The National Assembly, the main legislative house of South Africa’s bicameral Parliament, elects the president to serve concurrently with its five-year terms. Parliament can vote to replace the president at any time, and presidents can serve a maximum of two terms of five years each.

In June 2024, the National Assembly reelected incumbent President Cyril Ramaphosa, leader of the ANC, for a second term. After several weeks of negotiations, Ramaphosa announced the formation of a coalition government in July. The ANC and its main political rival, the Democratic Alliance (DA), make up the majority of coalition government, which Ramaphosa has described as a "government of national unity,” and are supported by several smaller parties.

The 400-seat National Assembly is elected to five-year terms by party-list proportional representation. The 90 members of the upper chamber, the National Council of Provinces, are selected by provincial legislatures.

Parliamentary and provincial elections were concurrently held in May 2024. The ANC secured approximately 40 percent of the vote share, winning 159 seats but losing the outright majority for the first time in decades. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), won 21 percent of the vote share and 87 seats, followed by the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party with 14 percent of the vote share and 58 seats. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) won 39 seats; the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) won 17 seats; the Patriotic Alliance (PA) won 9; the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) and ActionSA each took 6; and both the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) took 3. Eight other parties obtained either one or two seats each.

The election results were generally accepted by stakeholders, including the ANC leadership. However, following the polls, former President Jacob Zuma, leader of the MK party, alleged that the vote had been marred by numerous undefined irregularities. In June, the MK party filed a legal challenge seeking to overturn the outcome of the May election. The party was unable to substantiate its claims of electoral irregularities, and withdrew its application to nullify the election results in July. The party later made another attempt to challenge the election results; these efforts remained ongoing at year’s end. Despite Zuma’s protests, the election was deemed free and fair by South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), as well as by international observation missions from the African Union (AU) and the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA).

The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) is largely considered independent, and the electoral framework is considered fair.

Since the enactment of electoral law amendments in 2023, independent candidates are permitted to contest seats in the provincial legislatures and National Assembly. Independent candidates must obtain 1,000 signatures for eligibility, while new political parties are required to obtain a number of signatures equal to 15 percent of the previous election’s quota to qualify. Independent candidates are restricted to contesting only 200 out of the 400 National Assembly seats. A small number of independent candidates participated in the May 2024 elections, the first time independent candidates were permitted to run, although none were able to meet the proportional representation threshold required to gain a seat in the National Assembly.

Under South African law, individuals convicted of a crime and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison are ineligible to contest or hold a seat in the National Assembly for at least 5 years following the completion of the sentence. In March 2024, the IEC announced that former President Jacob Zuma, leader of the new MK party, would not be permitted to contest the May election; this decision was overturned by the country’s electoral court in April. A Constitutional Court decision in May, however, upheld the ban on Zuma’s candidacy, ruling that the former president was not eligible to stand for election due to his 2021 conviction for failing to attend a corruption trial and the corresponding 15-month prison sentence.

Despite the ANC’s historic electoral dominance, the political environment is generally free from formal constraints, and opposition parties, including newer political groups, have gained ground in recent elections. Dozens of new political parties emerged to contest the 2024 general election, and several were able to win representation in the National Assembly following the vote. The MK party was the most successful of the new parties, winning nearly 15 percent of the vote, a record high for a new party competing at the national level.

Political violence remains a serious threat to free choice in South African politics. While the 2024 general election featured less electoral violence than similar contests in the past, numerous targeted political killings were reported both before and after the polls.

The May 2024 general election saw the ANC lose its absolute majority in the National Assembly for the first time since 1994. Prior to the election, the ANC also governed eight of South Africa’s nine provinces with an outright majority, but following the vote, lost its majority in three provinces.

Although the ANC remains the largest party in the parliament, opposition parties made significant gains in the polls, increasing their power within the government. These electoral victories also required the ANC to negotiate with the opposition in order to form a governing coalition. Following several weeks of negotiations, the ANC and its main political rival, the DA, formed a coalition government with the support of numerous smaller opposition parties in July.

Score Change: The score improved from 3 to 4 because opposition parties made significant gains in national and provincial elections, denying the ruling party a national majority for the first time in decades and compelling it to negotiate with other groups on the formation of a coalition government.

