Editing Politics of South Africa (section)

==Government==
{{Main|Government of South Africa}}
{{Multiple image
| image1 = Houses of Parliament (Cape Town).jpg
| caption1 = The [[Houses of Parliament, Cape Town|Houses of Parliament]] in the legislative capital of [[Cape Town]] is the seat of the Parliament.
| image2 = Uniegebou.jpg
| caption2 = The [[Union Buildings]] in the administrative capital of [[Pretoria]].
| image3 = High Court, Bloemfontein, South Africa.JPG
| caption3 = The seat of the [[Supreme Court of Appeal (South Africa)|Supreme Court of Appeals]] is located in the judicial capital of [[Bloemfontein]].
| total_width = 400
}}
South Africa is a [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary]] [[representative democracy|representative democratic]] [[republic]], wherein the [[President of South Africa]], elected by parliament, is the [[head of government]], and of a [[multi-party system]]. It consists of three branches.

The executive branch consists of the [[President of South Africa]] and the [[Cabinet of South Africa]]. The President is elected by the Parliament of South Africa for a five-year term. The President may only serve two terms. By convention this position is occupied by the leader of the largest party in the [[National Assembly of South Africa|National Assembly]]. The President appoints other members of the Cabinet called Ministers. Ministers oversee [[Departments of the Government of South Africa|executive government departments]]. The Cabinet forms and executes policy and most legislative proposals originate from the Cabinet. The President and members of the Cabinet are accountable to the National Assembly. It has the power to remove them from office by passing a motion of no confidence and it has the power to hold them accountable through oral and written replies to questions from Members of Parliament.

The legislative branch consists of the Parliament. The Parliament consists of two chambers: the upper house is the [[National Council of Provinces]] (NCOP) and the lower house is the National Assembly. In practice, the National Assembly is by far the more powerful house. It controls the composition of the government and its approval is required for most legislative proposals to become law. The NCOP provides equal representation to South Africa's nine provinces and its approval is required for laws that affect South Africa's provinces and cultural communities. Whereas the National Assembly is elected by party proportional representation, the NCOP is elected by the legislatures of each province.

The judicial branch consists of the courts. It interprets and enforces laws. The highest court for constitutional matters is the [[Constitutional Court of South Africa]]. It has the power to strike down laws that conflict with the Constitution. The [[Supreme Court of Appeals of South Africa|Supreme Court of Appeals]] is the highest court for non-constitutional matters. The [[High Court of South Africa]] is a court of general jurisdiction with appellate powers. It is divided into divisions that have authority over a geographic region of the country. Magistrate Courts serve as courts of first instance. There are specialized courts and tribunals with power that can be equivalent to the Supreme Court of Appeals.