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South Africa

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                          Republic of South Africa

   Flag of South Africa Coat of arms of South Africa
   Flag                 Coat of arms
   Motto: !ke e: ǀxarra ǁke  ( ǀXam)
   "Unity In Diversity"
   (literally "Diverse People Unite")
   Anthem: National anthem of South Africa
   Location of South Africa
        Capital       Pretoria (administrative)
                      Cape Town (legislative)
                      Bloemfontein (judicial)
      Largest city    Johannesburg
   Official languages Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, Ndebele,
                      Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda
   Government         Parliamentary democracy
    - President       Thabo Mbeki
      Independence    from the United Kingdom
    - Union           31 May 1910
    - Statute of
      Westminster     11 December 1931
    - Republic        31 May 1961
                                    Area
    - Total           1,221,037 km² ( 25th)
                      471,443 sq mi
    - Water (%)       negligible
                                 Population
    - 2005 estimate   47,432,000 ( 26th)
    - 2001 census     44,819,278
    - Density         39/km² ( 163rd)
                      101/sq mi
       GDP ( PPP)     2005 estimate
    - Total           $570.2 billion ( 18th)
    - Per capita      $12,161 ( 55th)
      HDI  (2003)     0.658 (medium) ( 120th)
        Currency      South African rand ( ZAR)
       Time zone      SAST ( UTC+2)
      Internet TLD    .za
      Calling code    +27

   The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip
   of the African continent. It borders the countries of Namibia,
   Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. Lesotho is an
   independent enclave entirely surrounded by South African territory.

   South Africa has experienced a significantly different evolution from
   other nations in Africa as a result of two facts. Firstly, immigration
   from Europe reached levels not experienced in other African
   communities. Secondly, the strategic importance of the Cape Sea Route,
   as emphasised by the closure of the Suez Canal during the Six Day War,
   and mineral wealth made the country extremely important to Western
   interests, particularly during the Cold War. As a result of the former,
   South Africa is a very racially diverse nation. It has the largest
   population of people of Coloured (i.e. mixed racial background),
   whites, and Indian communities in Africa. Black South Africans account
   for slightly less than 80% of the population.

   Racial strife between the white minority and the black majority has
   played a large part in the country's history and politics, culminating
   in apartheid, which was instituted in 1948 by the National Party
   (although segregation existed prior to that date). The laws that
   defined apartheid began to be repealed or abolished by the National
   Party in 1990 after a long and sometimes violent struggle (including
   economic sanctions from the international community) by the Black
   majority as well as many White, Coloured, and Indian South Africans.

   Two philosophies originated in South Africa: ubuntu (the belief in a
   universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity); and Gandhi's
   notion of "passive resistance" ( Satyagraha), developed while he lived
   in South Africa.

   The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup
   d'état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century;
   however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not
   enfranchised until 1994. The economy of South Africa is the largest and
   best developed on the continent, with modern infrastructure common
   throughout the country.

   South Africa is often referred to as " The Rainbow Nation", a term
   coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and later adopted by then- President
   Nelson Mandela as a metaphor to describe the country's newly-developing
   multicultural diversity in the wake of segregationist apartheid
   ideology.

   South Africa will be the host nation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It
   will be the first time the tournament is held in Africa.

History

   South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological sites in
   Africa. Extensive fossil remains at the Sterkfontein, Kromdraai and
   Makapansgat caves suggest that various australopithecines existed in
   South Africa from about three million years ago. These were succeeded
   by various species of Homo, including Homo habilis, Homo erectus and
   modern man, Homo sapiens. Bantu-speaking peoples (the term Bantu is a
   linguistic term not an ethnic one), iron-using agriculturists and
   herdsmen, moved south of the Limpopo River into modern-day South Africa
   by the fourth or fifth century (the Bantu expansion) displacing the
   original Khoi and San speakers. They slowly moved south and the
   earliest ironworks in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to
   date from around 1050. The southernmost group was the Xhosa people,
   whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier
   Khoi and San people, reaching the Fish River, in today's Eastern Cape
   Province. These Iron Age populations displaced earlier hunter-gatherer
   peoples as they migrated.
   Romanticised painting of an account of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck.
   Enlarge
   Romanticised painting of an account of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck.

