Politics in the Mother City
Cape Town is the legislative capital of South Africa- home
to the national parliament. Cape Town is also capital of
the Western Cape.
The National Parliament, located in the aptly named Parliament
Street in Companies Gardens in the Centre of Town, was built
in 1884, housing three chambers. Only two of those chambers
are used by the National Assembly and the National Council
of Provinces.
Three political parties dominate the landscape both in
the province and nationally. The African National Congress,
Democratic Alliance and New National Party are the main
parties.
Elections are contested every five years for provincial
and national governments, the next general elections are
due to be held in April 2004. Local government elections
are also held every five years but not at the same time
as national and provincial elections.
The City of Cape Town is currently run by a coalition that
consists of the ANC and the NNP. The two former political
foes have joined forces to run the city and province. The
DA is the opposition party in the city; it formerly ran
the city in coalition with the NNP before the two parted
ways in 2002.
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