country_of_citizenship bongi sithole
Gauteng , which means " place of gold ", is one of the nine provinces of ___MASK25___ . It was formed from part of the old ___MASK57___ Province after ___MASK25___ ' s first all - race elections on 27 April 1994 . It was initially named Pretoria  Witwatersrand  Vereeniging ( PWV ) and was renamed " Gauteng " in December 1994 . ___MASK92___ ( or ), officially the Republic of ___MASK92___ ( or "") is a country in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east , Tanzania to the north , ___MASK76___ and Zambia to the northwest , ___MASK31___ to the west , and Swaziland and ___MASK25___ to the southwest . It is separated from Madagascar by the ___MASK92___ Channel to the east . The capital and largest city is Maputo ( known as " Lourenço Marques " before independence ). A Bantustan ( also known as Bantu homeland , black homeland , black state or simply homeland ) was a territory set aside for black inhabitants of ___MASK25___ and South West Africa ( now ___MASK24___ ), as part of the policy of apartheid . Ten Bantustans were established in ___MASK25___ , and ten in neighbouring South West Africa ( then under South African administration ), for the purpose of concentrating the members of designated ethnic groups , thus making each of those territories ethnically homogeneous as the basis for creating " autonomous " nation states for ___MASK25___ ' s different black ethnic groups . Pietermaritzburg ( Zulu : umGungundlovu ) is the capital and second - largest city in the province of KwaZulu - Natal , ___MASK25___ and is also regarded as the birth place of legends . It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality . Its Zulu name umGungundlovu is the name used for the district municipality . Pietermaritzburg is popularly called Maritzburg in English and Zulu alike , and often informally abbreviated to PMB . It is a regionally important industrial hub , producing aluminium , timber and dairy products . It is home to many schools and tertiary education institutions , including a campus of the University of KwaZulu - Natal . It had a population of 228 , 549 in 1991 ; the estimated current population is around 500 , 000 ( including neighbouring townships ) and has one of the largest populations of Indian South Africans in ___MASK25___ . ___MASK8___ , officially the Kingdom of ___MASK8___ , is an enclaved , landlocked country in southern Africa completely surrounded by ___MASK25___ . It is just over in size and has a population slightly over two million . Its capital and largest city is Maseru . The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world ' s oceanic divisions , covering ( approximately 20 % of the water on the ___MASK37___ ' s surface ). It is bounded by Asia on the north , on the west by Africa , on the east by Australia , and on the south by the Southern Ocean or , depending on definition , by Antarctica . It is named after the country of India . The Indian Ocean is known as " Ratnkara ", "" the mine of gems "" in ancient Sanskrit literature , and as " Hind Mahsgar ", "" the great Indian sea "", in Hindi . Durban ( from " itheku " meaning " bay / lagoon ") is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu - Natal . Durban ' s metropolitan municipality ranks third among the most populous urban areas in ___MASK25___ after Johannesburg and Cape Town . It is also the second most important manufacturing hub in ___MASK25___ after Johannesburg . It forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality . Durban is famous for being the busiest port in ___MASK25___ . It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism because of the city ' s warm subtropical climate and extensive beaches . The municipality , which includes neighbouring towns , has a population of almost 3 . 5 million , making the combined municipality one of the biggest cities on the Indian Ocean coast of the African continent . It is the largest city in KwaZulu - Natal which is the 2nd most populous province in ___MASK25___ . It has the highest number of dollar millionaires added per year of any South African city with the number rising 200 % between 2000 and 2014 . KwaZulu - Natal ( also referred to as KZN and known as " the garden province ") is a province of ___MASK25___ that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu (" Place of the Zulu " in Zulu ) and Natal Province were merged . It is located in the southeast of the country , enjoying a long shoreline beside the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of ___MASK92___ , ___MASK68___ and Lesotho . Its capital is Pietermaritzburg and its largest city is Durban . It is the 2nd most populous province in ___MASK25___ , with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng . Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination in ___MASK25___ between 1948 and 1991 , when it was abolished . The country ' s first multiracial elections under a universal franchise were held three years later in 1994 . Broadly speaking , apartheid was delineated into " petty apartheid ", which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events , and " grand apartheid ", which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race . Prior to the 1940s , some vestiges of apartheid had already emerged in the form of minority rule by white South Africans and the socially enforced separation of black South Africans from other races , which later extended to pass laws and land apportionment . Apartheid as a policy was embraced by the South African government shortly after the ascension of the National Party ( NP ) during the country ' s 1948 general elections . Apartheid was also enforced in South West Africa until it gained independence as ___MASK24___ in 1990 . uMgungundlovu is one of the 11 district municipalities (" districts ") of KwaZulu - Natal province . The seat of uMgungundlovu is Pietermaritzburg . The majority of its 927 834 people speak Zulu ( 2001 Census ). The district code is DC22 KwaZulu was a bantustan in ___MASK25___ , intended by the apartheid government as a semi - independent homeland for the Zulu people . The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980 . Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma , GCB ( born 12 April 1942 ) is the President of ___MASK25___ , elected by parliament following his party ' s victory in the 2009 general election . He was re - elected in the 2014 election . The African National Congress ( ANC ) is the Republic of ___MASK25___ ' s governing social democratic political party . It has been the ruling party of post - apartheid ___MASK25___ on the national level , beginning with the election of Nelson Mandela in the 1994 election , the first election after the end of apartheid . Today , the ANC remains the dominant political party in ___MASK25___ , winning every election since 1994 . Its leader Jacob Zuma is the incumbent president of ___MASK25___ . ___MASK25___ , officially the Republic of ___MASK25___ ( RSA ), is the southernmost country in Africa . It is bounded on the south by of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans , on the north by the neighbouring countries of ___MASK24___ , Botswana and ___MASK31___ , and on the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland , and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho . ___MASK25___ is the 25th - largest country in the world by land area , and with close to 56 million people , is the world ' s 24th - most populous nation . It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere . It is the only country that borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean . About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub - Saharan African ancestry , divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages , nine of which have official status . The remaining population consists of Africa ' s largest communities of European ( white ), Asian ( Indian ), and multiracial ( coloured ) ancestry . Bongi Sithole is a member of the African National Congress and former mayor of Umgungundlovu District Municipality . In 2008 , she was fired from her mayoral post for the misappropriation of council funds and the appointment of unqualified persons to senior positions . In March 2009 , however , she landed a R620 , 000 - per - annum job with the KwaZulu - Natal government , courtesy of MEC for Local Government Mike Mabuyakhulu . As late as early April , however , local media were reporting that Sithole was out of a job and owed many thousands of Rands to various creditors , and that her furniture and car were soon to be auctioned for the purpose . On 13 April , however , the Inkatha Freedom Party , official opposition to the ANC in KZN , reported that it had been `` reliably informed '' that Sithole had recently been appointed Dispute Resolution Manager in the provincial Department of Local Government , `` in a process riddled with irregularities and irony . '' According to IFP local government spokesperson Peter Smith , `` Sithole was appointed at the end of March in a hurry to fill vacancies across the provincial government before the election . Her job was never advertised and was apparently created for her by the Head of Department Gabi Gumbi - Masilela . '' Smith described the appointment as `` a textbook example of conflict of interest '' , noting that in her new role Sithole will oversee disputes between the department and the municipalities in spite of the fact that Umgungundlovu , the municipality from which she was ousted , is one of them . The Province of Natal , commonly called the Natal Province , was a province of ___MASK25___ from 1910 until 1994 . Its capital was Pietermaritzburg . The Natal Province included the bantustan of KwaZulu . The majority of the white population were English - speaking , causing Natal to become the only province to vote " no " to the creation of a republic in the referendum of 1960 . In the latter part of the 1980s , Natal was in a state of violence that only ended with the first multiracial elections in 1994 . ___MASK68___ , officially the Kingdom of ___MASK68___ ( or ; Swazi : " Umbuso weSwatini " ; sometimes called kaNgwane or Eswatini ), is a sovereign state in Southern Africa . It is neighboured by Mozambique to its northeast and by ___MASK25___ to its north , west and south . The country and its people take their names from Mswati II , the 19th - century king under whose rule Swazi territory was expanded and unified . Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( 18 July 1918  5 December 2013 ) was a South African anti - apartheid revolutionary , ___MASK26___ , and philanthropist , who served as President of ___MASK25___ from 1994 to 1999 . He was the country ' s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election . His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation . Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist , he served as President of the African National Congress ( ANC ) party from 1991 to 1997 . A Xhosa , Mandela was born in Mvezo to the Thembu royal family . He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg . There he became involved in anti - colonial and African nationalist politics , joining the ANC in 1943 and co - founding its Youth League in 1944 . After the National Party ' s white - only government established apartheid  a system of racial segregation that privileged whites  he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow . Mandela was appointed President of the ANC ' s Transvaal branch , rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People . He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial . Influenced by Marxism , he secretly joined the South African Communist Party ( SACP ). Although initially committed to non - violent protest , in association with the SACP he co - founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 and led a sabotage campaign against the government . In 1962 , he was arrested for conspiring to overthrow the state and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial . Mandela served 27 years in prison , initially on Robben Island , and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison . Amid growing domestic and international pressure , and with fears of a racial civil war , President F . W . de Klerk released him in 1990 . Mandela and de Klerk negotiated an end to apartheid and organised the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became President . Leading a broad coalition government which promulgated a new constitution , Mandela emphasised reconciliation between the country ' s racial groups and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses . Economically , Mandela ' s administration retained its predecessor ' s liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs , also introducing measures to encourage land reform , combat poverty , and expand healthcare services . Internationally , he acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as Secretary - General of the Non - Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999 . He declined a second presidential term and in 1999 was succeeded by his deputy , Thabo Mbeki . Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV / AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation . Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life . Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the radical left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid ' s supporters , he gained international acclaim for his activism . Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice , he received more than 250 honours  including the Nobel Peace Prize  and became the subject of a cult of personality . He is held in deep respect within ___MASK25___ , where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name , Madiba , and described as the " Father of the Nation ".