Editing History of South Africa (section)

==Democratic period (1994–present)==
{{Main|History of South Africa (1994–present)}}
[[File:Frederik de Klerk with Nelson Mandela - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 1992.jpg|thumb|left|250px|[[Frederik W. de Klerk]] and [[Nelson Mandela]], two of the driving forces in ending apartheid]]
The dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late-1980s meant the African National Congress (ANC) in alliance with the South African Communist Party, could no longer depend on the Soviet Union for weaponry and political support. It also meant the apartheid government could no longer link apartheid and its purported legitimacy to the protection of Christian values and civilisation in the face of the ''rooi gevaar'', meaning "red danger" or the threat of communism.<ref>Vladimir Shubin, ''The Hot "Cold War": The USSR in Southern Africa'', London: Pluto Press 2008. {{ISBN|978 0745324722}}</ref> Both sides were forced to the negotiating table, with the result that in June 1991, all apartheid laws were finally rescinded- opening the way for the country's first multiracial democratic elections three years later.<ref>United Nations Yearbook 1992 [https://books.google.com/books?id=BTdmYFgvyi0C&dq=apartheid+laws+rescinded&pg=PA108 Apartheid laws rescinded] UN Dept of Public Information, Accessed 3 May 2015</ref> As the culmination of mounting local and international opposition to apartheid in the 1980s, including the [[armed struggle]], widespread civil unrest, economic and cultural sanctions by the [[international community]], and pressure from the [[Anti-Apartheid Movement|anti-apartheid movement]] around the world, [[State President of South Africa|State President]] [[F. W. de Klerk]] announced the lifting of the ban on the [[African National Congress]], the [[Pan Africanist Congress]] and the South African Communist Party, as well as the release of political prisoner [[Nelson Mandela]] on 2 February 1990, after twenty-seven years in prison. In a [[South African referendum, 1992|referendum]] held on 17 March 1992, the white electorate voted 68% in favour of democracy.<ref>[http://africanelections.tripod.com/za.html#1992_Referendum African Elections Database]. Accessed 9 May 2015</ref>
After lengthy negotiations under the auspices of the [[Convention for a Democratic South Africa]] (CODESA), a draft constitution was published on 26 July 1993, containing concessions towards all sides: a federal system of regional legislatures, equal voting-rights regardless of race, and a bicameral legislature.

From 26–29 April 1994, the South African population voted in the first [[universal suffrage]] [[1994 South African general election|general elections]]. The African National Congress won, well ahead of the governing [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] and the [[Inkatha Freedom Party]]. The [[Democratic Party (South Africa)|Democratic Party]] and Pan Africanist Congress, among others, formed a [[parliamentary opposition]] in the country's first non-racial [[Parliament of South Africa|parliament]]. [[Nelson Mandela]] was elected as President on 9 May 1994 and formed a [[Government of National Unity]], consisting of the ANC, the National Party and Inkatha. On 10 May 1994 Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa's new President in Pretoria with [[Thabo Mbeki]] and F. W. De Klerk as his vice-presidents. The Government of National Unity lapsed at the end of the first parliament sitting in 1999, with the ANC becoming the sole party in power while maintaining a strategic alliance with the [[Congress of South African Trade Unions]] (COSATU) and the [[South African Communist Party]]. After considerable debate, and following submissions from [[advocacy group]]s, individuals and ordinary citizens, the [[Parliament of South Africa|Parliament]] enacted a new [[Constitution of South Africa|Constitution]] and [[Bill of Rights of South Africa|Bill of Rights]] in 1996. The death penalty was abolished, land reform and redistribution policies were introduced, and equitable labour laws legislated.

[[File:Colour bus.jpg|thumb|right|Children of different ethnic groups ride a bus in Cape Town, 1994]]
The ANC had risen to power on the strength of a socialist agenda embodied in a Freedom Charter, which was intended to form the basis of ANC social, economic and political policies.<ref>African National Congress, [http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=172 "ANC policy". Accessed 25 October 2015.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150714001451/http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=172 |date=14 July 2015 }}</ref> The Charter decreed that "the national wealth of our country, the heritage of South Africans, shall be restored to the people; the mineral wealth beneath the soil, the banks and monopoly industry shall be transferred to the ownership of the people".<ref>[http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=72 ''Freedom Charter'', adopted 26 June 1955] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629074215/http://www.anc.org.za/show.php?id=72 |date=29 June 2011 }}. Accessed 17 September 2015</ref> ANC icon [[Nelson Mandela]], asserted in a statement released on 25 January 1990: "The nationalisation of the mines, banks and monopoly industries is the policy of the ANC, and a change or modification of our views in this regard is inconceivable."<ref>''Mail & Guardian'', [http://mg.co.za/article/1990-01-26-we-will-nationalise-mandela "We will nationalise – Mandela"], 26 January 1990. Accessed 21 September 2015.</ref>