   The written history of South Africa begins with the accounts of
   European navigators passing South Africa on the East Indies trade
   routes. Subsequent to the first circumnavigation of the Cape in 1488 by
   the Portuguese Explorer Bartholomew Dias a number of shipwrecks
   occurred along the Southern African coast. Along with the accounts of
   the early navigators, the accounts of shipwreck survivors provide the
   earliest written accounts of Southern Africa. In the two centuries
   following 1488, a number of small fishing settlements were made along
   the coast by Portuguese sailors, but no written account of these
   settlements survives. In 1652 a victualling station was established at
   the Cape of Good Hope by Jan van Riebeeck on behalf of the Dutch East
   India Company. For most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
   the slowly-expanding settlement was a Dutch possession. The Dutch
   settlers eventually met the southwesterly expanding Xhosa people in the
   region of the Fish River. A series of wars, called Cape Frontier Wars,
   ensued, mainly caused by conflicting land and livestock interests.

   To ease Cape labour shortages slaves were brought from Indonesia,
   Madagascar, and India. Furthermore, troublesome leaders, often of royal
   descent, were banished from Dutch colonies to South Africa. This group
   of slaves eventually gave rise to a population that now identifies
   themselves as " Cape Malays". Cape Malays have traditionally been
   accorded a higher social status by the European colonists - many became
   wealthy landowners, but became increasingly dispossessed as Apartheid
   developed. Cape Malay mosques in District Six were spared, and now
   serve as monuments for the destruction that occurred around them.

   Most of the descendants of these slaves, who often married with Dutch
   settlers, were later classified together with the remnants of the
   Khoikhoi as Cape Coloureds. Further intermingling within the Cape
   Coloured population itself, as well as with Xhosa and other South
   African people, now means that they constitute roughly 50% of the
   population in the Western Cape Province.

   Great Britain seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1797. The Dutch East
   India Company declared bankruptcy, and the British annexed the Cape
   Colony in 1805. The British continued the frontier wars against the
   AmaXhosa, pushing the eastern frontier eastward through a line of forts
   established along the Fish River and consolidating it by encouraging
   British settlement. Due to pressure of abolitionist societies in
   Britain, the British parliament first stopped its global slave trade in
   1806, then abolished slavery in all its colonies in 1833.

   The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1886 encouraged economic
   growth and immigration, intensifying the subjugation of the natives.
   The Boers successfully resisted British encroachments during the First
   Boer War (1880–1881) using tactics much better suited to local
   conditions. For example, the Boers wore khaki clothing, which was the
   same colour as the earth, whereas the British wore bright red uniforms,
   making them easy targets for Boer sharpshooters. The British returned
   in greater numbers without their red jackets in the Second Boer War
   (1899–1902), which was largely opposed by the Liberal Party in the
   British Parliament. The Boers' attempt to ally themselves with German
   South West Africa provided the British with yet another excuse to take
   control of the Boer Republics.
   Boer women and children in British concentration camps.
   Enlarge
   Boer women and children in British concentration camps.

   The Boers resisted fiercely, but the British eventually overwhelmed the
   Boer forces, using their superior numbers and external supply chains
   and concentration camps as well as the controversial scorched earth
   tactic. The Treaty of Vereeniging specified full British sovereignty
   over the South African republics, and the British government agreed to
   assume the £3,000,000 war debt owed by the Afrikaner governments. One
   of the main provisions of the treaty ending the war was that 'Blacks'
   would not be allowed to vote, except in the Cape Colony.

   After four years of negotiations, the Union of South Africa was created
   from the Cape and Natal colonies, as well as the republics of Orange
   Free State and Transvaal, on May 31, 1910, exactly eight years after
   the end of the Second Boer War. The newly-created Union of South Africa
   was a dominion. In 1934, the South African Party and National Party
   merged to form the United Party, seeking reconciliation between
   Afrikaners and English-speaking 'Whites', but split in 1939 over the
   Union's entry into World War II as an ally of the United Kingdom. The
   right-wing National Party sympathised with Nazi Germany during the war,
   and sought greater racial segregation, or apartheid, after it.

   In 1948, the National Party was elected to power, and began
   implementing a series of harsh segregationist laws that would become
   known collectively as apartheid. Not surprisingly, this segregation
   also applied to the wealth acquired during rapid industrialization of
   the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. While the White minority enjoyed the highest
   standard of living in all of Africa, often comparable to " First World"
   western nations, the Black majority remained disadvantaged by almost
   every standard, including income, education, housing, and life
   expectancy. However, the average income and life expectancy of a black,
   'Indian' or 'colored' South African compared favorably to many other
   African states, such as Ghana and Tanzania.

