South Africa

South Africa. Political Environment, Ethnicity and Race. The Parliament of South Africa is a bicameral legislature, consisting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces (NCOP). The Parliament sits in Cape Town. The National Assembly, by far the most important house, is made up of 400 directly-elected members who serve a five-year term. According to Article 50 of the Constitution, the National Assembly may be dissolved by the President before the end of its term if a majority of its members have voted to dissolve and it has been three years since the last election. The Acting President may dissolve the National Assembly if there is no sitting President and the National Assembly has failed to elect a new President within 30 days after the vacancy occurred. The National Assembly has never been dissolved before the end of its term. Race and the related concepts of ethnicity and language has been at the heart of South African history, politics, society, culture and economy since the European colonization. Although South Africa is by no means the most ethnically diverse country in the world, the country remains a complex mix of different races, cultural identities, languages and ethnic bonds. Race and ethnicity became particularly explosive ideas during the apartheid era, when the government used it for political and racial purposes, although racially discriminatory policies and segregation had been in place long before the beginning of apartheid in 1948. The apartheid government created four official racial categories: black, Coloured, white and Asian/Indian