South Africa - A Country Overview
Information on South Africa; its place geographically, history, government, climate, security, tourism and foreigners living in South Africa...
The Republic of South Africa is an independent state located on the southern tip of the African continent. It has a population of 50,000,000, with a variety of different cultures, languages, religions and heritages. Due to its cultural diversity, South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation. The motto of the country is "Unity in Diversity".
South Africa has 11 official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu, Southern Sesotho, Sepedi, Tswana, Swazi, Venda and Tsonga. There are also a number of unofficial languages that are not sufficiently widely spoken to be recognised at national level.
According to the 2001 census, the main religion in South Africa was Christianity, with 79.7 percent of the population being Christian. The minority religions are Islam (1.5 percent), Hinduism (1.3 percent) and Judaism (0.2 percent), with others making up 2.3 percent.
Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa, but it is not the capital. Technically, the country has three capitals: Cape Town (the "Mother City") is the seat of Parliament and the legislative capital, Pretoria is the administrative capital and the seat of government, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital and location of the Supreme Court.
Geography
South Africa is the world's 25th largest country, covering over 1.2 million square kilometres. It shares borders with Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe to the north and with Mozambique and Swaziland to the east. The country of Lesotho is a small independent enclave situated in eastern central South Africa.
The country is divided into nine provinces: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West, Northern Cape and Western Cape.
South Africa's coastline runs for 2,500 Km from the east to the southwest of the country, and borders the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.
The landscape features a large internal plateau with a strip of coastal lowland between it and the sea. The majority of the interior of the country is sparsely populated, and is characterised by the flat, dry, scrubland of the semi-desert Karoo region. The inland basin area known as the Great Karoo covers more than 400,000 square kilometres, and incorporates the Namib Desert to the northwest of the country.
The sub-region known as the Highveld is an area of plateau stretching across the country from the Western Cape Province to the northeast. It has an altitude of between 1,200m and 1,800m, and rises into the Witswatersrand rock formations near Johannesburg.
The highest peak in South Africa is Mafadi, which lies on the Lesotho border and stands at 3,450m high. The largest lake in the country is Lake Chrissie in the Mpumalanga province.
South Africa also owns the two-island archipelago of the Prince Edward Islands in the sub-Antarctic Indian Ocean. The group consists of Marion Island and Prince Edward Island and has been declared a Special Nature Reserve. The only human inhabitants on the islands are scientists from the South African National Antarctic Programme.
History
South Africa contains some of the oldest sites for human remains on the planet. The UNESCO World Heritage cave system in Gauteng has been termed The Cradle of Humankind, and includes Sterkfontain, one of the richest human fossil sites in the world. Human remains found there are thought to be 2.05 million years old, and it is estimated that modern humans have inhabited the area for 170,000 years.
The first European contact with the area was made by the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias, who landed in Namibia in 1487. He returned and discovered the Cape in May 1488, naming it Cabo das Tormentas. It was later renamed the Cape of Good Hope by King John II.
In 1652 Jan van Riebeeck of the Dutch East India Company established a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope, which later became Cape Town. Dutch colonists made their way east and met the south-westerly migrating Xhosa people in a series of conflicts known as the Cape Frontier Wars. The wars were fought over land and livestock interests.
Britain took over the Cape area in 1795 to protect it from the French Republic who had succeeded in invading the Dutch Republic in Europe. After returning Cape Town to the Dutch in 1803, the British again annexed the area in 1806 after the Dutch East India Company went bankrupt. The British continued the frontier wars and consolidated territory by encouraging colonisation of the captured land.
British rule was not universally popular, particularly after the Empire-wide abolition of slavery in 1833. Many descendants of the earlier Dutch settlers (strongly identified with the unique, Dutch-derived language they now spoke, Afrikaans) migrated north-east from the Cape in the 1830s and 1840s. There, these voortrekkers founded the self-governing independent Boer Republics (named after the Afrikaans word for "farmer"); the South African Republic (better known as the Transvaal Republic); and the Orange Free State.
Following the discovery of diamonds near Kimberley in 1867 and gold in the mid 1880s, immigration and economic growth rose sharply in the interior of the country.
The new-found wealth of the region led to the first Anglo-Boer War of 1880-1881. The British had annexed the Transvaal area of the Boer Republics in 1877 using a special warrant, so the Transvaal Boers led by Paul Kruger revolted on 16 December 1880. The Boer guerrillas were successful in a number of skirmishes thanks to their superior marksmanship, mobility and camouflage. The British government headed by Gladstone ordered a truce and a peace treaty was signed with Kruger in 1881.
The second Anglo-Boer War from 1899 to 1902 was fought after the British demanded fair treatment and full voting rights for immigrants residing in Transvaal after the discovery of gold in the area. Kruger refused, knowing that giving the majority immigrant population the right to vote would see power slip away from the Boers. Instead, he gave the British 48 hours to remove their troops from the border of Transvaal. War was declared on 11th October 1899.
Following early defeats the British eventually captured the Transvaal capital, Pretoria in June 1900. For a further two years, Boer guerrillas and saboteurs hounded British forces in the area. British forces responded with a scorched earth policy, burning farms and placing civilians in concentration camps.
In 1909 the South Africa Act created the Union of South Africa from the Cape, Natal, the Orange Free State and the Transvaal and declared it a dominion of the British Empire. The 1913 Natives' Land Act restricted the amount of land that could be held by indigenous Africans to seven percent.
