South Africa
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SOUTH AFRICA: Republic of South Africa
The Republic of South Africa has been independent since 1961, but held its first democratic elections in 1994. It was famous for being the only country in the world which lived on a legally sanctioned system of racial discrimination, but is also famous as being the country of reconciliation under its first democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela. South Africa, strategically placed at the southern tip of Africa between the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, was first colonised by the Dutch in the 17th century, but passed under British control at the beginning of the 19th century.
The Dutch settlers, or Afrikaners (Boers), clashed with the British who were hoping to gain control over the rich mineral resources of the country, in the Anglo-Boer wars. Britain won the war, and united the country to form the Union of South Africa in 1910. A white minority took control, owning all the wealth of the country and exploiting the African masses who had no legal rights. Resistance movements began to develop, but were suppressed.
In 1961, the white community founded the Republic of South Africa, with a policy of “separate development” or Apartheid, in which only whites could vote. Strong resistance movements such as the African National Congress, the ANC, and the Pan African Congress, were violently repressed, and its leaders detained, tortured or murdered. Nelson Mandela and many others were imprisoned for life.
During the 1980’s a strong grass roots resistance movement developed, supported by international Anti-Apartheid movements. Economic sanctions added to this eventually forced the government to negotiate with the leaders of the resistance, in particular Nelson Mandela, and finally agree to full democratic elections. In May 1994 the country went to the polls with an enormous turnout of voters. The ANC won the majority of the votes, but a coalition government, the Government of National Unity, was sworn in, and Nelson Mandela became president. A new National Constitution came into being in February 1997 which includes a Bill of Rights and majority party government.
South Africa’s second elections took place on 2 June 1999 and the ANC increased its percentage of the vote. Thabo Mbeki, who had taken over from Mandela as ANC leader, became President. South Africa faces many problems, especially inequality, poverty, crime, unemployment and AIDS. The government is committed to improving the living standard of the black majority, while staying in a framework of market-related policies.
South Africa returned to being a member of the Commonwealth in 1994 and hosted the Commonwealth annual Heads of Government meeting in Durban in 1999. South Africa is also involved with the Non-Alligned Movement, the Organisation for African Unity, Southern African Development Community. South Africa, and in particular, Thabo Mbeki, has been a promoter of the vision of the African Rennaissance. He has also been strongly campaigning for the cancellation of debt to developing countries.
The currency is the rand. There are three capitals, in Cape Town (parliament), Bloemfontein (supreme court) and Pretoria (administrative).South Africa is one of the countries in the world most hard hit by HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that by 2005, 25% of the population will be infected by the virus.
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline.[9][10][11] To the north of the country lie the neighbouring territories of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclavesurrounded by South African territory.[12]
South Africa is a multi-ethnic nation and has diverse cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution.[11] Two of these languages are of European origin: South African English and Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language.[11] All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy comprising a parliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President.
About 79.5% of the South African population is of black African ancestry,[4] divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, nine of which have official status.[11] South Africa also contains the largest communities of European, Asian, and racially mixed ancestry in Africa.
South Africa is ranked as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank.[13] It has the largest economy in Africa, and the 28th-largest in the world.[14] About a quarter of the population is unemployed[15] and lives on less than US $1.25 a day.[16]
Provinces
At the end of apartheid in 1994, the "independent" and "semi-independent" Bantustans were abolished, as were the four original provinces (Cape, Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal), and nine new provinces were created. Each province is governed by a unicameral legislature, which is elected every five years by party-list proportional representation. The legislature elects a Premier as head of government, and the Premier appoints an Executive Council as a provincial cabinet. The powers of provincial governments are limited to topics listed in the Constitution; these topics include such fields as health, education, public housing and transport.
| Province | Provincial capital | Largest city | Area (km2)[70] | Population (2011 est.)[71] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Cape | Bhisho | Port Elizabeth | 168,966 | 6,829,958 |
| Free State | Bloemfontein | Bloemfontein | 129,825 | 2,759,644 |
| Gauteng | Johannesburg | Johannesburg | 18,178 | 11,328,203 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | Pietermaritzburg | Durban | 94,361 | 10,819,130 |
| Limpopo | Polokwane | Polokwane | 125,754 | 5,554,657 |
| Mpumalanga | Nelspruit | Nelspruit | 76,495 | 3,657,181 |
| North West | Mahikeng | Rustenburg | 104,882 | 3,253,390 |
| Northern Cape | Kimberley | Kimberley | 372,889 | 1,096,731 |
| Western Cape | Cape Town | Cape Town | 129,462 | 5,287,863 |
The provinces are in turn divided into 52 districts: 8 metropolitan and 44 district municipalities. The district municipalities are further subdivided into 226 local municipalities. The metropolitan municipalities, which govern the largest urban agglomerations, perform the functions of both district and local municipalities.
