South Africa is a constitutional democracy with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary. The national, provincial and local levels of government all have legislative and executive authority in their own spheres, and are defined in the Constitution as distinctive, interdependent and interrelated.
Operating at both national and provincial levels are advisory bodies drawn from South Africa’s traditional leaders. It is a stated intention in the Constitution that the country be run on a system of cooperative governance. Government is committed to the building of a free, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, united and successful South Africa.
Parliament (national)
• National Assembly (350 – 400 members)
• National Council of Provinces (90 delegates)
Cabinet (national)
• President
• Deputy President
• Ministers
Provincial Legislature
Executive council
• Premier
• Members of the Executive Council
Courts including the:
• Constitutional Court
• Supreme Court of Appeal
• High courts
• Magistrates' courts
The Judicial Service Commission appoints judges.
State institutions supporting democracy
• Public Protector
• Human Rights Commission
• Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities
• Commission for Gender Equality
• Auditor-General of South Africa
• Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
• Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)
Government clusters are groupings of government departments with cross-cutting programmes. They foster an integrated approach to governance that is aimed at improving government planning, decision-making and service delivery. The main objective is to ensure proper coordination of all government programmes at national and provincial levels.
The main functions of the clusters are to ensure the alignment of government-wide priorities, facilitate and monitor the implementation of priority programmes and to provide a consultative platform on cross-cutting priorities and matters being taken to Cabinet.
The clusters of the Forum of South African Directors-General (FOSAD) mirror the ministerial clusters. The FOSAD clusters provide technical support to the ministerial clusters.The Director-General (DG) in The Presidency is the chairperson of FOSAD. Ministers enter into delivery agreements with the President, having to give progress reports on their departments’ set targets.
Economic Sectors, Investment, Employment and Infrastructure Development
The departments in this cluster are:
Co-Chairpersons:
Governance, State Capacity and Institutional Development
The departments in this cluster are:
Co-Chairpersons:
Social Protection, Community and Human Development
The departments in this cluster are:
Co-Chairpersons:
International Cooperation, Trade and Security
The departments in this cluster are:
Co-Chairpersons:
Justice, Crime Prevention and Security
The departments in this cluster are:
Co-Chairpersons:
The NDP is South Africa’s socio-economic policy blueprint that focuses, among other things, on:
This function monitors the quality of management practices in government departments through the Management Performance Assessment Tool. The Frontline Service Delivery Monitoring programme of IPME is responsible for designing and implementing hands-on service delivery monitoring activities with Offices of the Premier and for setting up and supporting the implementation of citizens-based monitoring systems.
The programme has also been successful in elevating monitoring and evaluation to strategic levels in certain sector departments, several of which have developed their own iterations of the programme. One of the key focuses of the programme is on monitoring the implementation of the National Youth Policy. The Presidential Hotline is also located in this branch.
The programme assesses the following:
The NDP sets out a long-term vision for the country and is the programme through which South Africa aims to advance radical economic transformation through development planning. Government’s 2019 – 2024 Medium Term Strategic Framework outlines the priorities to be implemented in the Sixth Administration and the interventions required across South Africa’s national development pillars.
The seven priorities are:
Source: South Africa Yearbook 2022/23
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