Guide to South Africa
Introduction
Background: After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Boers resisted British encroachments, but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902). The resulting Union of South Africa operated under a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. The 1990s brought an end to apartheid politically and ushered in black majority rule.Geography
Location: Southern Africa, at the southern tip of the continent of AfricaGeographic coordinates: 29 00 S, 24 00 E
Map references: Africa
Area: total
Area - comparative: slightly less than twice the size of Texas
Land boundaries: total
Coastline: 2,798 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea
Climate: mostly semiarid; subtropical along east coast; sunny days, cool nights
Terrain: vast interior plateau rimmed by rugged hills and narrow coastal plain
Elevation extremes: lowest point
Natural resources: gold, chromium, antimony, coal, iron ore, manganese, nickel, phosphates, tin, uranium, gem diamonds, platinum, copper, vanadium, salt, natural gas
Land use: arable land
Irrigated land: 13,500 sq km (1998 est.)
Natural hazards: prolonged droughts
Environment - current issues: lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures; growth in water usage outpacing supply; pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge; air pollution resulting in acid rain; soil erosion; desertification
Environment - international agreements: party to
Geography - note: South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland
People
Population: 44,344,136 noteAge structure: 0-14 years
Median age: total
Population growth rate: -0.31% (2005 est.)
Birth rate: 18.48 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Death rate: 21.32 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Net migration rate: -0.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Sex ratio: at birth
Infant mortality rate: total
Life expectancy at birth: total population
Total fertility rate: 2.24 children born/woman (2005 est.)
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 21.5% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 5.3 million (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 370,000 (2003 est.)
Nationality: noun
Ethnic groups: black African 79%, white 9.6%, colored 8.9%, Indian/Asian 2.5% (2001 census)
Religions: Zion Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2%, Catholic 7.1%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%, other Christian 36%, Islam 1.5%, other 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, none 15.1% (2001 census)
Languages: IsiZulu 23.8%, IsiXhosa 17.6%, Afrikaans 13.3%, Sepedi 9.4%, English 8.2%, Setswana 8.2%, Sesotho 7.9%, Xitsonga 4.4%, other 7.2% (2001 census)
Literacy: definition
Government
Country name: conventional long formGovernment type: republic
Capital: Pretoria; note - Cape Town is the legislative center and Bloemfontein the judicial center
Administrative divisions: 9 provinces; Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North-West, Northern Cape, Western Cape
Independence: 31 May 1910 (from UK); note - South Africa became a republic in 1961 following an October 1960 referendum
National holiday: Freedom Day, 27 April (1994)
Constitution: 10 December 1996; this new constitution was certified by the Constitutional Court on 4 December 1996, was signed by then President MANDELA on 10 December 1996, and entered into effect on 3 February 1997; it is being implemented in phases
Legal system: based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal
Executive branch: chief of state
Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consisting of the National Assembly (400 seats; members are elected by popular vote under a system of proportional representation to serve five-year terms) and the National Council of Provinces (90 seats, 10 members elected by each of the nine provincial legislatures for five-year terms; has special powers to protect regional interests, including the safeguarding of cultural and linguistic traditions among ethnic minorities); note - following the implementation of the new constitution on 3 February 1997 the former Senate was disbanded and replaced by the National Council of Provinces with essentially no change in membership and party affiliations, although the new institution's responsibilities have been changed somewhat by the new constitution elections
Judicial branch: Constitutional Court; Supreme Court of Appeals; High Courts; Magistrate Courts
Political parties and leaders: African Christian Democratic Party or ACDP [Kenneth MESHOE, president]; African National Congress or ANC [Thabo MBEKI, president]; Democratic Alliance or DA (formed from the merger of the Democratic Party or DP and the Freedom Alliance or FA) [Anthony LEON]; Inkatha Freedom Party or IFP [Mangosuthu BUTHELEZI, president]; Pan-Africanist Congress or PAC [Stanley MOGOBA, president]; United Democratic Movement or UDM [Bantu HOLOMISA]
Political pressure groups and leaders: Congress of South African Trade Unions or COSATU [Zwelinzima VAVI, general secretary]; South African Communist Party or SACP [Blade NZIMANDE, general secretary]; South African National Civics Organization or SANCO [Mlungisi HLONGWANE, national president]; note - COSATU and SACP are in a formal alliance with the ANC
International organization participation: ACP, AfDB, AU, BIS, C, FAO, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITU, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, NSG, ONUB, OPCW, PCA, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNITAR, UNMEE, UNMIL, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO, ZC
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission
Flag description: two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side; the Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands; the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes
Economy
Economy - overview: South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural 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, growth has not been strong enough to lower South Africa's high unemployment rate; and daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era, especially poverty and lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups. South African economic policy is fiscally conservative, but pragmatic, focusing on targeting inflation and liberalizing trade as means to increase job growth and household income.GDP (purchasing power parity): $491.4 billion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 3.5% (2004 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $11,100 (2004 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture
Labor force: 16.63 million economically active (2004 est.)
