 |
|
| |
|
||||
The Republic of South Africa (listen) is a republic at the southern tip of the African continent. It is bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe and to the north-east by Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho is contained entirely inside the borders of South Africa. South Africa is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Africa and has the largest white population on the continent as well as the largest Indian population outside Asia. Racial and ethnic strife have played a large part in much of the country's history and politics.
Names
South Africa has eleven official languages, which is second only to India. As a result, there are many official names for the country. It also recognises eight non-official languages (Fanagalo, Lobedu, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi, Sign Language, Khoe, Nama, and San). Furthermore, a tiny number of South Africans use the name Azania in preference to 'South Africa', which they disapprove of for its white colonial origins. Those using the name Azania are most often affiliated with parties coming from an Afrocentric left-wing tradition, such as the Pan-Africanist Congress of Azania, and groups originating as schisms from it, such as the Azanian People's Organisation. HistoryMain article: History of South Africa South Africa is one of the oldest nation-states in Africa. The area that is now South Africa was inhabited by the Khoi, San, Xhosa, Zulu and various other native tribes, when Dutch settlers arrived in 1652. In time Great Britain encroached more and more, 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 Africans. After the Second World War the whites were able to maintain their rule by implementing Apartheid, a series of harsh laws segregating the country along racial lines. The Apartheid system became increasingly controversial in the late 20th century, leading to widespread sanctions and growing unrest and oppression by the National Party government. In 1990, after a long period of resistance by various anti-apartheid movements, above all the African National Congress, the National Party government took the first step towards negotiating itself out of power, when it lifted the ban on the African National Congress and other left-wing political organisations, and released Nelson Mandela from prison after 27 years. Apartheid legislation was gradually removed from the statute books, and the first multi-racial elections were held in 1994. The ANC won by an overwhelming majority, and has been in power ever since. Control of the country is now largely in the hands of the black majority, which makes up roughly 80% of the population. Despite the end of Apartheid, millions of South Africans continue to live in poverty and the official unemployment rate is 40%. However, a series of voluntary and legislative moves, under the controversial system of BEE [1] (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4006591.stm), or Black Economic Empowerment, have helped to redress decades of racial imbalance in the management and ownership of South African business and industry. Government
The Republic of South Africa is a constitutional democracy with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating under a Westminster-inspired parliamentary system. South Africa's government differs greatly from those of other Commonwealth nations. The national, provincial and local levels of government all have legislative and executive authority in their own spheres, and are defined in the South African constitution as "distinctive, interdependent and interrelated". Operating at both national and provincial levels are advisory bodies drawn from South Africa's traditional leaders.It is a stated intention in the Constitution that the country be run on a system of co-operative governance. The government is undertaken by three inter-connected arms of goverment:
All bodies of the South African government are subject to the rule of the constitution, which is the supreme law in South Africa. Politics
South Africa has a bicameral Parliament, comprising the National Council of Provinces (or upper house) with 90 Members, and a National Assembly (or lower house) with 350 to 400 Members. Members of the lower house are elected on a population basis from single-member constituencies, known technically as 'divisions' but more commonly, as 'electorates' or 'seats.' The more populous the province, the more members it will have in the National Assembly. In the National Council of Provinces, each province regardless of population is represented by ten Members, and each mainland territory by two. Elections for both chambers are held every five years. The government is formed in the lower house, and the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly is the President. Provinces
After the end of Apartheid in 1994, the new government of South Africa had to integrate the independent and semi-independent Bantustans into the political structure of South Africa. To this end, it abolished the four former provinces of South Africa, namely the Cape of Good Hope Province, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal) and replaced them with nine fully integrated provinces. The new provinces were much smaller than the former provinces, which was done in order to allow the local government more resources. The new provinces are:
There was some controversy over what to call the new provinces and most of the names have avoided historical connotations instead of politically neutral names. In 2002, Northern Province was renamed Limpopo after the Limpopo river. Geography