Demographics
South Africa is a nation of about 50 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The last census was held in 2011. Even though the population of South Africa has increased in the past decade,[103][104] the country had an annual population growth rate of −0.412% in 2012 (CIA est.),[5] where the birth rate is higher than the death rate[105] but there is a net emigration rate. South Africa is home to an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants, including some 3 million Zimbabweans.[106][107][108] A series of anti-immigrant riots occurred in South Africa beginning on 11 May 2008.[109][110]
Statistics South Africa provided five racial categories by which people could classify themselves, the last of which, "unspecified/other" drew negligible responses, and these results were omitted.[103] The 2010 midyear estimated figures for the other categories wereBlack African at 79.4%, White at 9.2%, Coloured at 8.8%, and Indian or Asian at 2.6%.[111]The first census in South Africa in 1911 showed that whites made up 22% of the population; it declined to 16% in 1980.[112]
By far the major part of the population classified itself as African or black, but it is not culturally or linguistically homogeneous. Major ethnic groups include the Zulu, Xhosa,Basotho (South Sotho), Bapedi (North Sotho), Venda, Tswana, Tsonga, Swazi and Ndebele, all of which speak Bantu languages.
The Coloured population is mainly concentrated in the Cape region, and come from a combination of ethnic backgrounds including White, Khoi, San, Griqua, Chinese andMalay.[113]
White South Africans are descendants of Dutch, German, French Huguenots, English and other European and Jewishsettlers.[113][114] Culturally and linguistically, they are divided into the Afrikaners, who speak Afrikaans, and English-speaking groups. The white population has been on the decrease due to a low birth rate and emigration; as a factor in their decision to emigrate, many cite the high crime rate and the affirmative action policies of the government.[115][116] Since 1994, approximately 440,000 white South Africans have permanently emigrated.[111] Despite high emigration levels, a few immigrants from Europe have settled in the country. By 2005, an estimated 212,000 British citizens were residing in South Africa. By 2011, this number may have grown to 500,000.[117] Some white Zimbabwean emigrated to South Africa. Some of the more nostalgic members of the community are known in popular culture as "Whenwes", because of their nostalgia for their lives in Rhodesia "when we were in Rhodesia".[118]
The Indian population came to South Africa as indentured labourers to work in the sugar plantations in Natal in the late 19th and early 20th century.[113] They came from different parts of the Indian subcontinent, adhered to different religions and spoke different languages.[113] Serious riots in Durban between Indians and Zulus erupted in 1949.[119] There is also a significant group of Chinese South Africans (approximately 100,000 individuals) andVietnamese South Africans (approximately 50,000 individuals). In 2008, the Pretoria High Court has ruled that Chinese South Africans who arrived before 1994 are to be reclassified as Coloureds. As a result of this ruling, about 12,000–15,000[120] ethnically Chinese citizens who arrived before 1994, numbering 3%–5% of the total Chinese population in the country, will be able to benefit from government BEE policies.[121]
South Africa hosts a sizeable refugee and asylum seeker population. According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, this population numbered approximately 144,700 in 2007.[122] Groups of refugees and asylum seekers numbering over 10,000 included people from Zimbabwe (48,400), The Democratic Republic of the Congo (24,800), and Somalia (12,900).[122] These populations mainly lived in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth.[122] Many refugees have now also started to work and live in rural areas in provinces such as Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
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Languages
South Africa has eleven official languages:[129] Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana,Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa, and Zulu. In this regard it is third only to Bolivia and India in number. While all the languages are formally equal, some languages are spoken more than others. According to the 2001 National Census, the three most spoken first home languages are Zulu (23.8%), Xhosa (17.6%), and Afrikaans (13.3%).[103] Despite the fact that English is recognised as the language of commerce and science, it was spoken by only 8.2% of South Africans at home in 2001, an even lower percentage than in 1996 (8.6%).[103]
The country also recognises several unofficial languages, including Fanagalo, Khoe, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele,Phuthi, San, and South African Sign Language.[130] These unofficial languages may be used in certain official uses in limited areas where it has been determined that these languages are prevalent. Nevertheless, their populations are not such that they require nationwide recognition.
Many of the "unofficial languages" of the San and Khoikhoi people contain regional dialects stretching northwards into Namibia and Botswana, and elsewhere. These people, who are a physically distinct population from other Africans, have their own cultural identity based on their hunter-gatherer societies. They have been marginalised to a great extent, and many of their languages are in danger of becoming extinct.
Many white South Africans also speak other European languages, such as Portuguese (also spoken by black Angolans andMozambicans), German, and Greek, while some Asians and Indians in South Africa speak South Asian languages, such as Tamil, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, and Telugu. French is spoken in South Africa by migrants from Francophone Africa.
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| The current flag of South Africa |
