SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS 3 CAPITAL HISTORY
Ever since the Andhra Pradesh government declared that AP will be having 3 capitals AMARAVATI, VISHAKAPATNAM, KURNOOL as LEGISLATIVE, EXECUTIVE & JUDICIAL capitals respectively. There has been a good response from Vizag and Kurnool people and people are against the decision in AMARAVATI. Leaving this issue, here we would like to discuss about the inspiration from where AP CM Jagan Mohan Reddy Garu took. That is South Africa. As announced by the CM in assembly, he said that AP might have 3 capitals just as South Africa.
We will know what are the 3 capitals
South Africa has 3 capitals namely Pretoria, Bloemfontein & Cape Town. Pretoria is the administrative capital, Bloemfontein is the legislative and Cape Town is the Judicial capital of South Africa. This segregation of 3 capitals was undertaken after South Africa became a republic nation. In 1910, when the Union of South Africa was formed, there was a huge protest from the people to set capital in their regions. The reason for the protest in South Africa has a vast land area, unlike Andhra Pradesh. South Africa land area is 1.22 million km². It becomes highly difficult for the people to travel from one place to another for government-related works.
So, the then rulers of South Africa decided that it would be having Administrative, Legislative and Judicial capitals in 3 different places. There is also a specific reasons for choosing those cities as capitals. Pretoria which is the administrative capital of South Africa, has already 3 high standard Universities Tshwane University of Technology (TUT), University of Pretoria (UP), and the University of South Africa (UNISA), also home to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and the Human Sciences Research Council. THUS, PRETORIA IS NAMED AS EDUCATIONAL CAPITAL apart from being ADMINISTRATIVE CAPITAL.
Coming to Bloemfontein, it is the Judicial capital and has the Supreme Court. along with being Judicial capital, Bloemfontein is also the TOURISM HUB of South Africa as it has the Franklin Game Reserve, Naval Hill, the Maselspoort Resort and the Sand du Plessis Theatre. The city hosts numerous museums, including the National Women’s Monument, the Anglo-Boer War Museum, the National Museum, and the Oliewenhuis Art Museum.
Cape Town is the Legislative Capital of South Africa, is a well developed Industrial Hub and a renewed city. Even when Soth Africa was under colonial rule, Cape Town hosted the Parliaments and so, it already has well established, Furnished buildings available to run sessions.
Andhra Pradesh land area is 160,205 km². Decentralization is a good thought but let us see how it decides the fate of Andhra Pradesh. The above information is gathered from the book published by the Cambridge University “A Concise History of South Africa.
