Azania (country)

Government

The Constitution of Azania is the highest law in the land. It sets out the structure of the government and protects the fundamental rights of the people. The government is made up of three branches (the executive, the judiciary and the legislative) and they have checks and balances between them.

The President is the head of state, head of government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He is elected by the Parliament every 5 years and may serve only two terms. The President appoints Ministers of State with the approval of a majority of the Parliament. The President and Ministers of State make up the Cabinet. The Cabinet is at the apex of the executive branch. The Ministers helm government departments and formulate and develop policy over areas that fall within the jurisdiction of their portfolio as follows: Minister of Foreign Affairs: handles diplomacy and foreign policy Minister of Finance: handles state finances and oversees the tax collection service and central bank Minister of Defence: handles defence policy and oversees the armed forces Minister of Education: runs the education system and promotes science and art and protects national heritage Minister for Health: handles health care Minister for Home Affairs: handles human administration, social welfare and social work Minister for Security: oversees the intelligence services and handles security policy Minister for Justice: oversees the police, correctional services, legal profession and judiciary Minister for Agriculture: handles food security, and oversees farming, fishing and logging Minister for Mining: oversees mining Minister for Energy: oversees the energy sector and petroleum industry Minister for Environmental Affairs: handles environmental conservation Minister for Infrastructure: oversees transport, telecommunications and urban development

The Parliament is the bicameral legislative branch of the government. It is made up of two chambers: the House of Representatives which is the lower chamber and the Senate which is the upper chamber. Every four years the people elect a representative for their district to the House of Representatives, and the provincial legislatures of each province elect an equal number of senators to sit in and represent them in the Senate. The House of Representatives is the more powerful house.

The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. It has the power to strike down laws that violate the Constitution and it is the final court of appeal. The High Courts have the power to hear appeals and their decisions are binding on all courts within their province and they are courts of first instance in major cases. The Magistrates Courts are courts of first instance for almost all matters. Additional courts are created by the Parliament to handle specific matters.

Human rights

The country is among the most politically progressive in Africa. The Constitution provides that women should occupy at least 40% of the seats in Parliament and representation for certain minority groups is guaranteed in the Parliament. Discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation is expressly forbidden in the Constitution. This protects the rights of transgender and homosexual individuals and has afforded access to gender reassignment and same-sex marriages which enjoy the same rights as heterosexual marriages. The first gay Chief Justice of any country in the world, Edwin Cameron was appointed in 2012. Despite progressive LGBT legislation, queer people face social stigmatization in some areas especially rural conservative communities.

Despite the massive advances made in guaranteeing human rights for all the country still struggles with several challenges. Rural communities tend to be poor and have less access to government resources and public services which has historically undermined their access to economic and legal rights. Moreover, because traditional values influence dispute resolution, land distribution and political representation in rural communities women face challenges that would ordinarily not be found in the cities. Despite affirmative action, women continue to be underrepresented in senior management positions of major companies. Furthermore, poor males face high rates of incarceration and random searches by the police.

The country has enjoyed relatively high levels of personal and political freedoms since apartheid was abolished in 1960. The Azanian Human Rights Commission is responsible for receiving complaints of human rights abuses and has the power to order remedial action. The Azanian Public Protector is responsible for investigating corruption and has the power to order remedial action.

Military

The Azanian Defence Force is the military of Azania. It is made up of three branches: the Navy, Army and Air Force. It is responsible for defending Azania from foreign attacks. The commander-in-chief of the armed forces is the President. The Department of Defence provides administrative support. The Minister of Defence provides political oversight. The Chief of Staff is the highest ranking professional officer of the armed forces.

The military has a budget of 10 billion US dollars. The total number of active personnel is 100,000 while the reserve force is made up of 500,000 members. Conscription is not enforced except during war time. The country has an indigenous arms manufacturing industry and it exports military hardware to foreign countries. Its largest foreign suppliers are China, Russia, the United States, United Kingdom, and Brazil. The military has secondary functions such as border patrol, fighting pirates and poachers, conducting peacekeeping, providing humanitarian aid and search-and-rescue.

The military is highly battle trained and has participated in many international wars. Under a joint task force with Tanzania, it dispatched artillery, soldiers and fighter jets to Uganda to overthrow the government of Idi Amin. It also invaded Rwanda and Congo, helping to defeat both the Hutu-majority and Mobutu regimes respectively.

The navy has dispatched ships to fight pirates in the Horn of Africa and guard Azanian ships passing through those waters. It also continues to fight pirates, poachers and illegal fishing in its own waters especially in the Musumbiki Channel which is both a passage way for many ships and is rich in marine life. Because of these primary concerns and the long coastline which it must patrol, the Navy has focused on patrol boats. Nonetheless it has several corvettes, destroyers and frigates with limited expeditionary war capabilities (such as the invasion of the Comoros Island) and has a few battle-ready submarines. Regardless, conventional naval warfare is only a secondary strategic priority.