Following the ANC's electoral victory in 1994, the eradication of mass poverty through nationalisation was never implemented. The ANC-led government, in a historic reversal of policy, adopted [[neoliberalism]] instead.<ref>Ashwin Desai, [http://monthlyreview.org/2003/01/01/neoliberalism-and-resistance-in-south-africa/ "Neoliberalism and resistance in South Africa"], ''Monthly Review'', Volume 54, Issue 08, January 2003. Accessed 18 September 2015</ref> A [[wealth tax]] on the super-rich to fund developmental projects was set aside, while domestic and international corporations, enriched by apartheid, were excused from any financial reparations. Large corporations were allowed to shift their main listings abroad. According to [[Sampie Terreblanche|Solomon Johannes Terreblanche]], a South African academic economist, the government's concessions to big business represented "treacherous decisions that [will] haunt South Africa for generations to come".<ref>Solomon Johannes Terreblanche, ''Lost in Transformation'', Johannesburg: KMM Review Publishing, 2012, {{ISBN|0620537256}}, quoted in Ronnie Kasrils, [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jun/24/anc-faustian-pact-mandela-fatal-error "How the ANC's Faustian pact sold out South Africa's poorest"], ''The Guardian'' 24 June 2013. Accessed 26 October 2015.</ref> In the [[2024 South African general election|2024 national election]] the African National Congress (ANC) failed to secure more than 50% of the vote for the first time in the democratic era.<ref>{{cite news |title=South Africa parliament opening: Cyril Ramaphosa outlines his plans |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0dmkz00ln9o |work=www.bbc.com}}</ref>

===Emigration===
The immediate post-apartheid period was marked by an exodus of skilled, white South Africans amid [[Crime in South Africa|crime related safety]] concerns. The [[South African Institute of Race Relations]] estimated in 2008 that 800,000 or more white people had emigrated since 1995, out of the approximately 4,000,000 who were in South Africa when apartheid formally ended the year before. Large white South African diasporas, both English- and Afrikaans-speaking, sprouted in Australia, New Zealand, North America, and especially in the UK, to which around 550,000 South Africans emigrated.<ref>''The Economist'', [http://www.economist.com/node/12295535 "White flight from South Africa"] 25 September 2008. Accessed 18 July 2015</ref> As of 2021, tens of thousands of white South Africans continue to emigrate each year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://businesstech.co.za/news/government/507034/white-south-africans-are-leaving-the-country-in-their-thousands-stats-sa/|title=White South Africans are leaving the country in their thousands: Stats SA|author=Staff Writer|date=19 July 2021|website=BusinessTech|access-date=12 November 2021}}</ref> By 2019 the number of skilled black South Africans emigrating out of the country had surpassed the number of white emigres.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brophy |first=Selene |date=25 August 2019 |title=More black than white South Africans leaving the country |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/Travel/more-black-than-white-south-africans-leaving-the-country-20190825 |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=News24 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=26 August 2019 |title=More skilled black professionals are leaving South Africa |url=https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/336809/more-skilled-black-professionals-are-leaving-south-africa/ |access-date=2022-09-20 |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Financial burdens===
{{main|South Africa national debt}}
The apartheid government had declared a moratorium on foreign [[South Africa national debt|debt repayments]] in the mid-1980s, when it declared a state of emergency in the face of escalating civil unrest. With the formal end of apartheid in 1994, the new democratic government was saddled with an onerous foreign debt amounting to [[South African rand|R]]86.7B (US$14B at then current exchange rates) accrued by the former apartheid regime. The cash-strapped post-apartheid government was obliged to repay this debt or else face a credit downgrading by foreign financial institutions.<ref>''The Economist'',  [http://www.economist.com/node/321289 South Africa's Debt Unforgivable], 22 April 1999. Accessed 11 June 2015</ref> The debt was finally settled in September 2001.<ref>Fin24.com, [http://www.fin24.com/Economy/Apartheid-debt-settled-20010903 Apartheid debt settled] 3 September 2001. Accessed 26 July 2015.</ref>