People’s political choices in South Africa are largely free from domination by external actors, and the military stays out of politics. However, there is widespread corruption within the ANC; party officials have been accused of buying delegates’ votes to the party conference and paying bribes to influence political appointments. Allegations of state capture prompted a judicial inquiry led by former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, which concluded in 2022. The government has committed to implementing recommendations issued by the Zondo Commission.

Transparency activists have expressed concern that political parties are failing to properly disclose the total sum of donations that they receive, as well as withholding information about the sources of the funding, despite laws requiring them to do so.

The Electoral Matters Amendment Act, enacted in May 2024, makes it an offense to make donations in order to gain political influence or favor. The legislation, however, also removed the existing disclosure threshold of 100,000 rand ($5,400) for party funding and a 15 million rand ($815,000) cap on donations per donor per year. Civil society group My Vote Counts asked the court to declare the omission of such limitations unconstitutional, and, in August, the High Court ruled that until new thresholds and limits are determined, the old ones will apply.

The constitution prohibits discrimination and provides full political rights for all adult citizens. Women are well represented in government, holding 45 percent of seats in the National Assembly. South Africa has one of the world’s most liberal legal environments for LGBT+ people. However, discrimination and the threat of violence can discourage LGBT+ people from political participation in practice.

Pervasive corruption and apparent interference by nonelected actors have hampered the proper functioning of government, particularly during the Zuma administration.

The final report of the Zondo Commission, a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture, was released in 2022, and recommended that the government investigate and prosecute several high-level ANC politicians on criminal corruption charges. According to the report, the governing ANC enabled corruption on a large scale during the Zuma administration, especially through the awarding of government contracts to businesses owned by or linked to the Gupta business family.

Comprehensive anticorruption laws and several agencies tasked with combating corruption exist, but enforcement has historically been inadequate. Several former and current government officials accused of corruption have not been prosecuted. The Auditor General has outlined in past annual reports that accountability failures have not been addressed. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has struggled to win high-profile state capture cases, raising doubts about its competency, and has also failed to secure the extradition of members and associates of the Gupta family to South Africa.

In August 2024, the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) was established as a permanent, independent anticorruption unit within the NPA. The IDAC is tasked with investigating and prosecuting high profile and complex corruption cases. During the year, the government also worked to strengthen the country’s anti–money laundering mechanisms and to increase investigations and prosecutions of such crimes.

South African authorities pursued numerous state capture– and corruption-related investigations and prosecutions during 2024, and many remained ongoing at year’s end. During the year, President Ramaphosa issued numerous proclamations authorizing the Special Investigating Unit (SIU)—a state agency with the power to litigate to recover misappropriated funds—to investigate allegations of corruption and maladministration within several government departments and state-owned companies. However, progress on implementing anticorruption mechanisms in line with recommendations issued by the Zondo Commission has been uneven. Efforts to prosecute corruption-related offenses face significant obstacles and are often unsuccessful, or progress very slowly.

Section 32(1) of the South African constitution states that everyone has the right to access “any information held by the state” and requires that private bodies release information necessary for the exercise and protection of rights. The 2000 Promotion of Access to Information Act created a framework for access to information procedures in both public and private entities. The IEC regularly publicizes donations that have been disclosed by political parties. However, in practice the procedure of accessing information is laborious and bureaucratic. A lack of transparency and a lack of competitive bidding have affected the awarding of government contracts.

The ANC has faced criticism for its “cadre deployment” strategy—the appointment of party-recommended officials to key roles in state institutions—which its opponents say has contributed to high-level government corruption. In February 2024, the Constitutional Court ruled that the ANC must give the Democratic Alliance its records documenting the party’s practice of cadre deployment dating back to 2013. Documentary evidence on the practice was provided by the ANC in March, but was heavily redacted; in April, the Johannesburg High Court found the ANC to be in contempt of the original order, and ordered the party to release unredacted records on its cadre deployment decisions. The ANC applied for leave to appeal the April order, but the Johannesburg High Court denied the party’s application in an October ruling.

In July, President Ramaphosa signed the Public Procurement Act into law. It contains measures to bolster transparency and accountability, including the establishment of a procurement tribunal, but had not been brought into force as of year’s end. The state capture judicial inquiry and the Auditor General have identified state procurement processes as vulnerable to corrupt practices.

