South Africa

## United Republics of South Africa

South Africa, formally United Republics of South Africa is the southernmost country of Africa, it coastline that stretches along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighboring countries of Zambezia, Angola, and to the east and northeast by Mozambique. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. The legislative capital is Cape Town, which serves as the seat of Parliament; Pretoria is the administrative capital. It has long been believed that Bloemfontein is the capital of the judiciary. Johannesburg is the biggest metropolis and home to the highest court.

In South Africa, Black people make up about 80% of the population. Africa's largest groups of European (White South Africans), Asian (Chinese and Indian South Africans), and multiracial (Colored South Africans) ancestry make up the remainder population. The multi-ethnic civilization of South Africa is home to many different cultures, languages, and faiths. The constitution recognizes 12 official languages, which is the fourth-highest number in the world, reflecting its pluralistic nature. The two first languages that people speak the most are Xhosa (16.0%) and Zulu (22.7%), according to the 2011 census. The following two are from Europe: The majority of Colored and White South Africans speak Afrikaans (13.5%), which is derived from Dutch, as their first language; English (9.6%) is more widely used in public and business settings and is a holdover from British colonization.

The nation has had regular elections for nearly a century. But it wasn't until 1994 that the great majority of Black South Africans received their right to vote. The country's recent history and politics have been greatly influenced by the black majority's attempts to get additional rights from the ruling white minority during the 20th century. Apartheid was introduced by the National Party in 1948, formalizing earlier racial isolation. The African National Congress and other anti-apartheid activists waged a mostly nonviolent campaign that resulted in the repeal of discriminatory laws starting in the mid-1980s, both inside and outside the nation. Encompassed in a parliamentary republic and nine provinces, the nation's liberal democracy has guaranteed political representation to every ethnic and linguistic group since 1994. South Africa is commonly referred to as the rainbow nation due to its cultural diversity.

## Pre War Tensions

**Cape independence** (Afrikaans: *Kaapse Onafhanklikheid*; isiXhosa: *Inkululeko yaseKapa*), also known by the portmanteau **CapeXit**, is a political movement that seeks the independence of the Western Cape province (alongside portions of the Eastern and Northern Cape provinces in some proposals) from South Africa. The movement grew in power from 2022-2026 and the first protests would begin throughout the province after ANC crushed down on many of its laws.

### Demographic context

The Western Cape province is the most racially diverse province in South Africa, being the single province with no majority racial group. A plurality of the Cape's inhabitants are 'Colored', a diverse group of people with varying ancestry from Africa, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Just under half of Western Cape inhabitants speak Afrikaans as a first language, with moderate sized minorities speaking isiXhosa and English as their first languages.

### Political context

Mainstream political figures within the Cape Independence Movement include people like John Steenhuisen, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, who has shown support for proposals that would give the Western Cape more autonomy and rights throughout South Africa. Critics of devolution proposals, including African National Congress (ANC) leaders, argue that they amount to covert support for Cape Independence.

### Apartheid years

In the subsequent apartheid years, the people of the Cape Province continued with their liberal traditions. In 1951, whilst in opposition to the National Party led government's move to finally strike all coloreds off the voters roll, the torch commando (a militia of former white and non-white ex military personnel) led many large scale protests in the Cape against those policies, with torch lit marches in Cape Town that drew up to 75,000 protesters. Within parliament, opposition towards apartheid was led under the leadership of the Progressive Party, where the majority of their support was drawn from the Cape Province.

As negotiations to end apartheid began, renewed calls to form a decentralized federal state came from the Democratic Party (successor to the Progressive Party), Freedom Front, and others. In the end, however, through their CODESA accords, the National Party (NP) and African National Congress (ANC) agreed upon a partially-devolved unitary state instead.

### Post-apartheid

With the fall of Apartheid and the implementation of a new constitution, the Cape Province and other provinces were divided into new provinces: The Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and a portion of the North West. During the 1994 election, the Western Cape was one of the only provinces who didn't vote for the ANC, instead opting to vote for the now reformed and non-racial New National Party. Throughout the following years, the ANC never managed to attain an outright majority in the Western Cape, only forming a provincial government once from 2004 to 2009 during a period of strong economic growth. However, with declining growth and increasing political scandals such as the Arms Deal and HIV denial-ism, the Western Cape voted for the Democratic Alliance in 2009 who have been in office ever since.

### First Cape Rebellion

Just before the war in 2026, a newly created militia named the Cape Town Coalition Fighters would launch attacks on ANC buildings in the city of Cape on January 14 of 2024, the rebellion would last roughly 5 months and ended on June 27th 2024 . The government would quickly respond to this as they entered the city. CTCF would occupy the city and fortify themselves as militias push along the coast without direct orders. The rebellion, overall, was incredibly sloppy, which caused a lot of failures in offensives and occupations throughout the province of Western Cape. On April 12th, ANC forces, with foreign aid, would launch a landing on the bay area of Cape, they would capture important docks and buildings within the port and would push through the road systems of the city. Most rebellion leaders would flee underground as their forces surrendered throughout the city. The idea of rebellion remained extremely popular throughout the province even after the failed revolution.