Provinces of South Africa

South Africa is currently divided into nine provinces. On the eve of the 1994 general election, South Africa's former homelands, also known as Bantustans, were reintegrated and the four existing provinces were divided into nine. The twelfth, thirteenth and sixteenth amendments to the constitution changed the borders of seven of the provinces. The provinces are as follows:

Province	Capital	Largest city	Area (km²)	Population (2007)	Pop. density (per km²)
Eastern Cape	Bhisho	Port Elizabeth	169,580	6,527,747	38.5
Free State	Bloemfontein	Bloemfontein	129,480	2,773,059	21.4
Gauteng	Johannesburg	Johannesburg	17,010	10,451,713	614.4
KwaZulu-Natal	Pietermaritzburg²	Durban	92,100	10,259,230	111.4
Limpopo	Polokwane	Polokwane	123,910	5,238,286	42.3
Mpumalanga	Mbombela	Mbombela	79,490	3,643,435	45.8
North West	Mafikeng	Rustenburg	116,320	3,271,948	28.1
Northern Cape	Kimberley	Kimberley	361,830	1,058,060	2.9
Western Cape¹	Cape Town	Cape Town	129,370	5,278,585	40.8

¹: The Prince Edward Islands, South African territories in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean that are part of the Western Cape for legal purposes, are not included in these statistics.

²: Pietermaritzburg and Ulundi were joint capitals of KwaZulu-Natal from 1994 to 2004.

History

Since the establishing of the Union of South Africa in 1910, South Africa had four provinces consisting of the divisions which existed prior to the Second Boer War: two British colonies (the Cape Colony and Natal Colony) and two Boer republics (the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republic). Segregation of the black population started as early as 1913, with ownership of land by the black majority being restricted to certain areas totaling about 13% of the country. From the late 1950s, these areas were gradually consolidated into "homelands" or "bantustans," which served as the de jure national states of the black population during the apartheid era. In 1976, the homeland of Transkei was the first to accept independence from South Africa, and although this independence was never acknowledged by any other country, three other homelands followed suit.

Provinces from 1910 to 1994

• Cape Province (Cape Town)
• Natal (Pietermaritzburg)
• Orange Free State (Bloemfontein)
• Transvaal (Pretoria)

Independent Homelands

These Independent Homelands were known as the TBVC States.

• Transkei (Mthatha). Declared independent in 1976.
• Bophuthatswana (Mmabatho). Declared independent in 1977.
• Venda (Thohoyandou). Declared independent in 1979
• Ciskei (Bhisho). Declared independent in 1981.

Non-Independent Homelands

• Gazankulu (Giyani)
• KaNgwane (Louieville)
• KwaNdebele (Siyabuswa)
• KwaZulu (Ulundi)
• Lebowa (Lebowakgomo)
• Qwaqwa (Phuthaditjhaba)

See also

• Elections in South Africa
• Prince Edward Islands
• Ranked list of South African provinces
• Walvis Bay
• ISO 3166-2:ZA