South Africa was granted independence from the United Kingdom in 1931.
From 1948 South Africa was ruled by the white minority government of the National Party that enforced a race separation policy of apartheid. The government classified citizens into three races and made differing policies for each.
In an attempt to hold on to power in the face of international opposition, resistance movements such as the African National Congress were harshly dealt with and were made illegal.
South Africa left the Commonwealth in 1961 after a whites-only referendum and became a republic.
The apartheid system officially ended in 1994 after anti-apartheid organisations were legalised and President F.W de Klerk negotiated with Nelson Mandela for a transition of policies. In the same year the first universal elections were held in the country, which saw the ANC win by an overwhelming majority. 1994 also saw South Africa return to the Commonwealth, with the disbanding of their nuclear arsenal.
Climate
The climate in South Africa is temperate due to its proximity to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. However, a great variety of climatic zones exist. The northeast of the country is covered by the southern part of the Namib Desert and is hot and dry, while the east coast on the Indian Ocean has a subtropical climate..
The interior Highveld plateau and the city of Johannesburg enjoy a sunny climate, with all year round mild temperatures averaging between 16° and 26°C. The average low for the middle of winter in June is 4°C.
The southwest of the country in the Cape Town area has a Mediterranean climate with wet winters and hot, dry summers. The south of the country has more varied rainfall throughout the year, and this has given rise to the green coastal landscape known as the Garden Route.
The coldest place in South Africa is Sutherland in the Roggeveld Mountains, where the temperature can fall as low as -15°C. The hottest recorded temperature, 51.7°C, was in the deep interior near the town of Upington.
Politics and Government
South Africa is a parliamentary republic run by the president, who acts as both the head of government and the head of state. The president holds executive authority along with the deputy president and cabinet ministers.
Legislative authority rests with the government, which consists of The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces.
The National Assembly consists of 400 members elected by a system of proportional representation. Half of the members are elected from Provincial lists, and the other half from National lists. The party with the largest majority in the parliament forms the government and elects the president, who is usually the party's leader.
In 1997 the National Council of Provinces replaced the Senate as the upper house. Its purpose is to represent the governments of the provinces, rather than to represent the people. It consists of 90 members, with each province electing ten representatives.
The judiciary in South Africa is independent of government and acts within a system based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law. The four levels of judiciary are Magistrates' Courts, High Courts, Supreme Courts and Constitutional Courts.
The provincial and local governments provide a third tier of government in South Africa. They have legislative and executive authority within their own sphere of influence, and are described in the Constitution as distinctive, interdependent and interrelated.
All bodies in government are subject to the supreme laws of the Constitution.
Economy
Although South Africa has a high level of poverty and a low GDP per capita, it is still rated 29th in the world in terms of GDP and has an abundant supply of resources. The unit of currency is the Rand.
The service sector is responsible for 78.5 percent of GDP, with industry representing 20.6 percent and agriculture 0.9 percent. Gauteng is the richest area of the country, and is responsible for 33 percent of the country's GDP and 10 percent of continental Africa's GDP.
South Africa is rich in natural resources and is the world's largest producer of gold, platinum and chromium. Other industries include cars, metals, machinery, textiles, chemicals and foodstuffs.
Unemployment is high in South Africa. It is ranked among the top ten countries in the world for income inequality, with the gap between the rich and poor widening and approximately one in four South Africans living off US $1.25 a day. The South African government has attempted to address the issue with a series of policies since the period of apartheid; one example is the Black Economic Empowerment programme.
South Africa was ranked at number 34 in the Ease of Doing Business Index in 2010 and 2011.
Immigration
South African immigration policy has become increasingly restrictive since 1994. However, the number of British expatriates in South Africa has been rising, with an estimated 212,000 residents in 2005 growing to about 500,000 in 2011.
It is estimated that South Africa is home to approximately five million illegal immigrants, mainly from Zimbabwe.
The country hosts a sizeable number of asylum seekers and refugees from areas such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe and Somalia. In 2007, the number of people seeking refuge was estimated at around 144,000.
Crime and Security
Certain areas of South Africa are notable for comparatively high rates of murders, assaults, rapes and car hijackings. These are usually poorer areas away from the traditional tourist trail.
In 2000 the murder rate in South Africa stood at 52 a day. However, official statistics claim that since 2009 the rate has halved.
The number of rapes in South Africa is one of the highest in the world, with an estimated 500,000 women raped every year.
Incidents of car hijackings and cash-in-transit heists seem to be increasing, with high-risk areas displaying traffic signs warning of the danger.
South Africa rates at number 54 out of 178 on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index.
When travelling to South Africa it is advisable to check government travel information:
Aids
South Africa is believed to have the highest number of people infected with HIV/AIDS in the world. In 2007, UNAIDS reported that 5.7 million South Africans had the infection. In 2010 alone, 280,000 South Africans died from the virus.
Tourism
South Africa is a popular tourist destination, with over eight million visitors in 2010. Tourists are attracted by the game reserves, national parks, diversity of food and culture, scenery and local wines.
South Africa is home to eight UNESCO World Heritage sites; these include Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, and the Cradle of Mankind.
Top tourist attractions include: Table Mountain in Cape Town; the Garden Route - which includes many wine estates and stretches from Heidelberg in the west to the Tsitsikamma Forest; The Kruger Park Game reserve; Soweto, the largest township in South Africa and home to Freedom Square and the Hector Pieterson Memorial; and the V&A Waterfront, a commercial harbour in Cape Town.