   Apartheid became increasingly controversial, leading to widespread
   sanctions and divestment abroad and growing unrest and oppression
   within South Africa. (See also special section on History of South
   Africa in the apartheid era.) A long period of harsh suppression by the
   government, and resistance, strikes, marches, protests, and sabotage,
   by various anti-apartheid movements, most notably the African National
   Congress (ANC), followed. In 1990, 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
   organizations, and released Nelson Mandela from prison after
   twenty-seven years' incarceration. 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.

   Despite the end of apartheid, millions of South Africans, mostly black,
   continue to live in poverty. This is attributed to the legacy of the
   apartheid regime and, increasingly, what many see as the failure of the
   current government to tackle social issues, coupled with the monetary
   and fiscal discipline of the current government to ensure both
   redistribution of wealth and economic growth. However, the ANC's social
   housing policy has produced some improvement in living conditions in
   many areas by redirecting fiscal spending and improving the efficiency
   of the tax collection system.

Politics

   The central area of Pretoria, the administrative capital of South
   Africa.
   Enlarge
   The central area of Pretoria, the administrative capital of South
   Africa.

   South Africa has a bicameral parliament: the ninety members of the
   National Council of Provinces (the upper house); and the four hundred
   members of the National Assembly (the lower house). Members of the
   lower house are elected on a population basis by proportional
   representation: half of the members are elected from national lists and
   half are elected from provincial lists. Ten members are elected to
   represent each province in the National Council of Provinces,
   regardless of the population of the province. 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.

   Current South African politics are dominated by the African National
   Congress (ANC), which received 69.7% of the vote during the last 2004
   general election and 66.3% of the vote in the 2006 municipal election.
   The main challenger to the ANC's rule is the Democratic Alliance party,
   which received 12.4% of the vote in the 2004 election and 14.8% in the
   2006 election. The leader of this party is Tony Leon. The formerly
   dominant New National Party, which introduced apartheid through its
   predecessor, the National Party, has suffered increasing humiliation at
   election polls since 1994, and finally voted to disband. It chose to
   merge with the ANC on 9 April 2005. Other major political parties
   represented in Parliament are the Inkatha Freedom Party, which mainly
   represents Zulu voters, and the Independent Democrats, who took 6.97%
   and 1.7% of the vote respectively in the 2004 election.

Administrative divisions

   Map showing the provinces and districts (numbered) of South Africa.
   ██ Northern Cape ██ North West ██ Gauteng ██ Limpopo ██ Mpumalanga
   ██ KwaZulu-Natal ██ Eastern Cape ██ Free State ██ Western Cape
   Enlarge
   Map showing the provinces and districts (numbered) of South Africa.
   ██  Northern Cape ██  North West ██  Gauteng ██  Limpopo ██  Mpumalanga
   ██  KwaZulu-Natal ██  Eastern Cape ██  Free State ██  Western Cape

   When apartheid ended in 1994, the South African government had to
   integrate the formerly independent and semi-independent Bantustans into
   the political structure of South Africa. To this end, it abolished the
   four former provinces of South Africa ( Cape Province, Natal, Orange
   Free State, and Transvaal) and replaced them with nine fully integrated
   provinces. The new provinces are usually much smaller than the former
   provinces, which theoretically is in order to give local governments
   more resources to distribute over smaller areas.

   The nine provinces are further sub-divided into fifty-two districts,
   six of which are metropolitan and forty-six district municipalities.
   The forty-six district municipalities are further subdivided into 231
   local municipalities. The district municipalities also contain twenty
   district management areas (mostly game parks) which are directly
   governed by the district municipalities. The six metropolitan
   municipalities perform the functions of both district and local
   municipalities. The new provinces are:
   Province Former Homelands and Provinces Capital Area (km²) Area (mi²)
   Population (2001)
   Eastern Cape Cape Province, Transkei, Ciskei Bisho 169,580 65,475
   6,436,761
   Free State Orange Free State. QwaQwa Bloemfontein 129,480 49,992
   2,706,776
   Gauteng Transvaal Johannesburg 17,010 6,568 8,837,172
   KwaZulu-Natal Natal. KwaZulu Pietermaritzburg 92,100 35,560 9,426,018
   Limpopo Transvaal, Venda. Lebowa, Gazankulu Polokwane 123,900 47,838
   5,273,637
   Mpumalanga Transvaal, KwaNdebele, KaNgwane. Bophuthatswana, Lebowa
   Nelspruit 79,490 30,691 3,122,994
   Northern Cape Cape Province Kimberley 361,830 139,703 822,726
   North West Transvaal, Cape Province, Bophuthatswana Mafikeng 116,320
   44,911 3,669,349
   Western Cape Cape Province Cape Town 129,370 49,950 4,524,335

Geography

   Map of South Africa.
   Map of South Africa.
   Satellite picture of South Africa.
   Enlarge
   Satellite picture of South Africa.

