Ducist

**Ducist**, formally the **Federation of Ducist** (Swahili: **Shirikisho la Ducist**), is a federal nation state based in sub-Saharan Africa governed from the capital city of Pretoria. The Federation of Ducist is boarded by the North African Federation to the north and has a boarder with Canto Haven, which is entirely enclaved within Ducist. By 2032, the Federation of Ducist was the largest nation on the African continent.

As one of the largest and most powerful nations in the world, Ducist is considered by some commentators to be an emerging superpower, whilst others maintain that the federation is still just a great power. Within the African continent, Ducist is economically dominant and possesses the largest standing military on the continent. During the 2020s and 2030s, the nation embarked upon a policy of aggressive expansionism and doubled in size thanks to annexations and states voluntary joining the federation - this process was accelerated by the 2027 Global Banking Crisis and the expansion of the Bovido Imperium into northern Africa during the 2030s.

Ducist is nominally a multi-party democratic state, but since it's inception has been dominated overwhelmingly by the Ascendency movement founded by inaugural leader Nelson Mandela. The 2030-31 constitutional crisis only furthered this dominance and allowed President Cyril Ramaphosa to close and undermine all remaining democratic bodies in the nation; since 2031, the nation has largely been regarded as being an one-party state ruled by Ramaphosa as dictator.

The Federation of Ducist is a multicultural society comprised of hundreds of ethnic groups; many different languages are spoken in the nation, although English and Swahili are two of the most common. The state is known as the rainbow nation for it's multi-ethnic composition, and almost every ethnic group receives state protection of their culture and heritage.

Following centuries of colonialism, many regions of Ducist have historical links to the slave trade and colonial dominance by European nations - as such, the regime partakes in the systematic persecution and segregation of those of white European heritage, inspired by a reverse-engineering of the apartheid system utilised in South Africa prior to the collapse of the South African regime and the establishment of Ducist in 1977.

Central to the concept of Ducistian national identity is the belief in the "liberation" of Africa from it's existing regimes so that the entire continent is unified under the rule of the black-led Ducistian federation; this concept of a unified Africa features so prominently in Ducistian culture that a map of Africa features on the national flag.

## Name

Founded on February 1, 1977 from the Transvaal Republic which had emerged from the South African Civil War to replace South Africa, the Federation of Ducist takes its name from a folklore story of a united African nation which would achieve dominance over the continent, a goal which became the central ambition of President Filipe Nyusi (2015 - 2024) and later President Cyril Ramaphosa (2025 - 2030; 2031 -) who both viewed Ducistian dominance as their ultimate legacy, leading to military expansion into neighbouring nations and by the 2030s, the Federation of Ducist would be the largest power in the African continent.

## History

### Uprising

Following the end of British rule in South Africa, the National Party was elected to power in 1948 and began to strengthen the racial segregation begun under Dutch and British colonial rule. Taking Canada's Indian Act as a framework, the nationalist government classified all peoples into three races and developed rights and limitations for each. The white minority (less than 20%) controlled the vastly larger black majority in a legally institutionalised segregation which became known as apartheid. With this new system came fierce opposition and resistance groups began to form amongst black communities, with the African National Congress becoming the most prominent anti-apartheid group within the nation, resorting to violent insurrection in the late 1950s and early 1960s, with one of their most prominent leaders Nelson Mandela being arrested in 1962 for leading a sabotage campaign against the racist South African government.

With much international attention being focused on the arrest of Mandela, the African National Congress only further intensified its efforts against the National Party and apartheid, gaining international support at the start of the 1970s as more governments began to see the racial struggle for what it was. Fearing further violence, South African president Jacobus Johannes Fouché only doubled down on apartheid measures, ironically tipping the country into warfare as the ANC took up arms against President Fouché, beginning the South African civil war which lasted between 1972 and 1976, with the interim Transvaal Republic being founded in 1973 to be the form of government for the ANC controlled areas of the nation during the war.

