastern Cape Western Cape
Category	Unitary state
Location	South Africa
Created	27 April 1994 (1994-04-27)
Number	9 Provinces
Populations	1,145,861 (Northern Cape) – 12,272,263 (Gauteng)
Areas	47,080 km2 (18,178 sq mi) (Gauteng) – 372,890 km2 (143,973 sq mi) (Northern Cape)
Government	Provincial government, National government
Subdivisions	Districts

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South Africa is divided into nine provinces.^[1] On the eve of the 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, also known as Bantustans, were reintegrated, and the four existing provinces were divided into nine. The twelfth, thirteenth and sixteenth amendments to the Constitution of South Africa changed the borders of seven of the provinces.

History[]

The provinces at the creation of the Union in 1910

The Union of South Africa was established in 1910 by combining four British colonies: the Cape Colony, the Natal Colony, the Transvaal Colony and the Orange River Colony (the latter two were, before the Second Boer War, independent republics known as the South African Republic and the Orange Free State). These colonies became the four original provinces of the Union: Cape Province, Transvaal Province, Natal Province and Orange Free State Province.

Provinces and homelands, as they were at the end of apartheid

Segregation of the black population started as early as 1913, with ownership of land by the black majority being restricted to certain areas totalling about 13% of the country. From the late 1950s, these areas were gradually consolidated into "homelands", also called "bantustans". Four of these homelands were established as quasi-independent nation states of the black population during the apartheid era. In 1976, the homeland of Transkei was the first to accept independence from South Africa, and although this independence was never acknowledged by any other country, three other homelands – Bophuthatswana (1977), Venda (1979) and Ciskei (1981) – followed suit.

On 27 April 1994, the date of the first non-racial elections and of the adoption of the Interim Constitution, all of these provinces and homelands were dissolved, and nine new provinces were established. The boundaries of these provinces were established in 1993 by a Commission on the Demarcation/Delimitation of Regions created by CODESA, and were broadly based on planning regions demarcated by the Development Bank of Southern Africa in the 1980s,^[2][3] and amalgamated from existing magisterial districts, with some concessions to political parties that wished to consolidate their power bases, by transferring districts between the proposed provinces.^[4][5] The definitions of the new provinces in terms of magisterial districts were found in Schedule 1 of the Interim Constitution.

Government[]

Johannesburg City Hall, now the seat of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature

South Africa's provinces are governed, in different ways, on a national, provincial and local level.^[6]

Nationally, there is the National Council of Provinces, one of the houses of Parliament. Then there is the provincial government and, below that, the administration of district and metropolitan municipalities.

National Council of Provinces[]

South Africa has two houses of parliament: the National Assembly, and the National Council of Provinces.^[6] The second exists to ensure that the interests of each province are protected in the laws passed by the National Assembly.

Each one of South Africa's nine provinces sends 10 representatives to the National Council of Provinces. Six of these are permanent members of the council, and four are special delegates.

Provincial government[]

Each province is governed by a unicameral legislature. The size of the legislature is proportional to population, ranging from 30 members in the Northern Cape to 80 in KwaZulu-Natal. The legislatures are elected every five years by a system of party-list proportional representation; by convention, they are all elected on the same day, at the same time as the National Assembly election.^[7]

The provincial legislature elects, from amongst its members, a Premier, who is the head of the executive. The Premier chooses an Executive Council consisting of between five and ten members of the legislature, which is the cabinet of the provincial government.^[7] The Members of the Executive Council (MECs) are the provincial equivalent of ministers.

The powers of the provincial government are limited to specific topics listed in the national constitution. On some of these topics – for example, agriculture, education, health and public housing – the province's powers are shared with the national government, which can establish uniform standards and frameworks for the provincial governments to follow; on other topics the provincial government has exclusive power.^[8]

The provinces do not have their own court systems, as the administration of justice is the responsibility of the national government.