South Africa occupies the southern tip of Africa, its long coastline stretching more than 2,500 kilometres from the desert border with Namibia on the Atlantic coast southwards around the tip of Africa and then north to the border with subtropical Mozambique on the Indian Ocean. The low-lying coastal zone is narrow for much of that distance, soon giving way to a mountainous escarpment that separates it from the high inland plateau. In some places, notably the province of KwaZulu-Natal in the east, a greater distance separates the coast from the escarpment. Although the country is classified as semi-arid, it has considerable variation in climate as well as topography. The great inland Karoo plateau, where rocky hills and mountains rise from sparsely populated scrubland, is very dry, and gets more so as it shades in the north-west towards the Kalahari desert. Extremely hot in summer, it can be icy in winter. In contrast, the eastern coastline is lush and well watered. The southern coast, part of which is known as the Garden Route, is rather less tropical but also green, as is the Cape of Good Hope - the latter especially in winter. This south-western corner of the country has a Mediterranean climate, with wet winters and hot, dry summers. Its most famous climatic characteristic is its wind, which blows intermittently virtually all year round, either from the south-east or the north-west. The eastern section of the Karoo does not extend as far north as the western part, giving way to the flat landscape of the Free State, which though still semi-arid receives somewhat more rain. North of the Vaal River the Highveld is better watered and saved by its altitude (Johannesburg is at 1 740m; its annual rainfall is 760 milimetres) from subtropical extremes of heat. Winters are cold, though snow is rare. Further north and to the east, especially where a drop in altitude beyond the escarpment gives the Lowveld its name, temperatures rise: the Tropic of Capricorn slices through the extreme north. This is also where one finds the typical South African Bushveld of wildlife fame. There is skiing in winter in the high Drakensberg mountains that form the eastern escarpment, but the coldest place in the country is Sutherland in the western Roggeveld Mountains, with midwinter temperatures as low as -15º celsius. The deep interior provides the hottest temperatures: in 1948 the mercury hit 51.7ºC celsius in the Northern Cape Kalahari near Upington. Flora and faunaMissing image Biomes_map.gif Map of the biome zones in South Africa
South Africa is particularly rich in species, with more than 20,000 different plants, or about 10 per cent of all the plants on earth. About 8,000 of the species are concentrated on the small region of the Western Cape. The fynbos vegetation zone at the Cape of Good Hope is one of the six Floral Kingdoms. It mainly consists of evergreen hard-leaf plants with usually fine, needle-like leaves. The fynbos is particularly rich in splendid blossom-plants, in the first place the wonderful proteas, of which alone there are some 130 different species. Because of their many different shapes, sizes, colours and qualities, the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus named them after the Greek god Proteus who, according to the mythology, able to change his appearance whichever way he wanted. The wealth in blooming plants is overwhelming, but the forest resources, however, are a totally different story. Only one per cent of the South African territory is covered with forests, almost exclusively in the humid coastal plains of the Indian Ocean and in the bordering moderate heights of the escarpment. Predominant are, unfortunately, plantations of imported tree species, mainly eucalyptus and pine. The original rainforest has almost completely fallen prey to ruinous exploitation. Because the native forest was economically of little value and also very difficult to access and penetrate early in South African history, the farmers have extinguished it ruthlessly. Only small patches have remained here and there. Today, South African hard-wood trees like Yellowwood, Stinkwood, and Ironwood are under the strictest nature protection. By far, the biggest part of South Africa is grassland. Especially on the Highveld, the plant cover is dominated by different grasses, low shrubs and acacia trees, mainly camel-thorn and white-thorn. Due to low precipitation, vegetation becomes sparse towards the north-west. There are numerous species of the water-storing succulents like aloes and euphorbias in the hot and dry Namaqualand region. In the north east, the grass and thorn savannah slowly changes into a bush savannah with a more dense growth. Ther are significant numbers of Baobab tress in this region, near the northern end of Kruger National Park. Economy
South Africa is a middle-income, developed country with an abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange, JSE Securities 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 40% 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 Thabo 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. It is estimated that South Africa accounts for up to 25% of the GDP of the entire African continent, and that it produces around two thirds of the electricity used on the continent. 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 relaxed its border controls after the demise of apartheid, international crime syndicates have entered the country and a large proportion of the world's drug trade flows through the country. 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 falling sharply during 2001 (hitting an historic low of R13.85 to the Dollar, raising fears of inflation, and causing the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates). The Rand has since dramatically recovered, trading at under R6 to the Dollar as of December 2004 (its best level since 1999) while the South African Reserve Bank's policy of inflation targeting has brought inflation under control. The stronger Rand has however put exporters under considerable pressure, with many calling for government to intervene in the exchange rate to help soften the Rand and many others dismissing staff. Interest rates have been cut to their lowest levels in more than two decades (550 basis points in 2003 alone) fueling economic growth, with South Africa recording 5.6% of economic growth in the 3rd quarter of 2004, the highest quarterly growth reported since 1996. Many economists feel that the country is entering a period of strong growth and may achieve sustained annual growth of 5% or more. Demographics
South Africa is a nation of 44.8 million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and beliefs. The 2001 Census provided five racial categories by which people could classify themselves, the last of which, "unspecified/other" drew negligible responses, and these results were omitted. Results for the other categories were:
By far the major part of the population classified itself as African or black, but it is not culturally or linguistically homogenous. Nine of the 11 official languages are African, reflecting a variety of tribal groups, which nevertheless have a great deal in common in terms of background, culture and descent. The white population descends largely from the colonial immigrants of the late 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries: Dutch, German, French Huguenot, and British. Linguistically it is divided into Afrikaans- and English-speaking groups, although many small communities immigrating over the last century retain the use of other languages. The label "coloured" is a contentious one, but still largely used for the people of mixed race descended from slaves brought in from the East and central Africa, the indigenous Khoesan who lived in the Cape at the time, indigenous African blacks and whites. The majority speak Afrikaans. Khoesan is a term used to describe two separate groups, physically similar in that they were light-skinned and small in stature. The Khoe, who were called Hottentots by the Europeans, were pastoralists and were effectively annihilated; the San, called Bushmen by the Europeans, were hunter-gatherers. A small, impoverished San population still lives in South Africa. The major part of the Asian population of the country is Indian in origin, many of them descended from indentured workers brought in the 19th century to work on the sugar plantations of the eastern coastal area then known as Natal. They are largely English-speaking, although many still retain the languages of their origins as well. There is also a significant group of Chinese South Africans. In terms of religious affiliation, about two-thirds of South Africans are Christian, mainly Protestant. They belong to a variety of churches, including many that combine Christian and traditional African beliefs. Many non-Christians espouse these traditional beliefs. Other significant religions are Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism. The population as a whole is young, with the highest numbers being recorded in the 10-14-year bracket. Of the total population, about 11,3% are between 10 and 14 years old. Culture
There is no single culture of South Africa. As South Africa is so ethnically diverse, it is not surprising that there are vast cultural differences as well. The country's black majority still has a substantial number of rural inhabitants who lead largely impoverished and necessarily simple lives. However blacks are increasingly urbanised and westernised, and usually speak English or Afrikaans in addition to their native tongue, which may be one of nine Bantu languages with official status since 1994. These include the Nguni languages, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sindebele, and Swazi, and the Sotho languages, which include Setswana, Sesotho, Sesotho sa Leboa and Venda. Cultural differences between speakers from the two language groups are comparable to those between speakers of German and Italian. Many urban blacks speak several indigenous languages, with isiZulu being a lingua franca in the Johannesburg area. The white minority lead lifestyles similar in many respects to whites found in Western Europe, North America and Australasia, with sport being immensely popular. Historical enmity between Afrikaans and English-speaking whites has given way to more amiable banter or rivalry. Afrikaners refer to an English speaker as a soutpiel or 'salt dick', on account of his divided loyalties: one foot in Africa; the other in England; and his genitals in the sea. A less rude and perhaps more common soubriquet was rooinek or 'red neck' referring to the sunburn of the recent immigrant. Similarly English speakers have long made 'Van Der Merwe' jokes about Afrikaners (who they sometimes refer to as "Dutchmen"), and who they regard as stupid and philistine. This historic rivalry between English and Afrikaans speaking whites may be coming to an end due to political considerations in post-apartheid South Africa. The mixed-race Coloureds are, culturally speaking, much closer to whites, especially Afrikaans speakers, whose language and religious beliefs they share, than they are to black South Africans, despite suffering considerable discrimination under apartheid. A small minority of Coloureds, known as Cape Malays are Muslim. Asians, (predominantly Indian origin) preserve their own cultural heritage, languages and religious beliefs, being either Hindu or Muslim, and speaking English, with Indian languages like Telugu or Gujarati being spoken less frequently. There is a much smaller Chinese community in South Africa, although its numbers have been increased by immigration from Taiwan (although the Taiwanese were classified as "White", rather than Asian by the Apartheid regime, and are thus are more culturally similar in many ways to whites than they are to other Asians). Media
South Africa has the most sophisticated media networks on the African continent. South Africa was one of the last countries in the world to allow television in 1971, but the late introduction was countered by a high induction rate which saw most white South Africans owning a television with access to the South African Broadcasting Corporation. Before the end of apartheid, television networks covered all urban areas and some less populated areas, and radio networks covered almost all of the country. An African language channel was introduced to the SABC in 1981, and finally the SABC's monopoly was challenged in 1986 when a new television network, M-Net, was launched. When apartheid ended, the number of channels available in South Africa expanded greatly as American television programmes were allowed to be rebroadcast. South Africa currently has several domestic television networks, as well as access to satellite television. South Africa also has a large, free, and active press that regularly challenges the government. International rankings
External links and referencesSome of the material on this article was obtained from the SouthAfrica.info (http://www.southafrica.info) website
Further reading
af:Suid-Afrika ca:Sud-àfrica cy:De Affrica da:Sydafrika de:Südafrika es:Sudáfrica eo:Sud-Afriko fr:Afrique du Sud ga:An Afraic Theas gd:Afraga-a-deas ia:Africa del Sud it:Sudafrica he:דרום אפריקה ms:Afrika Selatan minnan:Lâm-hui nds:Süüdafrika (Land) nl:Zuid-Afrika ja:南アフリカ共和国 ko:남아프리카 공화국 kw:Afrika Deghow lv:Dienvidāfrika lt:Pietų Afrikos Respublika no:Syd-Afrika pl:Republika Południowej Afryki pt:África do Sul simple:South Africa sl:Južna Afrika fi:Etelä-Afrikka ru:Южно-Африканская Республика sv:Sydafrika tn:Aferika Borwa tpi:Saut Aprika uk:Південно-Африканська Республіка zh:南非
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Copyright 2008 WordIQ.com - Privacy Policy
::
Terms of Use
:: Contact Us
:: About Us This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "South Africa". |