   South Africa is located at the southern most region of Africa, with a
   long coastline that stretches more than 2,500  kilometres (1,550 mi)
   and across two oceans (the Atlantic and the Indian). At 470,979  mi²
   (1,219,912  km² ), South Africa is the world's 25th-largest country
   (after Mali). It is comparable in size to Colombia, and is nearly twice
   the size of the US state of Texas. Njesuthi in the Drakensberg at
   3,408 m is the highest peak in South Africa.

   South Africa has a great variety of climate zones, from the extreme
   desert of the southern Namib in the farthest northwest to the lush
   subtropical climate in the east along the border with Mozambique and
   the Indian ocean. From the east, the land quickly rises over a
   mountainous escarpment towards the interior plateau known as the
   Highveld. Even though South Africa is classified as semi-arid, there is
   considerable variation in climate as well as topography.

   The interior of South Africa is a giant, rather flat, and sparsely
   populated scrubland Karoo , which is drier towards the northwest along
   the Namib desert. In contrast, the eastern coastline is lush and
   well-watered, which produces a climate similar to the tropics. The
   extreme southwest has a climate remarkably similar to that of the
   Mediterranean with wet winters and hot, dry summers, hosting the famous
   Fynbos Biome. This area also produces much of South Africa's wine. This
   region is also particularly known for its wind, which blows
   intermittently almost all year. The severity of this wind made passing
   around the Cape of Good Hope particularly treacherous for sailors,
   causing many shipwrecks. Further east on the country's south coast,
   rainfall is distributed more evenly throughout the year, producing a
   green landscape. This area is popularly known as the Garden Route.

   The Free State is particularly flat due to the fact that it lies
   centrally on the high plateau. North of the Vaal River, the Highveld
   becomes better watered and does not experience subtropical extremes of
   heat. Johannesburg, in the centre of the Highveld, is at 1,740  metres
   (5,709  ft) and receives an annual rainfall of 760 millimetres (30
   in). Winters in this region are cold, although snow is rare.

   To the north of Johannesburg, the altitude drops beyond the Highveld's
   escarpment, and turns into the lower lying Bushveld, an area of mixed
   dry forest and an abundance of wildlife. East of the Highveld, beyond
   the eastern escarpment, the Lowveld stretches towards the Indian ocean.
   It has particularly high temperatures, and is also the location of
   extended subtropical agriculture. The high Drakensberg mountains, which
   form the south-eastern escarpment of the Highveld, offer limited skiing
   opportunities in winter. Many people think that the coldest place in
   South Africa is Sutherland in the western Roggeveld Mountains, where
   midwinter temperatures can reach as low as −15 degrees Celsius (5 ° F).
   In fact, the coldest place is actually Buffelsfontein, which is in the
   Molteno district of the Eastern Cape. Buffelsfontein recorded a low of
   −18.6 degrees Celsius. The deep interior has the hottest temperatures:
   A temperature of 51.7 °C (125 °F) was recorded in 1948 in the Northern
   Cape Kalahari near Upington.

   South Africa also has one possession, the small sub-antarctic
   archipelago of the Prince Edward Islands, consisting of Marion Island
   (290 km²/112 mi²) and Prince Edward Island (45 km²/17.3 mi²) (not to be
   confused with the Canadian province of the same name).

Flora and fauna

   Fynbos, a floral kingdom unique to South Africa, is found near Cape
   Town.
   Enlarge
   Fynbos, a floral kingdom unique to South Africa, is found near Cape
   Town.

   South Africa has more than 20,000 different plants, or about 10% of all
   the known species of plants on Earth, making it particularly rich in
   plant biodiversity.

   South Africa's most prevalent biome is grassland, particularly on the
   Highveld, where the plant cover is dominated by different grasses, low
   shrubs, and acacia trees, mainly camel-thorn and whitethorn. Vegetation
   becomes even more sparse towards the northwest due to low rainfall.
   There are several species of water-storing succulents like aloes and
   euphorbias in the very hot and dry Namaqualand area. The grass and
   thorn savannah turns slowly into a bush savannah towards the northeast
   of the country, with more dense growth. There are significant numbers
   of baobab trees in this area, near the northern end of Kruger National
   Park.