A further financial burden was imposed on the new post-apartheid government through its obligation to provide [[antiretroviral]] (ARV) treatment to impoverished victims of the HIV/AIDS epidemic sweeping the country. South Africa had the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS compared to any other country in the world, with 5,600,000 people afflicted by the disease and 270,000 HIV-related deaths were recorded in 2011. By that time, more than 2,000,000 children were orphaned due to the epidemic. The provision of ARV treatment resulted in 100,000 fewer AIDS-related deaths in 2011 than in 2005.<ref>[http://www.aids.org.za/hivaids-in-south-africa/ Aids Foundation of South Africa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925103314/http://www.aids.org.za/hivaids-in-south-africa/ |date=25 September 2015 }}. Accessed 24 September 2015.</ref>

===Labour relations===
[[File:Church on Green Market Square Marikana.JPG|thumb|Church on [[Greenmarket Square]] in Cape Town, South Africa with a banner memorialising the Marikana massacre]] Migrant labour remained a fundamental aspect of the South African mining industry, which employed half a million mostly black miners. Labour unrest in the industry resulted in a massacre in mid-August 2012, when anti-riot police shot dead 34 striking miners and wounded many more in what is known as the [[Marikana massacre]]. The incident was widely criticised by the public, civil society organisations and religious leaders.<ref>{{cite news|last=Saks|first=David|title=Rabbi Goldstein, as part of NIFC-SA, reaches out to Lonmin victims|url=http://www.sajewishreport.co.za/pdf/latest_issue/NJWED00323.pdf|access-date=26 August 2012|newspaper=SA Jewish Report|date=24 August 2012|page=3}}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The migrant labour system was identified as a primary cause of the unrest. Multi-national mining corporations including [[Anglo-American Corporation]], [[Lonmin]], and [[Anglo Platinum]], were accused of failing to address the enduring legacies of apartheid.<ref>''Financial Times'',[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e0b9bee0-b0e4-11e3-bbd4-00144feab7de.html#axzz3Ze1AyNHG "South African mining stuck in the past"]. Accessed 9 May 2015</ref>

===Poverty===
{{Main|Poverty in South Africa}}
In 2014, around 47% of (mostly black) South Africans lived in poverty, making it one of the most unequal countries in the world.<ref>James L. Gibson, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150822232932/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/south-africa/2015-02-10/apartheid-s-long-shadow "Apartheid's Long Shadow"],  ''Foreign Affairs'', March/April 2015. Accessed 27 July 2015</ref> Widespread dissatisfaction with the slow pace of socio-economic transformation, government incompetence and maladministration, and other public grievances in the post-apartheid era, precipitated many violent protest demonstrations. In 2007, less than half the protests were associated with some form of violence, compared with 2014, when almost 80% of protests involved violence on the part of the participants or the authorities.<ref>DM Powell, M O'Donovan and J De Visser, [http://mlgi.org.za/talking-good-governance/20150219%20Civic%20Protest%20Barometer%20Published%20%20DP.pdf Civic Protests Barometer 2007–2014] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518084350/http://mlgi.org.za/talking-good-governance/20150219%20Civic%20Protest%20Barometer%20Published%20%20DP.pdf |date=18 May 2015 }}, Cape Town: Community Law Centre, University of Western Cape, 2015. Accessed 9 May 2015</ref> The slow pace of transformation also fomented tensions within the [[Tripartite Alliance|tripartite alliance]] between the ANC, the Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions.<ref>Independent Online, [http://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/spat-within-tripartite-alliance-runs-deep-1.226909#.Vhpwluyqqko "Spat within tripartite alliance runs deep"], 14 November 2004. Accessed 12 October 2015</ref>