With the war ongoing, Nelson Mandela was freed from his prison centre and placed as the leader of the Transvaal Republic in 1975, leading the nation to victory against South Africa and overthrowing President Fouchè in 1976. Now as the leader of the former British colony, President Mandela began a transition into the Federation of Ducist from the Transvaal Republic, formally ending all signs of colonial rule with the proclamation of the federation in February 1977. Now at the helm of a new regime, President Mandela began to enact revenge against the white oppressors of the past, purging former apartheid supporters from all paths of life and removing whites from government offices and jobs in order to create a state for the black majority in the new state of Ducist.

### A New Era

Establishing a new centre of government in Pretoria, President Nelson Mandela began the arduous task of bringing the nation back together after the civil war, having taken up a particularly divisive agenda of making Ducist a state for the black majority, removing thousands of whites and former British colonists from offices of state whilst attempting to cement a new regime on the back of the revolutionary ideals which led the African National Congress to power in 1976. Marking the success of the revolution, the ANC was reformed into the Ascendency party in 1977 and to this day remains the largest political force in modern day Ducist; with all traces of the former South Africa gone by 1980, the 4 years of Mandela led dictatorship came to an end in 1980 with the first elections of the new regime, open only to black voters, in which Mandela ran virtually unopposed and won a massive majority in the National Assembly, selecting Thabo Mbeki to become the first Vice President of Ducist in 1980. Having transitioned into a functional parliamentary democracy, President Mandela set about forging relations with other world leaders, such as Brazilian President João Figueiredo, US President Jimmy Carter and Libirachi President Jacob Zuma Sr, all of whom agreed to funding the new regime, whilst under the government of UK Prime Minister James Callaghan, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland refused to recognise the new administration until the premiership of Margret Thatcher began in 1979.

Whilst touring the National Museum of Ducist on September 18, 1999, President Nelson Mandela was shot twice in the abdomen by a gunman at point-blank range, causing the President to bleed out inside the museum whilst waiting for medical assistance, unceremoniously ending the presidency of the nation's founding father. The gunman himself remains unidentified, but would later be killed himself in the very prison Mandela served in by fellow inmates. In accordance with the constitution, executive power was handed over to Vice President Thabo Mbeki, who took over the office of President the same day.

### 21st Century Challenges

Taking over the office of President of Ducist on September 18, 1999, Thabo Mbeki accepted the mandate to finish the final year of President Nelson Mandela's 4th elected term in office and set about initiating further reform to the system created by Oliver Tambo and Mandela in the 1970s, setting a legal precedent that the Vice President can take office as the replacement president for the duration of the former president's term with no constitutional barriers. Attempting to increase Ducist's power in the region, Mbeki worked closely with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, Libirachi President Jacob Zuma Sr and Dunsteenian President Hemult Kohl and later Frank Stienmeier to try to secure Ducist's place in the 21st Century, formally being recognised by all United Nations member states in September 2004. Having secured re-election in 2000, Mbeki continued with many of the Mandela-era policies of black empowerment and economic redistribution, laying the foundations of the Black Economic Empowerment act in his second term in office before loosing office to Kgalema Motlanthe in the 2005 Ducist Presidential Election.

### Socialist Unity Rule

Serving in opposition during the years of the presidencies of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe managed to secure an electoral upset in the 2005 Ducist Presidential Election and secured the office of president from Thabo Mbeki, introducing a vast range of policies in order to level out personal wealth within the nation, such as the Wealth Redistribution Act of 2009 which saw taxes levied on sums of money above certain regional levels and then funded back into projects to raise standards of living. A keen socialist, Kgalema Motlanthe's policies were similar to that of Libirachi President Jacob Zuma Sr, and the two would form a close political partnership until Zuma's deposition in 2010, when following the 2010 Libirachi Presidential Election the nation experienced it's first (semi) democratic transfer of power ever, leading to Motlanthe abandoning his ally in August 2010 in the run-up to the 2010 Ducist Presidential Election in order to help his own electoral chances, although a strong campaign from former president Thabo Mbeki and voters connecting Motlanthe to the deposed dictator of the Libirachi Empire led to Motlanthe himself loosing office on October 1, 2010; just 27 days later Zuma would be executed in the Libirachi Empire, and the Socialist Unity party found itself largelly cut off from support around the world, effectively ending Motlanthe's political career, although he would remain a Senator within the National Assembly until his death in 2023.

