The president of South Africa is the

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

and

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

of the Republic of South Africa. The president directs the

executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive dir ...

branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence Force. Between 1961 and 1994, the office of head of state was the state presidency. The president is elected by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

, the lower house of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

, and is usually the leader of the largest party, which has been the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

since the first multiracial election was held on 27 April 1994. The Constitution limits the president's time in office to two five-year terms. The first president to be elected under the new constitution was

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

. The incumbent is

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

, who was elected by the

on 15 February 2018 following the resignation of

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

. Under the interim constitution (valid from 1994–96), there was a Government of National Unity, in which a member of Parliament (MP) from the largest opposition party was entitled to a position as

deputy president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

. Along with Thabo Mbeki, the last

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

president,

F. W. de Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk ( , ; 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as the seventh and final state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as Deputy President of South Africa, deputy president a ...

also served as deputy president, in his capacity as the leader of the National Party which was the second-largest party in the new Parliament. But De Klerk later resigned and went into opposition with his party. A voluntary coalition government continues to exist under the new constitution (adopted in 1996), although there have been no appointments of opposition politicians to the post of deputy president since. The president is required to be a member of the National Assembly at the time of the election. Upon election, the president immediately resigns their seat for the duration of the presidential term. The president may be removed either by a

motion of no-confidence In physics, motion is when an object changes its position with respect to a reference point in a given time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an obse ...

or an

impeachment trial An impeachment trial is a trial that functions as a component of an impeachment. Several governments utilize impeachment trials as a part of their processes for impeachment. Differences exist between governments as to what stage trials take place ...

Origins

A number of manifestations of the office of president have existed. Aspects of these offices exist within the presidency today. The executive leadership of the British colonies of Natal and the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( ) is a rocky headland on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A List of common misconceptions#Geography, common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Afri ...

were vested in their governors. Likewise, it was invested in the presidents of the Boer republics of the Transvaal and the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

. Alternating sovereignty as a result of wars culminated in the

Treaty of Vereeniging The Treaty of Vereeniging was a peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the Second Boer War between the South African Republic and the Orange Free State on the one side, and the United Kingdom on the other. This settlement provided ...

which concluded the

South African War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

. The

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...

, a British Dominion, was established on 31 May 1910 with the

British monarch The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with their powers regulated by the British con ...

as titular head of state, represented by a viceroy, the

governor-general Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

. Following the 1960 referendum and subsequent declaration of the Republic of South Africa on 31 May 1961, the office of State President was created. It was originally a ceremonial post, but became an executive post in 1984 when a new

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

abolished the post of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and transferred its powers to the state president. The country ended minority rule in 1994. The office of the president, and the roles that come with it, were established by chapter five of the Constitution of South Africa.

Electoral system

South Africa has a distinctive system for the election of its president. Unlike other former British colonies and dominions who have adopted a parliamentary republican form of government and those that follow the

Westminster system The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary system, parliamentary government that incorporates a series of Parliamentary procedure, procedures for operating a legislature, first developed in England. Key aspects of ...

, South Africa's president is both

and

and commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Contrary to presidential systems around the world, the president of South Africa is elected by the

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature. It is located in Cape Town; the country's legislative capital city, capital. Under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameralism, bicameral Parliamen ...

rather than by the people directly. They are thus answerable to it in theory and able to influence legislation in practice as head of the majority party. The president is elected at the first sitting of Parliament after an election, and whenever a vacancy arises. The president is elected by the

, the lower house of Parliament, from among its members. The chief justice must oversee the election. Once elected, a person is no longer a member of the National Assembly. They must then be sworn in as president within five days of the election. Should a vacancy arise, the date of a new election must be set by the chief justice, but not more than 30 days after the vacancy occurs. The Constitution has thus prescribed a system combining both parliamentary and presidential systems in a unique manner. Only

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

and a few other countries use a similar system. Between 1996 and 2003

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

combined the two systems in an opposite way, with direct elections for the post of prime minister. Although the presidency is the key institution, it is hedged about with numerous checks and balances that prevent its total dominance over the government, as was the case in many African countries. The presidential term is five years, with a limit of two terms. Thus the electoral system attempts (at least on paper) to prevent the accumulation of power in the president as occurred during Apartheid and as is the case currently in many other African countries.

Succession

According to chapter five of the

, the president can only exercise the powers of the presidential office while within the Republic of South Africa. The president may appoint an

acting president An acting president is a person who temporarily fills the role of a country's president when the incumbent president is unavailable (such as by illness or visiting abroad) or when the post is vacant (such as for death Death is the en ...

when travelling outside the country or unable to fulfill the duties of the office. A presidential vacancy should be filled first by the

, then a Cabinet minister selected by the president, thereafter a Cabinet minister selected by the Cabinet, and finally by the speaker of the National Assembly.

Presidential powers

The president is the

and commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence Force. The rights, responsibilities and remuneration of the president are enumerated in Chapter V of the

Constitution of South Africa The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme law of the Republic of South Africa. It provides the legal foundation for the existence of the republic, it sets out the human rights and duties of its citizens, and defines the structure of t ...

and subsequent amendments and laws passed by the

. The executive powers of the republic are vested in the president, who appoints various officials to positions listed in the Constitution, the most significant of which are the Cabinet ministers and justices of the Supreme Court of Appeal and the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...

. The president's Cabinet implements and enforces the Constitution and laws and carries out the president's political objectives. Judges are appointed on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission. The president plays a role in the formation of legislation. The president can sign bills into laws or veto legislation (subject to an override), refer bills back to Parliament or to the Constitutional Court, or call for a referendum. The president summons parliament, and often delivers a State of the Nation Address at the beginning of each session. The president is the commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence Force thereby possessing influence or control over foreign and security policy. The president is accorded the constitutional powers to declare war and make peace, negotiate and sign (although not ratify) treaties (and the alliances that may come with them), and receives and appoints diplomatic officials, confers honours and grants pardons.

Presidents of South Africa since 1994

;Parties

Timeline

Latest election

References

External links

Office of the Presidency
{{DEFAULTSORT:President Of South Africa South Africa, President Politics of South Africa Presidents 1994 establishments in South Africa