Freedoms of expression and the press are constitutionally protected and generally respected in practice. South Africa features a vibrant and adversarial media landscape, including independent civic groups that help expose government malpractice and efforts to encroach on freedom of expression. Journalists are not protected from lawsuits that seek to intimidate and silence critics.

South Africa’s public broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), was not subject to undue government interference and was generally able to provide independent news coverage during the 2024 election period. Prior to the 2024 general election, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), a regulatory and broadcast licensing body, directed broadcasters to ensure equal treatment of all political parties and candidates.

Freedom of religion is constitutionally guaranteed and actively protected by the government. Religious leaders are largely free to engage in discussions of a political nature without fear of adverse consequences.

Academic freedom in South Africa is constitutionally guaranteed and actively protected by the government.

South Africans are generally free to engage in private conversations of a political nature without risk of harassment. In 2023, the National Assembly approved the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication–Related Information Amendment Bill. This bill sought to implement a Constitutional Court ruling that instructed Parliament to fix provisions of an existing law protecting civilians from unwarranted state surveillance. The bill includes additional protections for practicing lawyers and journalists subjected to surveillance and gives a designated judge the power to review the conduct of surveillance measures. President Ramaphosa returned the bill to the National Assembly for further review in November 2024.

Freedom of assembly is constitutionally guaranteed and generally respected. South Africa has a vibrant protest culture. Demonstrators must notify police of events ahead of time, but are rarely prohibited from gathering; in 2018, the Constitutional Court ruled that a failure to notify authorities of intent to protest could not be classified as a crime. Protests over the government’s shortcomings in the provision of public services are common in South Africa, though they sometimes turn violent. Police have faced accusations of provoking some protest violence.

South Africa hosts a vibrant civil society. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can register and operate freely, and lawmakers regularly accept input from NGOs on pending legislation. However, litigation initiated by foreign NGOs has proven aggravating to policymakers, who now see NGOs as political actors capable of blocking policy choices.

South African courts heard a number of high-profile legal cases involving NGOs during 2024. In one such case in December, the so-called Cancel Coal case, a High Court judge ruled in favor of a group of environmental rights NGOs, finding that the government’s plan to fund additional coal-fired power generation was not legal. Despite ongoing tensions between the government and NGOs over such litigation, the government has generally complied with court orders, including those that ruled against its position.

South African workers are generally free to form, join, and participate in independent trade unions, and the country’s labor laws offer unionized workers a litany of protections. Contract workers and those in the informal sector enjoy fewer safeguards. Strike activity is very common, and unionized workers often secure above-inflation wage increases. Union rivalries, especially in mining, sometimes result in the use of violent tactics to recruit and retain members and to attack opponents.

The constitution guarantees judicial independence, and courts operate with substantial autonomy in practice. Courts have ruled against the government in several high-profile cases. In one such instance in March 2024, the electoral court ruled against the ANC, rejecting the then ruling party’s request to deregister former President Zuma’s new MK party ahead of the May election.

The Judicial Service Commission (JSC) is an independent body responsible for enforcing the judicial code of ethics. In 2023, the commission recommended the impeachment of Judge John Hlophe following a yearslong investigation into allegations that Hlophe had attempted to influence court decisions to favor former President Jacob Zuma. Hlophe was found guilty of gross misconduct by the Judicial Conduct Tribunal, and the findings were endorsed by Parliament’s justice committee.

In February 2024, the National Assembly voted to impeach Hlophe. In May, Hlophe was elected to the legislature as a member of former President Zuma’s MK party. Following his inauguration, legislators voted to appoint Hlophe to serve on the JSC. His appointment to the JSC was contested by the Democratic Alliance and civil society groups, and in September, the Western Cape High Court temporarily barred Hlophe from participating in certain JSC activities pending a full review of the constitutionality of his appointment to the JSC. Hlophe ultimately resigned as a member of the JSC in October, but a review of the constitutionality of his appointment to the commission remains ongoing in the courts.

In July 2024, President Ramaphosa appointed Judge Mandisa Maya as chief justice of the Republic of South Africa. Maya, who replaced former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo at the end of his 12-year tenure, became the first woman to hold the position.

