The Republic of South Africa is a unitary parliamentary democratic republic. The President of South Africa serves both as head of state and as head of government. The President is elected by the National Assembly and must retain the confidence of the Assembly in order to remain in office. South Africans also elect provincial legislatures which govern each of the country's nine provinces.
The Inkatha Freedom Party is a right-wing political party in South Africa. Although registered as a national party, it has had only minor electoral success outside its home province of KwaZulu-Natal. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who served as chief minister of KwaZulu during the Apartheid period, founded the party in 1975 and led it until 2019. He was succeeded as party president in 2019 by Velenkosini Hlabisa.
Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi was a South African politician and Zulu prince who served as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu royal family from 1954 until his death in 2023. He was appointed to this post by King Bhekuzulu – a son of King Solomon, who was a brother to Buthelezi's mother Princess Magogo. Buthelezi was chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan during apartheid and founded the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1975, leading it until 2019, becoming its president emeritus soon after that. He was a political leader during Nelson Mandela's incarceration (1964–1990) and continued to be so in the post-apartheid era, when he was appointed by Mandela as Minister of Home Affairs, serving from 1994 to 2004.
Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu was the King of the Zulu nation from 1968 to his death in 2021.
KwaZulu was a semi-independent bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a homeland for the Zulu people. The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980.
1990 in South Africa saw the official start of the process of ending Apartheid. President of South Africa, eid. President F.W. de Klerk unbanned organisations that were banned by the government including the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party and the Pan Africanist Congress. The African National Congress, Umkhonto we Sizwe, suspends its armed activity within South Africa. Political prisoners including Nelson Mandela were released. Nelson Mandela met ANC leader Oliver Tambo for the first time in 28 years at a meeting in Sweden. Mandela also traveled to England to thank the people for their support in the campaign to free him. South Africa withdrew its troops from Namibia, which was granted independence. 1990 also saw marches in support and against the formation of a new post-Apartheid South Africa.
The following lists events that happened during 1996 in South Africa.
Frank Themba Mdlalose was the first Premier of the newly renamed KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, after the African National Congress (ANC) won the country's first all-inclusive general election on 27 April 1994, while the Inkatha Freedom Party won a majority in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature.
The apartheid system in South Africa was ended through a series of bilateral and multi-party negotiations between 1990 and 1993. The negotiations culminated in the passage of a new interim Constitution in 1993, a precursor to the Constitution of 1996; and in South Africa's first non-racial elections in 1994, won by the African National Congress (ANC) liberation movement.
The Shell House massacre was a 1994 shooting incident that took place at Shell House, the headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC), in central Johannesburg, South Africa in the lead up to the 1994 elections.
The 1994 Bophuthatswana crisis was a major political crisis which began after Lucas Mangope, the president of Bophuthatswana, a nominally independent South African bantustan created under apartheid, attempted to crush widespread labour unrest and popular demonstrations demanding the incorporation of the territory into South Africa pending non-racial elections later that year. Violent protests immediately broke out following President Mangope's announcement on 7 March that Bophuthatswana would boycott the South African general elections. This was escalated by the arrival of right-wing Afrikaner militias seeking to preserve the Mangope government. The predominantly black Bophuthatswana Defence Force and police refused to cooperate with the white extremists and mutinied, then forced the Afrikaner militias to leave Bophuthatswana. The South African military entered Bophuthatswana and restored order on 12 March.
A series of South African municipal by-elections was held in 2008 for ward seats on local municipal councils throughout the country. These by-elections were held to replace deceased, resigned or incapacitated councillors.
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi was a South African politician who was the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa in the cabinet of Jacob Zuma. She was also President of the National Freedom Party (NFP). Prior to being elected to Parliament, she served for nineteen years as a councillor, fifteen of those years as Mayor of the Zululand District Municipality. She was formerly chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the IFP's candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal in the 2009 general election.
The Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith was a statement of core principles laid down by South African political leaders Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Harry Schwarz on 4 January 1974. It was signed in Mahlabatini, KwaZulu-Natal, hence its name. Its purpose was to provide a blueprint for government of South Africa by consent and racial peace in a multi-racial society, stressing opportunity for all, consultation, the federal concept, and a Bill of Rights. It also first affirmed that political change must take place though non-violent means. It was the first agreement in apartheid South Africa by acknowledged black and white political leaders that subscribed to such principles. Final negotiations, which embodied many of the Declaration's principles, took place between President F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela in the early 1990s.
Baldwin Sipho "Ben" Ngubane was a politician from South Africa. He held multiple positions in the post-apartheid government of the country. In particular, he was Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from 1997 to 1999 and Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology from 1994 until 31 August 1996 and from February 1999 until April 2004.
Nelson Mandela took the oath as President of South Africa on 10 May 1994 and announced a Government of National Unity on 11 May 1994. The cabinet included members of Mandela's African National Congress, the National Party and Inkatha Freedom Party, as Clause 88 of the Interim Constitution of South Africa required that all parties winning more than 20 seats in National Assembly should be given representation in the cabinet. Upon its formation it comprised 27 ministers, with a further 13 deputy ministers.
The 35th Inkatha Freedom Party National General Conference was held from 23 to 25 August 2019 to elect the new leadership of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The previous elective conference was held in 2012. Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi had announced his intention to retire after serving in the position for more than forty-four years. He was the party's inaugural president. It was understood that the party's IFP Extended National Council favoured the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Velenkosini Hlabisa, to succeed him as party president. Hlabisa was elected unopposed.
Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa is a South African politician and former teacher who has been President of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) since 2019 and a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2023. He is the party's parliamentary leader. He previously served as the Secretary-General of the IFP from 2011 to 2017, as the Mayor of the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality from 2016 to 2019 and as the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature between 2019 and 2023.
Lionel Percival Hercules Mbeki Mtshali was a South African politician who was Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from 1999 to 2004. He was known for unilaterally ordering the expansion of the province's antiretrovirals programme during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, in defiance of the policy of the national government under President Thabo Mbeki. A founding member and former chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Mtshali was also national Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in the government of President Nelson Mandela from 1996 to 1999.
Prince Mcwayizeni Israel Zulu was a South African politician and senior prince of the Zulu royal family. A son of King Solomon kaDinizulu, he acted as Zulu regent during the interregnum of 1968 to 1971 and was a close advisor to King Goodwill Zwelithini. He is also known for having overtly aligned himself to the African National Congress (ANC) during the final years of apartheid.