### Return of Ascendency

Serving in opposition for 5 years, Mbeki returned to power again in 2010 following the election that year and continued to govern as before with Filipe Nyusi as his vice president, bringing to power future political behemoths such as the future president Cyril Ramaphosa who served as interior minister, or João Lourenço who would become president for a year between 2024 and 2025, and then as Vice President until 2030. During his tenure in office, the Ducistian economy grew at an average rate of 4.5% per year, creating employment in the middle sectors of the economy. The Black middle-class was significantly expanded with the implementation of Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). This growth increased the demand for trained professionals, whose numbers were strained by emigration due to violent crime, but failed to address unemployment amongst the unskilled bulk of the population. He attracted the bulk of Africa's Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and made Ducist the focal point of African growth. He was the architect of NEPAD whose aim is to develop an integrated socio-economic development framework for Africa. Having come to the end of his constitutionally mandated term limit in 2015, Thabo Mbeki retired from politics and a leadership election was held for the role of Chairman of Ascendency, with Vice President Filipe Nyusi taking the office and going on to win the 2015 Ducist Presidential Election, becoming the fifth President of Ducist on October 1, 2015.

### Blossoming World Stage

Winning election following the end of President Thabo Mbeki's second term in office, Filipe Nyusi was inaugurated as President of Ducist on October 1, 2015 and immediately renewed the flagship policy of his predecessor, the Black Economic Empowerment Act, much to the praise of his party and the wider public, opening up large swathes of the population for higher paid, more rewarding jobs, whilst also allowing the economy to grow by an average rate of 6% a year during his first term thanks to libertarian policies on regulation and measurement. Along the same lines, President Nyusi re-negotiated trade deals with Dunsteen, the Libirachi Empire and secured a non-intervention pact with Bovido Has in 2018 upon the appointment of Hazael Buller to the titles of Archbishop and Emperor; following the 2019 Libirachi Coup d'état, Filipe Nyusi was a strong proponent of the new regime from a pragmatic standpoint and became the first world leader to visit Beijing following the Coronation of Fox I in 2019.

Nearing the end of his first term, conflict between his two major allies, the Libirachi Empire and Bovido Has, began to spew over into outright warfare as the Has Wars broke out in 2020 with the Assassination of Hazael Buller, leaving Bovido Has in the hands of two hardliner proponents of the Final Testament, causing Nyusi to abandon the non-interference pact and begin sending financial support to his Libirachi allies during the two year war. With the Federation of Ducist having been backed up by Libirachi loans and funding since the late 1970s, Filipe Nyusi found himself in a difficult position following the death of Libirachi Empress Laura Fox in 2022 and ultimately sided with the Confederacy of Independent Nations after Penny Fox took over the Libirachi government, judging the new regime there to be incompatible with the Ducistian regime and as such the Nyusi government began funding Almac Docu's regime to try and gain favour in the case of a CIN victory in the civil war. Having angered the regime in Beijing, the Libirachi Imperial Security Bureau spent the remainder of the war attempting to topple the Nyusi regime, although due to the taxing demands of the war the Ducist government wasn't toppled until 2024 where members of Ascendency on the payroll of the ISB began to clamour for Nyusi's resignation, before corruption and warmongering charges were launched against Filipe Nyusi leading to his impeachment on November 5, 2024, leading to Vice President João Lourenço taking over the office of president.

