South Africa

Afrika borwa
Republiek van Suid-Afrika
Republic of South Africa (listen)

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National motto: !ke e: /xarra //ke (Khoisan of the /Xam: diverse people unite) [1]
Official languages	Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana and Venda
Capitals	Cape Town (legislative) Pretoria (administrative) Bloemfontein (judicial)
Largest City	Cape Town (1991 census)
President	Thabo Mbeki
Area  - Total  - % water	Ranked 24th 1,219,912 km² Negligible
Population  - Total (2002)  - Density	Ranked 26th 43,647,658 36/km²
Independence -Date1	From the UK: May 31, 1910
Currency	Rand
Time zone	UTC +2
National anthems	Nkosi Sikelel iAfrica (God Bless Africa) Die Stem van Suid Afrika (The Call of South Africa)
Internet TLD	.ZA
Calling Code	27
(1) Formed as Union of South Africa. Name changed to the Republic of South Africa on May 31, 1961.

History

South Africa is one of the oldest nation-states in Africa. South Africa was inhabited by the Khoi, San, Xhosa, Zulu and various other native tribes, when Dutch settlers arrived in 1652. Great Britain progressively encroached, leading to the Anglo-Dutch War and the two Boer wars. In 1910 the four main republics in the region united as the Union of South Africa. In 1931 South Africa became a fully sovereign and self-governing dominion under the British crown. In 1961 it became a republic.

The descendants of the white settlers remained a minority among the black native Africans. The whites were able to maintain their rule by implementing a series of harsh, apartheid laws that segregated the country along racial lines. The apartheid system became increasingly controversial in the late 20th century, and in 1994 the first multi-racial elections were held. Control of the country is now largely in the hands of the black majority, although some white politicians and business leaders remain.

Politics

South Africa's government operates under a parliamentary system that is rather distinct from most other Commonwealth of Nations democracies.

There are two houses of parliament. The lower house is called the national assembly and has 400 members elected by proportional representation. The upper house is called the National Council of Provinces which is made up of 90 members appointed by South Africa's provincial governments.

The President of South Africa is both the Head of Government and Head of State and is elected by the members of the upper house of parliament.

The nine provinces of South Africa all have unicameral parliaments, headed by a premier.

Provinces

South Africa is divided into nine provinces: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Northern Cape, North West and Western Cape.

Geography

Economy

South Africa is a middle-income, developing country with an abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange that ranks among the 10 largest in the world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. However, although growth has been positive for ten consecutive years, it has not cut into the 30% unemployment, and daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era, especially the problems of poverty and lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups. Other problems are crime, corruption, and HIV/AIDS. At the start of 2000, President Mbeki vowed to promote economic growth and foreign investment by relaxing restrictive labour laws, stepping up the pace of privatization, and cutting unneeded governmental spending. His policies face strong opposition from organized labour.

South Africa has an estimated 4.79 million HIV infections. The government has recently, after much delay, devoted substantial resources to fighting the epidemic. A recent study (from the African Journal of Aids Research, Thomas Rehle and Olive Shisana) showed the infection rate starting to level off, (from 4.2% to 1.7% infection rate for 15-49 year olds), and AIDS deaths peaking at 487 320 in 2008.

Since South Africa opened its borders after the demise of apartheid, international crime syndicates have penetrated the country, and much of the world's drug trade flows through its borders. South Africa is also the fourth-largest producer of marijuana in the world.

The volatility of the rand has affected economic activity, with the rand plummeting during 2001 (hitting an historic low of 13.85 to the dollar, raising fears of inflation, and causing the reserve bank to increase interest rates), but since dramatically recovering, trading at under 7 in October 2003, leading to a recovery in inflation, and the reserve bank to drop rates, but exporters threatening to cut jobs.

Demographics

Culture

• List of South African poets
• Music of South Africa

Public Holidays

Date	Name
1 January	New Year's Day
March 21	Human Rights Day
The Friday before Easter Sunday	Good Friday
The day after Easter Sunday	Easter Monday
April 27	Freedom Day
1 May	Labour Day
June 16	Youth Day
August 9	National Women's Day
September 24	Heritage Day
December 16	Day of Reconciliation
December 25	Christmas Day
December 26	Day of Goodwill

The Public Holidays Act (Act No 36 of 1994) determines whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday following on it shall be a public holiday

Miscellaneous topics

• List of South Africa-related topics
• Communications in South Africa
• Transportation in South Africa
• Military of South Africa
• Foreign relations of South Africa
• List of South Africans

Former National Symbols

External links

• South African coats of arms A look at South Africa's history and geography, and how they are reflected in the evolving State coats of arms.
• Worldwide Press Freedom Index Rank 21 out of 166 (3-way tie) (26 out of 139 countries - 2002)

Referenced By