   The Fynbos Biome, one of the six floral kingdoms, is located in a small
   region of the Western Cape and contains more than 9,000 of those
   species, making it among the richest regions on earth in terms of
   floral biodiversity. The majority of the plants are evergreen hard-leaf
   plants with fine, needle-like leaves, such as the sclerophyllous
   plants. Another uniquely South African plant is the protea genus of
   flowering plants. There are around 130 different species of protea in
   South Africa.

   While South Africa has a great wealth of flowering plants, it has few
   forests. Only 1% of South Africa is forest, almost exclusively in the
   humid coastal plain along the Indian Ocean in KwaZulu-Natal. There are
   even smaller reserves of forests that are out of the reach of fire,
   known as montane forests. Plantations of imported tree species are
   predominant, particularly the non-native eucalyptus and pine. South
   Africa has lost extensive acreage of natural habitat in the last four
   decades, primarily due to overpopulation, sprawling development
   patterns and deforestation during the nineteenth century. South Africa
   is one of the worst affected countries in the world when it comes to
   invasion by alien species with many (e.g. Black Wattle, Port Jackson,
   Hakea, Lantana and Jacaranda) posing a significant threat to the native
   biodiversity and the already scarce water resources. The original
   temperate forest that met the first European settlers to South Africa
   was exploited ruthlessly until only small patches remained. Currently,
   South African hardwood trees like Real Yellowwood (Podocarpus
   latifolius), stinkwood (Ocotea bullata), and South African Black
   Ironwood (Olea laurifolia) are under government protection.

   Numerous mammals are found in the bushveld habitats including lion,
   leopard, White Rhino, Blue Wildebeest, kudu, impala, hyena,
   hippopotamus, and giraffe. There is a significant extent of the
   bushveld habitat in the northeast including Kruger National Park and
   the Mala Mala Reserve, as well as in the far north in the Waterberg
   Biosphere.

   Climate change is expected to bring considerable warming and drying to
   much of this already semi-arid region, with greater frequency and
   intensity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, flooding and
   drought. According to computer generated climate modelling produced by
   the South African National Biodiversity Institute or SANBI (along with
   many of its partner institutions), parts of southern Africa will see an
   increase in temperature by about 1°C along the coast to more than 4°C
   in the already hot hinterland such as the Northern Cape in late spring
   and summertime by 2050.

   The Cape Floral Kingdom has been identified as one of the global
   hotspots since it will be hit very hard by climate change and has such
   a great diversity of life. Drought, increased intensity and frequency
   of fire and climbing temperatures are expected to push many of these
   rare species towards extinction. Scorched : South Africa's changing
   climate takes much of the modelling produced by SANBI and presents it
   in an accessible travelogue-style collection of essays .

Economy

   The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town with Table Mountain in
   the background. Cape Town has become an important retail and tourism
   centre for the country, and attracts the largest number of foreign
   visitors in South Africa.
   Enlarge
   The Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town with Table Mountain in
   the background. Cape Town has become an important retail and tourism
   centre for the country, and attracts the largest number of foreign
   visitors in South Africa.

   By UN classification South Africa is a middle-income country with an
   abundant supply of resources, well-developed financial, legal,
   communications, energy, and transport sectors, a stock exchange (the
   JSE Securities Exchange), that ranks among the ten largest in the
   world, and a modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution
   of goods to major urban centres throughout the region. South Africa's
   per capita GDP, corrected for purchasing power parity, positions the
   country as one of the fifty wealthiest in the world. In many respects,
   South Africa is developed; however, this development is significantly
   localized around four areas, namely Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban,
   and Pretoria-Johannesburg. Beyond these four economic centres,
   development is marginal and poverty still reigns despite Government
   strategies. However, key marginal areas are experiencing rapid growth
   recently. Such areas include: Mossel Bay to Plettenberg Bay; Rustenburg
   area; Nelspruit area; Bloemfontein; Cape West Coast; KZN North Coast
   amongst others. Large income gaps and a dual economy designate South
   Africa as developing; South Africa has one of the highest rates of
   income inequality in the world. Consecutive growth rates in the last
   ten years are helping lower unemployment; however, the economy still
   has a way to go, and daunting economic problems remain. 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
   privatisation, and cutting unneeded governmental spending. His policies
   face strong opposition from organised labour. It is estimated that
   South Africa accounts for up to 30% of the gross domestic product of
   the entire African continent. South Africa is also the continent's
   largest energy producer and consumer.