Score Change: The score improved from 3 to 4 because the judiciary has demonstrated more robust independence in its rulings in recent years.

Shortages of judicial staff and a lack of financial resources undermine defendants’ due process rights, including the right to a timely trial and state-funded legal counsel. Many detainees wait months for their trials to begin, and some are held beyond the legal maximum of two years.

South Africa is free from outright conflict and insurgency. However, the crime rate is high: according to official police sources, approximately 200,000 people were killed in South Africa between 2013 and 2023. Armed robbery and kidnappings are prevalent; according to the annual crime statistics published by the South African Police Service (SAPS), more than 17,000 kidnappings were recorded between April 2023 and March 2024.

In recent years, individuals and criminal gangs involved in illegal mining operations have threatened the safety of communities near the mines. The police and army have launched joint security operations to address the problem of illicit mining.

The constitution prohibits discrimination based on a range of categories, including race, sexual orientation, and culture. State bodies such as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the Office of the Public Protector are empowered to investigate and prosecute discrimination cases. Affirmative-action legislation has benefited previously disadvantaged racial groups in public and private employment and in education, but racial imbalances in the workforce persist. White people, constituting a small minority, still own a majority of the country’s business assets.

The constitution guarantees equal rights for women, which are actively promoted by the Commission on Gender Equality. Nevertheless, women are subject to wage discrimination in the workplace and are poorly represented in top management positions. According to the United Association of South Africa, women typically earn between 23 and 35 percent less than their male counterparts.

In July 2023, President Ramaphosa signed into law a constitutional amendment making sign language South Africa’s twelfth official language, which means that it must be promoted like any of the country’s other 11 official languages.

While there are no official restrictions on housing, employment, or freedom of movement for most South Africans, travel and some other personal freedoms are inhibited by the country’s high crime rate.

The state generally protects citizens from arbitrary deprivation of property. However, looting incidents in recent years suggest that authorities lack the capacity to protect private property from violent responses to tense political moments. The vast majority of farmland remains in the hands of White South Africans, who make up some 9 percent of the population. Illegal squatting on White-owned farms is common, as are attacks on White farm-owners.

In a 2017 party conference, the ANC resolved that there was a need to expropriate land without compensation for redistribution purposes, on the condition that such expropriation should not negatively affect the economy or compromise food security. In 2022, the National Assembly passed the Expropriation Bill, which would enable the expropriation of property with “nil compensation” where it is in the “public interest” to do so. The government contends that the bill, which had not been signed into law as of year-end 2024, does not violate property rights provided in the constitution.

In recent years, certain sectors, particularly those tied to construction and infrastructure development, have been targeted with extortion schemes run by organized criminal groups, which can at times hinder the work of both private and public sector infrastructure developers.

Despite a robust legal framework criminalizing domestic violence and rape, gender-based violence remains a grave challenge in South Africa. According to official police statistics, the murders of 5,578 women were recorded between April 2023 and March 2024, an increase of 33.8 percent compared to the previous reporting period. Violent crimes against children also significantly increased during the same period.

In May 2024, President Ramaphosa signed into law the National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Act. Among other things, the legislation provides for the establishment of a multistakeholder council to advise government and civil society on tackling gender-based violence and femicide.

Same-sex couples have the same adoption rights as heterosexual married couples, and same-sex marriage is legal.

Inequality levels in South Africa are among the highest in the world. Only a small percentage of the population benefits from large state industries, and the economy is controlled by a relatively small number of people belonging to the political and business elite. South Africa’s deteriorating economic position has triggered some politicians to consider limiting the involvement of foreigners in some business sectors.

South Africans—predominantly those from rural regions—as well as foreign migrants, are vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor. Organized criminal syndicates are responsible for the bulk of trafficking.

Illegal mining is a problem. In recent years, there has been an uptick in undocumented foreign nationals scavenging disused mining operations. These individuals often die in violent clashes with each other or by encountering toxic underground gasses, and have also terrorized communities near the mines. Illegal mining operations often rely on the forced labor of undocumented migrants, including children. The army has joined police efforts to curb illegal mining. Throughout 2024, security forces carried out raids on major illegal mining operations, arresting approximately 12,000 individuals working at illegal mining sites.