===Corruption===
{{Main|Corruption in South Africa}}
During the administration of President [[Jacob Zuma]] corruption in South Africa had also become a growing problem.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/news-and-events/images/documents/Betrayal-of-the-Promise-25052017.pdf|title=BETRAYAL OF THE PROMISE: HOW SOUTH AFRICA IS BEING STOLEN|last=Swilling|first=Mark|date=May 2017|website=State Capacity Research Project}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Coovadia|first=Imraan|date=2019-05-04|title=Corruption|journal=Social Dynamics|volume=45|issue=2|pages=213–217|doi=10.1080/02533952.2019.1621027|s2cid=219697148|issn=0253-3952}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://wwmp.org.za/images/2019/Political-Economy-of-Corruption-inSA.pdf|title=The political economy of corruption: elite-formation, factions and violence|last=von Holdt|first=Karl|date=February 2019|website=Society, Work, and Politics Institute}}{{Dead link|date=July 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Notable corruption related scandals during this period included incidents of widespread [[state capture]]<ref name="Gevisser">{{Cite news|last=Gevisser|first=Mark|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/11/state-capture-corruption-investigation-that-has-shaken-south-africa|title='State capture': the corruption investigation that has shaken South Africa|date=2019-07-11|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-02-14|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> often involving allegations against the [[Gupta family]].<ref name="bbcGupta">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-22513410|title=Who are the Guptas?|date=14 May 2013|publisher=[[BBC News|BBC]]|access-date=7 February 2016}}</ref> These also involved corruption related financial difficulties at some state owned enterprises such as [[Eskom]] and [[South African Airways]] that had a notable negative economic impact on the country's finances.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Wexler|first=Alexandra|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-africas-scandal-hit-state-firms-put-economy-on-cliffs-edge-11577790000|title=South Africa's Scandal-Hit State Firms Put Economy on 'Cliff's Edge'|date=2019-12-31|work=Wall Street Journal|access-date=2020-02-14|language=en-US|issn=0099-9660}}</ref> Other corruption related scandals to emerge during this period included the collapse of [[VBS Mutual Bank]]<ref>{{Cite news|last=Masondo|first=Sipho|url=https://www.fin24.com/Companies/Financial-Services/what-happened-at-vbs-bank-20180701-2|title=What happened at VBS Bank?|date=1 July 2018|work=Fin24|access-date=2018-11-30|archive-date=8 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190908214740/https://www.fin24.com/Companies/Financial-Services/what-happened-at-vbs-bank-20180701-2}}</ref> and [[Bosasa]].<ref name="Gevisser"/> The [[The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture|Zondo Commission of Inquiry]] was appointed during the Presidency of [[Cyril Ramaphosa]] to investigate allegations of state capture related corruption.

=== Energy crisis ===
{{Main|South African energy crisis}}
Since 2007 South Africa has experienced an ongoing energy crisis that has negatively impacted the country's economy,<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Inglesi-Lotz |first=Roula |title=South Africa's economic growth affected by mismatch of electricity supply and demand |url=http://theconversation.com/south-africas-economic-growth-affected-by-mismatch-of-electricity-supply-and-demand-179129 |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=The Conversation |date=12 April 2022 |language=en}}</ref> its ability to create jobs,<ref name=":3" /> and reduce poverty.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Africa |first=Tracy Ledger for Energy Governance South |date=2022-02-16 |title=ENERGY EQUITY OP-ED: Universal access to electricity is a necessary prerequisite to ending poverty itself |url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-02-16-universal-access-to-electricity-is-a-necessary-prerequisite-to-ending-poverty-itself/ |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=Daily Maverick |language=en}}</ref> A lack of investment in new power generating capacity and an aging fleet of existing power plants was the initial cause of the crisis.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rathi |first=Anusha |title=Why South Africa Is in the Dark, Again |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/07/08/south-africa-energy-crisis-eskom-power-cut/ |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=Foreign Policy |date=8 July 2022 |language=en-US}}</ref> The government owned power utility [[Eskom]] has been plagued with corruption and mismanagement, most notability during the presidency of Jacob Zuma, which has limited its ability to resolve the crisis.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Staff Writer |title=How the ANC government broke Eskom – 2008 versus 2018 |url=https://mybroadband.co.za/news/energy/288412-how-the-anc-government-broke-eskom-2008-versus-2018.html |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=myBoardband |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-09 |title=South Africa: How Jacob Zuma helped destroy Eskom |url=https://www.theafricareport.com/201543/south-africa-how-jacob-zuma-helped-destroy-eskom/ |access-date=2022-09-20 |website=The Africa Report.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Xenophobia===
{{See also|Xenophobia in South Africa}}
The post-apartheid period has been marked by numerous outbreaks of xenophobic attacks against foreign migrants and asylum seekers from various conflict zones in Africa. An academic study conducted in 2006, found that South Africans showed levels of xenophobia greater than anywhere else in the world.<ref>Jonathan Crush (ed), ''The Perfect Storm: Realities of Xenophobia in Contemporary South Africa'', Southern African Migration Project, University of Cape Town & Queen's University, Canada, 2006, p.1</ref> The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) found that competition over jobs, business opportunities, public services and housing gave rise to tension among refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and host communities, identified as a main cause of the xenophobic violence.<ref>[http://www.unhcr.org/4cd96a569.html UNHCR Global Appeal 2011 – South Africa]</ref> South Africa received more than 207,000 individual asylum applications in 2008 and a further 222,300 in 2009, representing nearly a four-fold rise in both years over the levels seen in 2007. These refugees and asylum seekers originated mainly from [[Zimbabwe]], [[Burundi]], [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], [[Rwanda]], [[Eritrea]], [[Ethiopia]] and [[Somalia]].<ref>[http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e485aa6 2011 UNHCR country operations profile – South Africa]</ref>