   The rand, the world's most actively-traded emerging market currency,
   has joined an elite club of fifteen currencies, the Continuous linked
   settlement (CLS), where forex transactions are settled immediately,
   lowering the risks of transacting across time zones. The South African
   rand (ZAR) was the best performing currency against the US dollar
   between 2002 and 2005, according to the Bloomberg Currency Scorecard.
   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 United States dollar, raising fears of inflation, and causing the
   Reserve Bank to increase interest rates. The rand has since recovered,
   trading at R5.99 to the dollar as of January 2006 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.

   21.5% of the adult South African population have been estimated to be
   HIV positive in 2003. The government has recently, after much delay,
   devoted substantial resources to fighting this pandemic. A recent study
   from the African Journal of AIDS Research by 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.

   In 2000, President Mbeki publicly questioned the importance of HIV in
   causing AIDS, controversially suggesting that the main cause was
   "poverty". In 2001 the government appointed a panel of scientists,
   including a number of AIDS dissidents (who question the mainstream view
   on HIV), to report back on the issue. Following their report, the
   government stated that it continues to base its policy on the premise
   that the cause of AIDS is indeed HIV. The controversy has not abated,
   and organisations such as the Treatment Action Campaign continue to
   mount political and legal challenges to what they claim is the
   government's slow response to the epidemic.

   Refugees from poorer neighbouring countries abound with immigrants from
   the DRC, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi and many others representing a
   large portion of the informal sector. With high unemployment levels
   amongst poorer South Africans, xenophobia is a very real fear and many
   people born in South Africa feel resentful of immigrants who are seen
   to be depriving the native population of jobs, a feeling which has been
   given credibility by the fact that many South African employers have
   employed migrants from other countries for lower pay than South African
   citizens, especially in the construction, tourism, agriculture and
   domestic service industries. Illegal immigrants are also heavily
   involved in informal trading. However, many immigrants to South Africa
   continue to live in poor conditions, and the South African immigration
   policy has become increasingly restrictive since 1994.

Agriculture

   Workers planting on a farm in the central area of Mpumalanga.
   Enlarge
   Workers planting on a farm in the central area of Mpumalanga.
   Farm workers
   Enlarge
   Farm workers

   South Africa has a large agricultural sector and is a net exporter of
   farming products. There are almost a thousand agricultural cooperatives
   and agribusinesses throughout the country, and agricultural exports
   have constituted 8% of South Africa's total exports for the past five
   years. The agricultural industry contributes around 10% of formal
   employment, relatively low compared to other parts of Africa, as well
   as providing work for casual labourers and contributing around 2.6% of
   GDP for the nation. However, due to the aridity of the land, only 13.5%
   can be used for crop production, and only 3% is considered high
   potential land.

   Although the commercial farming sector is relatively well developed,
   people in some rural areas still survive on subsistence agriculture. It
   is the eighth largest wine producer in the world, and the eleventh
   largest producer of sunflower seed. South Africa is a net exporter of
   agricultural products and foodstuffs, the largest number of exported
   items being sugar, grapes, citrus, nectarines, wine and deciduous
   fruit. The largest locally produced crop is maize(corn), and it has
   been estimated that 9 million tons are produced every year, with 7.4
   million tons being consumed. Livestock are also popular on South
   African farms, with the country producing 85% of all meat consumed. The
   dairy industry consists of around 4,300 milk producers providing
   employment for 60,000 farm workers and contributing to the livelihoods
   of around 40,000 others.

   In recent years, the agricultural sector has introduced several
   reforms, some of which are controversial, such as land reform and the
   deregulation of the market for agricultural products. Land reform has
   been criticised both by farmers' groups and by landless workers, the
   latter alleging that the pace of change has not been fast enough, and
   the former alleging racist treatment and expressing concerns that a
   similar situation to Robert Mugabe's land reform policy may develop, a
   fear exacerbated by comments made by the country's deputy president.
   The sector continues to face problems with increased foreign
   competition and crime being two of the major challenges for the
   industry.

   Crime against the farming community continues to be a problem. The
   rural farm population has shouldered a great increase in attacks and
   harassment and has suffered as many as 2000 farm murders since 1994,
   and this has caused many commercial farmers to flee the countryside for
   the protection of the gated communities of the cities and that offered
   by other nations. The government has been accused of not devoting
   enough time and money to tackle the problem as opposed to other forms
   of violent crime, or simply inefficiency and incompetence.

