South Africa is administered under nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, known as Bantustans, were reintegrated into the country, and the four provinces were increased to nine. The borders of Natal and the Orange Free State were retained, while the Cape Province and Transvaal Province were divided into three provinces each, plus North West Province which straddles the border of and contains territory from both of these former provinces. The twelfth, thirteenth and sixteenth amendments to the Constitution of South Africa changed the borders of seven of the provinces.
History
thumb|The provinces at the creation of the Union in 1910
The Union of South Africa was established in 1910 by combining four British colonies: Cape Colony, Natal Colony, Transvaal Colony, and Orange River Colony. The last 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, Natal Province, Transvaal Province, and Orange Free State Province.
thumb|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, 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. The definitions of the new provinces in terms of magisterial districts were found in Schedule 1 of the Interim Constitution.
On 11 July 2003, the 11th amendment to the fifth constitution renamed the Northern Province to Limpopo. On 1 March 2006, the 12th and 13th amendments altered the boundaries of 7 provinces. On 3 April 2009 the 16th amendment altered the boundaries of the North West and Gauteng provinces.
Government
thumb|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.
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.
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.
The provinces do not have their own court systems, as the administration of justice is the responsibility of the national government.
List
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right;"
! Province
! Name in the most spoken native language
! Capital
! Largest city
! Area
! Population<br />(2022)
! Density<br />(2022)
! class="unsortable" | Map
|-
| align="left"|Eastern Cape || align="left" | ||align="left"|Bhisho (Bisho) ||align="left"|Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) || || 7,230,204 || || 60px
|-
| align="left"|Free State ||align="left"| ||colspan="2" align="center"|Bloemfontein || || 2,964,412 || || 60px
|-
| align="left"|Gauteng ||align="left"| ||colspan="2" align="center"|Johannesburg <!-- DO NOT change this to Pretoria or Tshwane. Pretoria is a capital of the country, but Joburg is the capital of Gauteng province. --> || || 15,099,422 || || 60px
|-
| align="left"|KwaZulu-Natal ||align="left"| ||align="left"|Pietermaritzburg ||align="left"|Durban || || 12,423,907 || || 60px
|-
|align="left"|Limpopo ||align="left"| ||colspan="2" align="center"|Polokwane (Pietersburg) || || 6,572,720 || || 60px
|-
|align="left"|Mpumalanga ||align="left"| ||colspan="2" align="center"|Mbombela (Nelspruit) || || 5,143,324 || || 60px
|-
|align="left"|North West ||align="left"| ||align="left"|Mahikeng (Mafikeng) || align="left" |Rustenburg || || 3,804,548 || || 60px
|-
|align="left"|Northern Cape ||align="left"| ||colspan="2" align="center"|Kimberley || || 1,355,946 || || 60px
|-
|align="left"|Western Cape || align="left" | ||colspan="2" align="center"|Cape Town || || 7,433,019 || || 60px
|-style="background:honeydew" class="sortbottom"
|align="left"|Republic of South Africa||align="left"| ||align="left"| Pretoria, <br> Bloemfontein <br> Cape Town ||align="left"| Johannesburg|| ||62,027,503|||| 60px
|-
|}
Footnotes:
|} xbh 955 gp
Former administrative divisions
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: right;"
! Province
! Capital
! data-sort-type="number" | Peak population
! class="unsortable" | Location
|-
|align="left"|Cape of Good Hope (1910–1994)||align="left"| Cape Town || 6,125,335 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|Natal (1910–1994)||align="left"| Pietermaritzburg || 2,430,753 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|Orange Free State (1910–1994)||align="left"| Bloemfontein || 2,193,062 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|Transvaal (1910–1994) ||align="left"| Pretoria || 9,491,265 || 50px
|-
! Homelands
! Capital
! Peak population
! Location
|-
|align="left"|Bophuthatswana (1977–1994) † ||align="left"| Mmabatho || 1,478,950 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|Ciskei (1972–1994) † ||align="left"| Bisho || 677,920 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|Gazankulu (1971–1994) ||align="left"| Giyani || 954,771 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|KaNgwane (1981–1994) ||align="left"| Louieville<br />Schoemansdal (de facto) || 779,240 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|KwaNdebele (1981–1994) ||align="left"| KwaMhlanga || 404,246 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|KwaZulu (1981–1994) ||align="left"| Nongoma (until 1980)<br />Ulundi (1980–1994) || 5,524,774 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|Lebowa (1972–1994) ||align="left"| Lebowakgomo || 2,740,587 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|QwaQwa (1974–1994) ||align="left"| Phuthaditjhaba || 342,886 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|Transkei (1976–1994) † ||align="left"| Umtata || 2,323,650 || 50px
|-
|align="left"|Venda (1979–1994) † ||align="left"| Thohoyandou || 558,797 || 50px
|-
! Mandates
! Capital
! Peak population
|-
|align="left"|South West Africa ||align="left"| Windhoek || 1,415,000
|}
Footnotes:
:† States for which the homeland was quasi-independent.
See also
- Elections in South Africa
- List of political families in South Africa
- List of renamed places in South Africa
- List of South African politicians
- List of South African provinces by Human Development Index
- Members of the Executive Council (MEC)
- Member of the Provincial Legislature
- Premier (South Africa)
- 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
Cities
- List of municipalities in South Africa
- Municipalities of South Africa
- List of cities and towns in the Eastern Cape
- List of cities and towns in the Free State
- List of cities and towns in Gauteng
- List of cities and towns in KwaZulu–Natal
- List of cities and towns in Limpopo
- List of cities and towns in Mpumalanga
- List of cities and towns in the Northern Cape
- List of cities and towns in the North West (South Africa)
- List of cities and towns in the Western Cape
Transportation
- List of national routes in South Africa
- List of provincial routes in South Africa
- List of regional routes in South Africa
- List of metropolitan routes in South Africa
- Metropolitan routes in East London
- Metropolitan routes in Cape Town
- Metropolitan routes in Johannesburg
- Metropolitan routes in Pretoria
- Metropolitan routes in Durban
- Metropolitan routes in Bloemfontein
- Metropolitan routes in Port Elizabeth
- Metropolitan routes in Pietermaritzburg
- Numbered routes in South Africa
References
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