Why does South Africa have three capitals?

Question

This is an extra credit question at my school. I need the answer by Friday.

Answer 1

each province has its own capital...........that makes 9
Pretoria is the countries capital
Cape town is the seat of parliment..............that is the parlimentary capital
Bloemfontein is the judicial capital ............seat of the court of appeal
The constitutional court is in JHB that would make JHB the constitutional capital

Answer 2

Capitals Of South Africa

Answer 3

I just want to clear a few things out for you, because some of the answers I read were quite misleading. Yes, SA has 3 capitals, Administrative, Judicial and Legislative.

Administrative - Pretoria
Legislative - Johannesburg
Judicial - Cape Town

The Administrative Capital is Pretoria, because that is where all the different embassies are located, as well as the Union Building.

Legislative is Johannesburg because that is where the Highest Court, The Constitutional Court, is located (Constitution Hill).

(The Highest Court of Appeal is located in Bloemfontein, but in the hierarchy of Courts it is second to the Constitutional Court of course, thus making Johannesburg the seat of the Highest Court hence the fact that it is the Legislative Capital. The Constitutional Court was only build in 1997 if I am not mistaking, so that is why the Legislative Capital changed from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg and why so many people still think Bloem is the capital)

Judicial is Cape Town because that is where Parliament is situated.

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

Unfortunately everyone before are wrong.

We actually have a total of 10 Capital cities in South Africa. You know about the 3 national ones : Cape Town, Bloemfontein and also Pretoria.

Every one of the 9 provinces also has a Capitals; Cape Town and Bloemfontein serves as one of the National Capitals and provincial capitals.

Pretoria falls in the Tswane Metropolitan Council. The name of Pretoria has however NOT been changed legally and there is extensive opposition to the changing. Currently it is still known as PRETORIA.

The 3 national capitals are: Pretoria (Administrative), Bloemfontein (Judicial) and Cape Town (Legialative). To find the reason for the three capitals, one must look at tyhe negotiations that took place with the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Two Boere republics (The Orange Free State and Transvaal) and two Brittish Colonies were combined under the Union Jack to form the Union of South Africa. In order to placate the BOERE, it was suggested that the two capitals from the Boere Republic be kept, with Cape Town as Capitals.

It is VERY costly, and in my mind stupid; but politics rarely follows the cheapest or most logical option. (We had the smae problem in KZN untill recently when we had 2 provincial capitals)


Have a look at the wikipedia link hereunder

Answer 5

So Stevieboy is correct in naming why each of the three cities are call capitals for different areas of life in SA but the reason there are three cities used is historical and economical.

Parliament used to move for 6 months of each year between Pretoria and Cape Town. The government and all embassies had two residences and a "Great Trek" was undertaken every six months to move from north to south and back again. Its to do with placating Afrikaans and English speaking peoples in SA back when South Africa was still a colony of England.

Bloemfontein is in the dead center of South Africa as was picked as the site of the High Court of the country for that reason.

Answer 6

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RE:
Why does South Africa have three capitals?
This is an extra credit question at my school. I need the answer by Friday.

Answer 7

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They serve different purposes. Government offices are in Pretoria, the Parliament and other government offices are in Cape Town, and Bloemfontein is regarded as the judicial capital because the Supreme Court of Appeal is there. It's not the only country like this. Amsterdam is regarded as the capital of the Netherlands and the monarch is crowned there, but the Queen lives and the Dutch Parliament sits in The Hague.

Answer 8

Bloemfontein -- location of the highest Court
Cape Town -- The legislative capital and seat of Parliament. A world-class city named for its proximity to the Cape of Good Hope. Also within a stone’s throw of South Africa’s winelands.
Pretoria -- The administrative capital of the country

Answer 9

Pretoria (NOT TSWHANE) is the capital
Johannesburg is the corporate/business capital
Cape Town is the entertainment/tourist capital.

Good question!

Answer 10

I have no idea! All I know is is that one is Legislative, Judicial, and Administrative! Sorry if this wasn't what you were looking for!