   Another issue which affects South African agriculture is environmental
   damage caused by misuse of the land and global climate change. South
   Africa is unusually vulnerable to climate change and resultant
   diminution of surface waters. Some predictions shows surface water
   supply could decrease by 60 percent by the year 2070 in parts of the
   Western Cape. To reverse the damage caused by land mismanagement, the
   government has supported a scheme which promotes sustainable
   development and the use of natural resources.

Demographics

   South Africa is a nation of over 47 million people of diverse origins,
   cultures, languages, and beliefs. The 2005 Statistics South Africa
   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 Black African at 75.4%, White at 14.3%, Coloured at
   8.8%, and Indian or Asian at 2.5%. South Africa has a yearly population
   growth rate of -0.40% .

   By far the major part of the population classified itself as African or
   black, but it is not culturally or linguistically homogenous. Major
   ethnic groups include the Zulu, Xhosa, Basotho (South Sotho), Bapedi
   (North Sotho), Venda, Tswana, Tsonga, Swazi and Ndebele. Some, such as
   the Zulu, Xhosa, Bapedi and Venda groups, are unique to South Africa.

   Other groups are distributed across the borders with South Africa's
   neighbours: The Basotho group is also the major ethnic group in
   Lesotho. The Tswana ethnic group constitute the majority of the
   population of Botswana. The Swazi ethnic group is the major ethnic
   group in Swaziland. The Ndebele ethnic group is also found in
   Matabeleland in Zimbabwe, where they are known as the Matabele. These
   Ndebele people are however in effect Zulu people because the language
   they speak is Zulu and they are the descendants of the Warrior
   Mzilikazi who escaped persecution from Shaka to settle in that part of
   the World. The Tsonga ethnic group is also found in southern
   Mozambique, where they are known as the Shangaan.

   The white population descends largely from colonial immigrants: Dutch,
   German, French Huguenot, and British. Culturally and linguistically,
   they are divided into the Afrikaners, who speak Afrikaans, and
   English-speaking groups, many of whom originated from British
   immigrants (see Anglo African). Many small communities immigrating over
   the last century retain the use of other languages. The white
   population is 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 government's affirmative action policies.

   The term " Coloured" is still largely used for the people of mixed race
   descended from slaves brought in from East and Central Africa, the
   indigenous Khoisan who lived in the Cape at the time, indigenous
   African Blacks, Whites (mostly the Dutch/ Afrikaner and British
   settlers) as well as an admixture of Javanese, Malay, Indian, Malagasy
   and other European (such as Portuguese) and Asian blood (such as
   Burmese). The majority speak Afrikaans. Khoisan is a term used to
   describe two separate groups, physically similar in that they were
   light-skinned and small in stature. The Khoikhoi, who were called
   Hottentots by the Europeans, were pastoralists and were effectively
   annihilated; the San, called Bushmen by the Europeans, were
   hunter-gatherers. Within what is known as the Coloured community, more
   recent immigrants will also be found: Coloureds from the former
   Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Namibia) and immigrants of mixed descent
   from India and Burma ( Anglo-Indians/ Anglo-Burmese) who were welcomed
   to the Cape when India and Burma received their Independence.

   The major part of the Asian population of the country is Indian in
   origin, many of them descended from indentured workers brought in the
   nineteenth century to work on the sugar plantations of the eastern
   coastal area then known as Natal. There is also a significant group of
   Chinese South Africans (approximately 100 000 individuals).

HIV/AIDS

   As in many African countries, the spread of AIDS (acquired
   immuno-deficiency syndrome) is a serious problem in South Africa. The
   link between HIV, a virus spread primarily by sexual contact, and AIDS
   has long been denied by the president and the health minister, who have
   insisted that the many deaths in the country are due to malnutrition,
   and hence poverty, and not HIV. However, despite a significant increase
   in the percentage of the population that has AIDS, racial statistics
   are much different. An estimate made by the South African government
   shows that the number of Blacks with HIV has decreased (-5.66%), and
   the number of Whites with HIV is rapidly increasing (9.77% per year).

   AIDS is affecting mainly those who are sexually active, which means the
   demographics of the country are slowly changing. Most deaths are people
   who are also economically active, resulting in many families losing
   their primary wage earners. This is resulting in many 'AIDS orphans'
   who in many cases depend on the state for care and financial support.
   It is estimated that there are 1,100,000 orphans in South Africa.
   Elderly people, traditionally supported by younger members of the
   family, are also becoming more and more dependant on the state for
   financial support.