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 30%, industry 25%, services 45% (1999 est.)
Unemployment rate: 26.2% (2004 est.)
Population below poverty line: 50% (2000 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%
Distribution of family income - Gini index: 59.3 (1993-94)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.5% (2004 est.)
Investment (gross fixed): 16.7% of GDP (2004 est.)
Budget: revenues
Public debt: 45.9% of GDP (2004 est.)
Agriculture - products: corn, wheat, sugarcane, fruits, vegetables; beef, poultry, mutton, wool, dairy products
Industries: mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, metalworking, machinery, textile, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs, commercial ship repair
Industrial production growth rate: 5.5% (2004 est.)
Electricity - production: 202.6 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - production by source: fossil fuel
Electricity - consumption: 189.4 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - exports: 6.95 billion kWh (2002)
Electricity - imports: 7.873 billion kWh (2002)
Oil - production: 196,200 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption: 460,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports: NA
Oil - imports: NA
Oil - proved reserves: 7.84 million bbl (1 January 2002)
Natural gas - production: 1.8 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - consumption: 1.8 billion cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - exports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - imports: 0 cu m (2001 est.)
Natural gas - proved reserves: 14.16 billion cu m (1 January 2002)
Current account balance: $-2.48 billion (2004 est.)
Exports: $41.97 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Exports - commodities: gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment (1998 est.)
Exports - partners: US 10.2%, UK 9.2%, Japan 9%, Germany 7.1%, Netherlands 4% (2004)
Imports: $39.42 billion f.o.b. (2004 est.)
Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments, foodstuffs (2000 est.)
Imports - partners: Germany 14.2%, US 8.5%, China 7.5%, Japan 6.9%, UK 6.9%, France 6%, Saudi Arabia 5.6%, Iran 5% (2004)
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $11.68 billion (2004 est.)
Debt - external: $27.01 billion (2004 est.)
Economic aid - recipient: $487.5 million (2000)
Currency (code): rand (ZAR)
Currency code: ZAR
Exchange rates: rand per US dollar - 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002), 8.6092 (2001), 6.9398 (2000)
Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March
Communications
Telephones - main lines in use: 4.844 million (2002)Telephones - mobile cellular: 16.86 million (2003)
Telephone system: general assessment
Radio broadcast stations: AM 14, FM 347 (plus 243 repeaters), shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios: 17 million (2001)
Television broadcast stations: 556 (plus 144 network repeaters) (1997)
Televisions: 6 million (2000)
Internet country code: .za
Internet hosts: 288,633 (2003)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 150 (2001)
Internet users: 3.1 million (2002)
Transportation
Railways: totalHighways: total
Pipelines: condensate 100 km; gas 1,052 km; oil 847 km; refined products 1,354 km (2004)
Ports and harbors: Cape Town, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Richards Bay, Saldanha Bay
Merchant marine: total
Airports: 728 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways: total
Airports - with unpaved runways: total
Military
Military branches: South African National Defense Force (SANDF)Military service age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; women have a long history of military service in non-combat roles - dating back to World War I (2004)
Manpower available for military service: males age 18-49
Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $3.172 billion (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.5% (2004)
Military - note: with the end of apartheid and the establishment of majority rule, former military, black homelands forces, and ex-opposition forces were integrated into the South African National Defense Force (SANDF); as of 2003 the integration process was considered complete
Transnational Issues
Disputes - international: South Africa has placed military along the border to stem the thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing to find work and escape political persecution; managed dispute with Namibia over the location of the boundary in the Orange RiverIllicit drugs: transshipment center for heroin, hashish, marijuana, and cocaine; cocaine consumption on the rise; world's largest market for illicit methaqualone, usually imported illegally from India through various east African countries; illicit cultivation of marijuana; attractive venue for money launderers given the increasing level of organized criminal and narcotics activity in the region
Last updated: 20 October, 2005