List[]

Province	Name in the most spoken native language[9]	Capital	Largest city	Area[10]: 9	Population (2011)[10]: 18	Population density (2011)	Human Devel. Index (2003) [11]	Location
Eastern Cape	iMpuma-Koloni (Xhosa)	Bhisho (Bisho)	Gqeberha	168,966 km2 (65,238 sq mi)	6,562,053	38.8/km2 (100/sq mi)	0.62
Free State	Freistata (Sotho)	Bloemfontein	Bloemfontein	129,825 km2 (50,126 sq mi)	2,745,590	21.1/km2 (55/sq mi)	0.67
Gauteng	eGoli (Zulu)	Johannesburg	Johannesburg	18,178 km2 (7,019 sq mi)	12,272,263	675.1/km2 (1,749/sq mi)	0.74
KwaZulu-Natal	iKwaZulu-Natali (Zulu)	Pietermaritzburg[n 1]	Durban	94,361 km2 (36,433 sq mi)	10,267,300	108.8/km2 (282/sq mi)	0.63
Limpopo	Limpopo (Northern Sotho)	Polokwane (Pietersburg)	Polokwane	125,754 km2 (48,554 sq mi)	5,404,868	43.0/km2 (111/sq mi)	0.59
Mpumalanga	iMpumalanga (Swazi)	Mbombela (Nelspruit)	Mbombela	76,495 km2 (29,535 sq mi)	4,039,939	52.8/km2 (137/sq mi)	0.65
North West	Bokone Bophirima (Tswana)	Mahikeng (Mafikeng)	Klerksdorp	104,882 km2 (40,495 sq mi)	3,509,953	33.5/km2 (87/sq mi)	0.61
Northern Cape	Noord-Kaap (Afrikaans)	Kimberley	Kimberley	372,889 km2 (143,973 sq mi)	1,145,861	3.1/km2 (8.0/sq mi)	0.69
Western Cape[n 2]	Wes-Kaap (Afrikaans)	Cape Town	Cape Town	129,462 km2 (49,986 sq mi)	5,822,734	45.0/km2 (117/sq mi)	0.77
Republic of South Africa	iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika (Zulu)	Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein[citation needed]	Johannesburg	1,220,813 km2 (471,359 sq mi)	51,770,560	42.4/km2 (110/sq mi)	0.67

Footnotes:

Provincial acronyms[]

Former administrative divisions[]

Province	Capital	Peak population	Location
Cape of Good Hope (1910–1994)	Cape Town	6,125,335
Natal (1910–1994)	Pietermaritzburg	2,430,753
Orange Free State (1910–1994)	Bloemfontein	2,193,062
Transvaal (1910–1994)	Pretoria	9,491,265
Homelands	Capital	Peak population	Location
Bophuthatswana (1977–1994) †	Mmabatho	1,478,950
Ciskei (1972–1994) †	Bisho	677,920
Gazankulu (1971–1994)	Giyani	954,771
KaNgwane (1981–1994)	Louieville Schoemansdal (de facto)	779,240
KwaNdebele (1981–1994)	KwaMhlanga	404,246
KwaZulu (1981–1994)	Nongoma (until 1980) Ulundi (1980–1994)	5,524,774
Lebowa (1972–1994)	Lebowakgomo	2,740,587
QwaQwa (1974–1994)	Phuthaditjhaba	342,886
Transkei (1976–1994) †	Umtata	2,323,650
Venda (1979–1994) †	Thohoyandou	558,797
Mandates	Capital	Peak population
South-West Africa	Windhoek	1,415,000

Footnotes:

† States for which the homeland was quasi-independent.

See also[]

• Elections in South Africa
• List of municipalities in South Africa
• Members of the Executive Council (MEC)
• Prince Edward Islands
• Proposals for South Africa to annex Lesotho
• Provincial governments of South Africa
• Provincial legislature (South Africa)
• Telephone numbers in South Africa
• Vehicle registration plates of South Africa
• Walvis Bay
• ISO 3166-2:ZA

References[]