===2021 civil unrest===
{{Main|2021 South African unrest}}
[[2021 South African unrest|Civil unrest]] occurred in [[South Africa]]'s [[KwaZulu-Natal]] and [[Gauteng]] provinces in July 2021, sparked by the imprisonment of former President [[Jacob Zuma]] for [[contempt of court]], after he declined to testify at the [[Zondo Commission]], an inquiry into allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018.<ref name=aj20210712>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/12/violence-spreads-in-s-africa-after-jacob-zumas-jailing|title=S Africa violence spreads after Jacob Zuma jailed|website=www.aljazeera.com|access-date=12 July 2021|archive-date=12 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712110018/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/12/violence-spreads-in-s-africa-after-jacob-zumas-jailing|url-status=live}}</ref> Protests against the incarceration triggered wider rioting and looting, further exacerbated by [[Termination of employment|job layoffs]] and economic woes worsened by the [[COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa|COVID-19 pandemic]].<ref name=cnbc20210713>{{Cite web|date=2021-07-13|title=Deaths climb to 72 in South Africa riots after Zuma jailed|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/13/deaths-climb-to-72-in-south-africa-riots-after-zuma-jailed.html|access-date=2021-07-15|website=CNBC|language=en}}</ref><ref name=aj20210714>{{Cite web|last=Bauer|first=Nickolaus|title='Little to lose': Poverty and despair fuel South Africa's unrest|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/14/little-to-lose-poverty-and-despair-fuel-south-africas-unrest|access-date=2021-07-16|website=www.aljazeera.com|language=en}}</ref>
[[The Economist]] called it the worst violence that South Africa had experienced since the end of Apartheid.<ref name=economist20210714>{{cite news |title=Where does South Africa go from here?|url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/07/24/where-does-south-africa-go-from-here |access-date=2021-07-30 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210723224537/https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/07/24/where-does-south-africa-go-from-here |archive-date=23 July 2021 }}</ref>

Police and military authorities were mobilised to quell the unrest.<ref name=wapo20210712>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/12/south-africa-zuma-protests/|title=South Africa deploys military as protests turn violent in wake of Jacob Zuma's jailing|first=Lesley|last=Wroughton|newspaper=Washington Post|date=12 July 2021|access-date=13 July 2021|archive-date=14 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714012249/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/07/12/south-africa-zuma-protests/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/live-updates-looting-violence-continues-in-gauteng-kzn-1f4e0b9c-8c88-494e-8160-aeacff164ec1|title=Live Updates: Looting and violence in Gauteng and KZN|website=www.iol.co.za|access-date=12 July 2021|archive-date=12 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210712153317/https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/live-updates-looting-violence-continues-in-gauteng-kzn-1f4e0b9c-8c88-494e-8160-aeacff164ec1|url-status=live}}</ref> By mid-July, the South African National Defense Forces had deployed approximately 25,000 military personnel.<ref name="SANDF_DeploymentIncrease">{{cite web |last1=Mkhwanazi|first1=Siyabonga |title=Mapisa-Nqakula: We have deployed 25 000 soldiers |url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/mapisa-nqakula-we-have-deployed-25-000-soldiers-06107ed0-0db0-4ad5-bba6-80abed44f655 |website=iol |access-date=15 July 2021 |archive-date=14 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210714172503/https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/mapisa-nqakula-we-have-deployed-25-000-soldiers-06107ed0-0db0-4ad5-bba6-80abed44f655 |url-status=live }}</ref> As of 18 July, over 3,400 people had been arrested, while as of 22 July, 337 people had died in connection with the unrest.<ref name="July22">{{Cite web|date=2021-07-22|title=Unrest death toll rises to 337|url=https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/unrest-death-toll-rises-337|access-date=2021-07-22|website=SAnews|language=en}}</ref>

