The Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa DENOSA in its current form was established on 5 December 1996 The organisation was formed through political consensus after the transition to democracy and was mandated by its membership to represent them and unite the nursing profession Prior to this, the South African Nursing Council SANC and the South African Nurses Association SANA were statutory bodies which all nurses had to join It was also important after the transition to democracy to incorporate nurses from the homelands under the previous political dispensation, as they were forced to leave SANA and organise themselves into separate professional bodies DENOSA has an organisational structure that includes both.