The government also faced a host of daunting institutional problems associated with the transition to a post-apartheid society. Blacks entered the public service; Anti-apartheid guerrillas became members of the police and army; And new local governments, encompassing both the old white cities and their satellites of black townships, emerged. Labour disputes, criminal violence and conflicts between Zulu factions, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, continued. The IFP (which supported a new provincial constitution granting full autonomy to KwaZulu-Natal but was crushed by the Constitutional Court) refused to participate in the process that led to the creation of the new national constitution, which Parliament adopted in May 1996. Parliament revised the constitution in October after it was reviewed by the Constitutional Court. Mandela signed it in December of the same year. Also in 1996, the National Party left the government to form a “dynamic but responsible” opposition. The main national agency created during Mandela`s presidency was the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), which was set up to examine atrocities committed during the apartheid years. It was founded in 1995 under the leadership of Archbishop Tutu and was given the power to grant amnesty to those who committed “gross violations of human rights” in mitigating circumstances.
The Commission released the first five volumes of its final report on October 29, 1998 and the other two volumes on March 21, 2003. In total, the TRC received more than 7,000 amnesty applications, held more than 2,500 amnesty hearings, and granted about 1,500 amnesties for thousands of crimes committed during the apartheid years. Other judicial proceedings were initiated against applicants who had not benefited from the amnesty. In March 2005, Deputy President Jacob Zuma, widely seen as Mbeki`s successor as ANC president and eventually president of the country, was sacked by Mbeki for corruption and fraud. The following year, Zuma was tried on an independent charge of rape. He was acquitted of rape charges in May 2006, and corruption charges were dropped later that year. Despite repeated allegations of misconduct that his supporters claimed were politically motivated, Zuma remained a popular figure within the ANC and was elected party leader against Mbeki at the ANC`s December 2007 conference, one of the most controversial leadership battles in the party`s history. Later that month, Zuma was again charged with corruption and fraud, and further charges were brought against him. All charges were eventually dropped in September 2008 due to a legal formality, but prosecutors from the National Prosecutor`s Office (NPA) promised to appeal the verdict. Zuma`s popularity has continued to erode due to scandals. In March 2016, his relationship with the Gupta family, which was already considered controversial, was called into question when allegations surfaced that the family had promised government portfolios to some people. Also in March, Nkandla`s issue came to the fore again when the Constitutional Court ordered Zuma to reimburse the state for some of the upgrades to his home.
In addition, the court reprimanded him for his disregard for the Québec Ombudsman`s findings, saying it was a failure to “maintain, defend and respect” the Constitution. The following month, Zuma faced a call for impeachment from the National Assembly. Although he survived, many, including some senior ANC officials, called for his resignation or recall. Later in April, corruption allegations against Zuma, which the NPA dropped in 2009, came back into the news when a Supreme Court ruling concluded that the decision to drop the charges was not rational and should be reviewed and overturned. Both Zuma and the NPA asked to appeal the decision: the NPA filed a petition with the Constitutional Court, which rejected the request, and Zuma filed a petition with the Supreme Court, which allowed Zuma`s legal team to present arguments as to why they could present Zuma`s case. After the rejection by the Constitutional Court, the NPA also appealed to the Supreme Court. In October 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the corruption allegations should not have been dismissed and could be reopened. After a review period, the NPA announced in March 2018 that it would reopen 16 charges against Zuma related to corruption, money laundering, extortion and fraud. The next national elections were held on 8 May 2019. The ANC received the most votes, but with an electorate unhappy with the long-standing culture of corruption and scandal, economic problems and racial inequality that persisted more than two decades after the end of apartheid, the party`s victory was the closest victory since it came to power.
The National Assembly voted on May 22 for Ramaphosa to remain president, and he was sworn in three days later. In the days that followed, he announced his new cabinet, in which women held half of the positions; It was the first gender-balanced cabinet in South Africa`s history. The largest student protests since apartheid took place in October 2015, sparked by the announcement of an increase in tuition fees for the upcoming academic year. The poorest, mostly black students said they could not afford the increase, which would perpetuate the inequalities of the apartheid era, when South Africans could access higher education. After a week of protests in which many universities were closed, Zuma announced that there would be no fee increase for 2016. However, protests continued in some schools, with students demanding both free education and other demands that later included decolonized education. In the fall of 2016, protests picked up steam as an increase in tuition fees was expected for 2017. With Ramaphosa`s past commercial success and commitment to fighting corruption, his rise to the presidency has sparked much optimism in South Africa and abroad.
He quickly ordered investigations into alleged corruption in two government-controlled entities: ESKOM, the electricity company, and Transnet, a transport and logistics company. In February 2019, Ramaphosa announced the creation of a special court to speed up the processing of corruption cases and recover stolen public funds. It began its work in October. The ANC won almost two-thirds of the vote in 1994, the National Party just over a fifth, and the IFP most of the rest; All three received proportional representation in Cabinet. The ANC also became the majority party in seven of the provinces, but the IFP won a majority in KwaZulu-Natal, and the National Party – supported by mixed-race people (people formerly classified as “coloured” under apartheid) and white voters – won a majority in the Western Cape. Mandela was sworn in as president of the new South Africa on May 10 before a huge crowd that included the UN Secretary-General, 45 heads of state and delegations from many other countries. Thabo Mbeki, a senior ANC official, and de Klerk both became vice-presidents. Meanwhile, in August 2016, the ANC experienced its worst election result since coming to power in 1994.
In this month`s local elections, the ANC received less than 60 percent of the vote and lost control of key urban areas. The election results were widely seen as an indication that the electorate was frustrated with the performance of ANC-led governments at all levels, economic decline and high unemployment, as well as scandals and allegations of corruption surrounding Zuma. The issue of corruption was raised again a few months later when another investigative report was released by Madonsela`s office, this time focusing on allegations that members of the Gupta family had exerted undue influence over Zuma and other officials. The report, which was due to be published in mid-October, was initially delayed by a legal challenge by Zuma; He withdrew his challenge on November 2 and the report was released later that day. She did not accuse Zuma or anyone else of committing crimes, but mentioned several cases of possible wrongdoing and demanded that the allegations be further investigated by a forensic investigation team. The report led to a vote of no confidence in Zuma in the National Assembly, which was not passed. The Nkandla controversy made headlines again, this time in December 2017, when the Constitutional Court ruled that the National Assembly had failed to hold Zuma accountable for his actions related to the scandal. The court ordered the panel to establish procedures for impeaching a president that should be followed in the future. The case, which had been taken to court by the EFF and other opposition parties, and the verdict increased pressure on Zuma and the ANC, raising the specter that Zuma would face impeachment again or that the ANC would try to force him to resign in advance to avoid political damage.
that such a procedure would provoke in the run-up to the 2019 national elections.