The July 2021 unrest coincided with the [[2021 Cape Town taxi conflict|Cape Town taxi conflict]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Flare-up in taxi war sparks looting alarm in Cape Town city centre|url=https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2021-07-14-flare-up-in-taxi-war-sparks-looting-alarm-in-cape-town-city-centre/|access-date=2021-08-30|website=TimesLIVE|language=en-ZA}}</ref> and [[Transnet ransomware attack]]<ref name=":02">{{Cite web|date=2021-07-29|title=Cyber attacks expose the vulnerability of South Africa's ports|url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/cyber-attacks-expose-the-vulnerability-of-south-africas-ports|access-date=2021-08-02|website=ISS Africa|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=28 July 2021|title=Call to 'connect dots between insurrection modus operandi and crippling Transnet cyber attack'|url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/call-to-connect-dots-between-insurrection-modus-operandi-and-crippling-transnet-cyber-attack-8d48c4e9-a3a7-4140-81de-5597a20a430b|access-date=2021-08-02|website=www.iol.co.za|language=en}}</ref> leading to unproven speculation that they might have been connected.

===Post-apartheid heads of state===
Under the post-apartheid [[Constitution of South Africa|Constitution]] the president is head of both state and government. The president is elected by the [[National Assembly of South Africa|National Assembly]] and serves a term that expires at the next general election. A president may serve a maximum of two terms. In the event of a vacancy the [[Deputy President of South Africa|Deputy President]] serves as Acting President.

{|class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan=3|President
! colspan=3|Term of office
! rowspan=2|Political party
|-
! #
! Portrait
! Name
! Took office
! Left office
! Duration
|-
! style="background:{{party color|African National Congress}}; color:white;"|1
| [[File:Nelson Mandela.jpg|60px]]
| '''[[Nelson Mandela]]'''<br /><small>(1918–2013)</small>
| 10 May 1994
| 16 June 1999
| {{nowrap|5 years}}, {{nowrap|37 days}}
| [[African National Congress]]
|-
! style="background:{{party color|African National Congress}}; color:white;"|2
| [[File:SthAfrica.ThaboMbeki.01.jpg|60px]]
| '''[[Thabo Mbeki]]'''<br /><small>(1942–)</small>
| 16 June 1999
| 24 September 2008<br /><small>(resigned)</small>
| {{nowrap|9 years}}, {{nowrap|100 days}}
| [[African National Congress]]
|-
! style="background:{{party color|African National Congress}}; color:white;"|3
| [[File:GeorgeBushKgalemaMotlanthe crop.jpg|60px]]
| '''[[Kgalema Motlanthe]]'''<br /><small>(1949–)</small>
| 25 September 2008
| 9 May 2009
| {{nowrap|226 days}}
| [[African National Congress]]
|-
! style="background:{{party color|African National Congress}}; color:white;"|4
| [[File:Jacob G. Zuma - World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2010.jpg|60px]]
| '''[[Jacob Zuma]]'''<br /><small>(1942–)</small>
| 9 May 2009
| 14 February 2018<br /><small>(resigned)</small>
| {{nowrap|8 years}}, {{nowrap|264 days}}
| [[African National Congress]]
|-
! style="background:{{party color|African National Congress}}; color:white;"|5
| [[File:Cyril Ramaphosa.jpg|60px]]
| '''[[Cyril Ramaphosa]]'''<br /><small>(1952–)</small>
| 15 February 2018
| Present
| {{Age in years and days|2018|2|15}}
| [[African National Congress]]
|}