Provinces of South Africa

The division of South Africa into different administrative regions can be divided into three distinct periods, of which the first two fade into one another.

From the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, the main division was into four provinces. As early as 1913, however, ownership of land by the black majority was restricted to certain areas covering about 13% of the country, and from the late 1950s these areas were gradually consolidated into "homelands" (also known as bantustans) to serve as the de jure national states of the black population in fulfilment of the white minority government's policy of apartheid. 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.

From 1994 onwards, South Africa has been divided into nine provinces. The former homelands were reintegrated into the Republic on the eve of the April 1994 general election which ended minority rule.

1910-1994

Provinces

• Cape Province - capital Cape Town
• Natal - Pietermaritzburg[?]
• Orange Free State[?] - Bloemfontein
• Transvaal - Pretoria

"Independent" homelands

• Bophutatswana - Mmabatho (declared independent 1977)
• Ciskei[?] - Bisho[?] (1981)
• Transkei - Umtata (1976)
• Venda[?] - Thohoyandou[?] (1979)

Non-independent homelands

• Gazankulu[?]
• KaNgwane[?]
• KwaNdebele[?]
• KwaZulu[?] - Ulundi
• Lebowa[?]
• Qwaqwa

1994-present

Provinces

• Eastern Cape[?] - Bisho[?] (other cities: East London[?], Port Elizabeth[?])
• Free State[?] - Bloemfontein/Mangaung (other city: Welkom[?])
• Gauteng[?], previously Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging[?] - Johannesburg (other cities: Pretoria, Soweto)
• KwaZulu-Natal - Ulundi (other cities: Durban[?], Pietermaritzburg[?])
• Mpumalanga[?], previously Eastern Transvaal[?] - Nelspruit[?]
• Limpopo, previously Northern Province - Pietersburg (renamed 2002 Polokwane)
• Northern Cape[?] - Kimberley[?]
• North West[?] - Mmabatho
• Western Cape[?] - Cape Town