The air force on the other hand is highly instrumental in the country’s defence policy. This is because the air force provides essential cover fire for ground troops, provides speedy transportation for soldiers and materiel, is an excellent tool for ground surveillance and most battles require air superiority. The air force has been instrumental in allowing speedy victories for the Azanian military in wars fought on the continent. As such, the country has invested in strike craft, multi-purpose aircraft, combat helicopters and bombers. The arms manufacturing sector has also developed combat aircraft and related technology.

Foreign relations

Azania is a member of the African Union, the United Nations, the Organization for Indian Ocean Rim Countries, and the Commonwealth of Nations among many others. The foreign policy of Azania promotes multilateralism, Pan-African integration and human rights. The country is a signatory of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is the largest donor and among the few donors of humanitarian aid in the continent shoulders the largest portion of the cost of running the African Union and other Pan-African bodies.

It maintains close economic and diplomatic ties with China, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and India. The Department of Foreign Affairs administers Azania's diplomatic relations with other nations. Most countries' embassies are located in the capital city Tshwane. The Minister of Foreign Affairs is the highest ranking diplomat.

The government has adopted the policy that it will intervene in the internal affairs of its neighbors to protect its national security interests. For example, it intervened in the Congolese Revolution to overthrow President Mobutu Sese Seko and it invaded Rwanda during the Rwandan Civil War and supported Paul Kagame's regime. It also helped Tanzania defeat and usurp the Idi Amin-led government in Uganda.

Relations with Nigeria are complex, but generally difficult and antagonistic when it comes to geopolitical issues, even though the economic relationship is generally friendly and mutually beneficial and cultural exchanges are generally welcomed. The country's ability and willingness to militarily intervene in other nations has been criticized by other African countries especially Nigeria (even though Nigeria continues to occupy southern Niger and has intervened in the Ivory Coast). Azania and Nigeria have a mutual recognition of their hegemonic ambitions in Southern Africa and West Africa respectively. Nonetheless, they are sometimes divided over issues in the Horn of Africa, North Africa and especially Central Africa.

For instance, Azania did not support the attempted coup d'etat against Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia by the Derg communists, in contrast to Nigeria and Nigeria opposed Azania's resource support to the Emperor's forces. The two differ significantly on the Cameroonian Civil War. Azania supports a two state solution while Nigeria supports a federation of the Anglophone and Francophone segments of the country. The countries compete on oil production and disagree on using oil as a geopolitical tool. For example in 1979, Nigeria was willing to support the embargo on Israel to protest the war there in support of the Muslim majority countries, to which Azania was staunchly opposed. When Azania was slow to respond to the Iranian Revolution, Nigeria accused Azania of economic opportunism. Azania also supports and recognizes Somaliland, in contrast to Nigeria. They both agree and have worked together on the independence of Western Sahara (the Sahrawi Democratic Republic), a two state solution in Palestine and Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos Islands.

Tanzania, Rwanda, Congo, Kenya and Ethiopia and Mauritius are generally considered Azania's closest allies in Africa. Despite being nominally neutral in the Cold War, Azania gravitated toward the United States, United Kingdom and other Western nations. After the Cold War, despite maintaining close ties to the United States, Azania has embraced China with more enthusiasm than its allies in Washington have been comfortable with and its willingness to cooperate with Russia on science and technology (especially its nuclear energy program) have been met with suspicion by Brussels and Washington. It maintains generally positive relations with most countries and its relations with Commonwealth member nations especially the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Canada and New Zealand are considered warm. In South America, Brazil is considered Azania's closest partner.

Administrative divisions

The country is divided into several provinces. Each province has the power to make laws over areas granted to it by the Constitution. In some areas, it shares the power to make laws with the national Parliament. The provinces each have an elected unicameral Provincial Assembly that forms the legislative branch and they elect the Governor of each province who appoints the Executive Council.

The Provinces are further divided into municipalities. Municipalities comprise the local government. They are responsible for delivering public services to their residents. Municipalities that rule over the largest cities have limited control over their internal affairs. The largest metropolitan municipalities are Egoli, Ethekwini, Ekapa, and Tshwane.

Political culture

The oldest political parties were once under the umbrella of the Azanian Liberation Movement and they usually ascribe to centrist ideological tenets. Newer parties tend to be closer to the right or left of the political spectrum and/or represent the interests of a small group or community.

In practice people are free to join, serve, participate in and represent political parties. Elections are competitive and fair and transitions from one President to another have been peaceful and constitutional since the 1960s. There are many smaller parties that represent special interests, but the largest two tend to take up almost three quarters of fhe seats in the provincial legislatures and Parliament. The Independent Electoral Commission administers elections and is free from political interference.

No single party has ever won enough votes to govern on its own. Instead the larger parties have been forced to form coalitions with smaller parties to govern. Because the elections to the Parliament are syncretised with the term of the President, the head of the largest coalition is usually elected as President, while the head of the second largest coalition or party is the Leader of the Opposition.

The enormous diversity of the country's religions, cultures and ideologies as well as the robust media have been attributed as part of the reason that Azania has not fallen to strongman politics. Moreover, the educated and progressive elite have been able to gather political support from a wide array of communities especially in the urban areas through their cosmopolitan and consultative style of governance.