The Republic of South Africa was proclaimed on 31 May 1961. Charles Robberts Swart, the last Governor-General, was sworn in as the first State President.
The presidency of Nelson Mandela began on 10 May 1994, when Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid activist, lawyer, and former political prisoner, was inaugurated as President of South Africa, and ended on 14 June 1999
The landmark decision helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government.