### Transfer of Power

Taking over the reigns of Ducist on November 5, 2024 following the impeachment of Filipe Nyusi, João Lourenço also became interim leader of Ascendency and immediately opened up elections for the leadership of the party, allowing Cyril Ramaphosa to secure election to the head of the party. Largely uninterested in the title of Head of State, Lourenço viewed his leadership as a purely transitional tenure, having negotiated a return to the office of Vice President of Ducist in the instance of Ramaphosa winning the 2025 Ducist Presidential Election, effectively putting Ramaphosa in charge of the Lourenço presidency, which began to move towards expansionist policies in line with the Libirachi Empire's new foreign policy, bringing Ducist into the N20 in late 2024, before continuing to serve as a Libirachi puppet government for the southern half of Africa. Presiding over the trial of former president Filipe Nyusi, João Lourenço found his former political ally guilty of corruption and warmongering charges, using the trial to divert attention away from continued expansion northwards into other African nations on the continent. Remembered for his steady governance, the presidency of João Lourenço acted as a pivotal point between the democratic elections of past and the autocratic regime of Cyril Ramaphosa which would soon follow.

### Democratic Decline

Taking office in October 2025, Cyril Ramaphosa inherited a nation with brewing civil tensions and began to enact a slew of aggressive policies to strengthen Ducistian boarders and increase the army, expanding into neighbouring nations to bring them into the Federation of Ducist, earning him the ire of the United States of America and Dunsteen, who attempted to block the annexations through the United Nations, although with a veto from the Libirachi Empire, the motion failed. Subsequently, with the backing of Libirachi Empress Penny Fox, Cyril Ramaphosa was able to consolidate his position in the south of Africa, creating by far the most advanced nation in the continent on the bankroll of Libirachi grants and loans. However, with this new power came political foes, and the Socialist Unity party formed a broad political coalition under Alpha Cantorsta which managed to unseat Ramaphosa at the 2030 Ducist Presidential Election, forcing him to concede victory to the Socialist Unity party with Cantorsta at its head. Unwilling to led power slip away from his grasp, Cyril Ramaphosa put together a coup force to oust president-elect Alpha Cantorsta, using his friendship with General Idi Amin to orchestrate a plot to rid Ducist of a new present. Firing his cabinet and vice president on September 10, 2030 and replacing them with interim members of cabinet, Ramaphosa effectively toppled the chain of succession in preparation of an attack on the new president.

### Constitutional Crisis

Following President Ramaphosa's loss to Alpha Cantorsta of the Socialist Unity party, General Amin joined a coup force to make sure the president-elect never took office, and with the firing of his cabinet and vice president on September 10, 2030, Ramaphosa effectively toppled the chain of succession in preparation of an attack on the new president. Formally handing off power at Noon on October 1, 2030, Ramaphosa was on the stage for the assassination of Cantorsta, just as the president-elect was in the process of taking the oath of office, leading to sheer chaos as the crowd scattered. Appointing himself as President of Ducist from the Ministry of Defence building later on the same day, General Idi Amin bypassed parliament and had it shut in a political power grab, instead creating the Transitional Council of Ducist on October 5, 2030, appointing Cyril Ramaphosa as the Prime Minister of the council and later transferring power over to the former President for a second term on January 10, 2031.

### Authoritarian Dominance

Returning to power with a vengeance, Cyril Ramaphosa began to attack the very fabrics of the democracy he led and within a year had dismantled many institutions and checks on his power in order to rule virtually unopposed, with his vice president Saara Amadhila heading up the Council of the People which served as a replacement to the National Assembly of Ducist which remained shut following the 2030-31 Ducist Constitutional Crisis and the presidency of General Idi Amin, which Ramaphosa is widely regarded as having led behind the scenes. Virtually unopposed in his leadership, President Ramaphosa began to ally himself closer to the Libirachi Empire and Persia in Asia, both of which were dictatorial regimes akin to his administration in Ducist, and the pair began to bankroll Ramaphosa's expansions into Africa, securing the willing ascension of Cameroon into the Federation of Ducist in 2032, a large political success for the regime. Despite his support from Libirachi and Persian backers, Ramaphosa refused to ally with their puppet state of the United Arab Republic right up until a Bovido Imperium invasion of Africa led to a risk to Ducist's sovereignty in 2033, forcing Ramaphosa to join into the Conquest of Africa and forge war against the Bovido Imperium, securing backing from his Asian allies but also the free state of Canto Haven on the coast of Lake Victoria.

## See Also

* List of Leaders of Ducist
* Transitional Council of Ducist