Culture

   Prison Buildings on Robben Island, the holding place of several
   anti-apartheid fighters including Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned
   there for eighteen years. Robben Island is now a UNESCO World Heritage
   Site.
   Enlarge
   Prison Buildings on Robben Island, the holding place of several
   anti-apartheid fighters including Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned
   there for eighteen years. Robben Island is now a UNESCO World Heritage
   Site.
   Decorated houses, Drakensberg Mountains.
   Enlarge
   Decorated houses, Drakensberg Mountains.

   It may be argued that there is no "single" culture in South Africa
   because of its ethnic diversity. Today, the diversity in foods from
   many cultures is enjoyed by all and especially marketed to tourists who
   wish to sample the large variety of South African cuisine. In addition
   to food, music and dance feature prominently.

   South African cuisine is heavily meat-based and has spawned the
   distinctively South African social gathering known as a braai. South
   Africa has also developed into a major wine producer, with some of the
   best vineyards in the world lying in valleys around Stellenbosch,
   Franschoek, Paarl and Barrydale.

   There is great diversity in music from South Africa. Many black
   musicians who sang in Afrikaans or English during apartheid have since
   begun to sing in traditional African languages, and have developed a
   unique style called Kwaito. Of note is Brenda Fassie, who launched to
   fame with her song "Weekend Special", which was sung in English. More
   famous traditional musicians include Ladysmith Black Mambazo, while the
   Soweto String Quartet performs classic music with an African flavour.
   White and Coloured South African singers tend to avoid traditional
   African musical themes, instead preferring more European musical styles
   including such western metal bands such as Seether. Afrikaans music
   covers multiple genres, such as the contemporary Steve Hofmeyr and the
   punk rock band Fokofpolisiekar. Crossover artists such as Johnny Clegg
   and his bands Juluka and Savuka have enjoyed various success
   underground, publically, and abroad.

   The country's black majority still has a substantial number of rural
   inhabitants who lead largely impoverished lives. It is among these
   people, however, that traditional dance and music survive; as blacks
   have become increasingly urbanised and westernised, aspects of
   traditional culture have declined. Urban blacks usually speak English
   or Afrikaans in addition to their native tongue. There are smaller but
   still significant groups of speakers of Khoisan languages which are not
   official languages, but are one of the eight officially recognised
   languages. There are small groups of speakers of endangered languages,
   most of which are from the Khoi-San family, that receive no official
   status; however, some groups within South Africa are attempting to
   promote their use and revival.

   The white minority lead lifestyles similar in many respects to whites
   found in Western Europe, North America and Australasia.

   Despite considerable discrimination under apartheid, Coloureds tend to
   relate more to white South African culture rather than black South
   African culture, especially Afrikaans-speaking Coloured people whose
   language and religious beliefs are similar or identical to white
   Afrikaners.

   Asians, predominantly of Indian origin, preserve their own cultural
   heritage, languages and religious beliefs, being either Christian,
   Hindu or Sunni Muslim and speaking English, with Indian languages like
   Tamil or Gujarati being spoken less frequently. Most Indians arrived on
   the famous Truro ship as indentured labourers in Natal to work the
   Sugar Cane Fields. There is a much smaller Chinese community in South
   Africa, although its numbers have increased due to immigration from
   Taiwan. Since the Taiwanese were classified as White, rather than
   Asian, under apartheid, they tend to be more culturally similar to
   whites in many ways than they are to other Asians.

Languages

   Map showing principal South African languages by municipality. Lighter
   shades indicate a non-majority plurality. ██ Afrikaans ██ Northern
   Sotho ██ Southern Sotho ██ Swati ██ Tsonga ██ Tswana ██ Venda ██ Xhosa
   ██ Zulu Enlarge
   Map showing principal South African languages by municipality. Lighter
   shades indicate a non-majority plurality.
   ██ Afrikaans ██  Northern Sotho ██  Southern Sotho ██  Swati ██  Tsonga
   ██  Tswana ██  Venda ██  Xhosa ██  Zulu

   South Africa has eleven official languages: Afrikaans, English,
   Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda,
   Xhosa and Zulu. In this regard it is second only to India in number.
   While each language is technically equal to every other, English has
   emerged recently as the chief-among-peers as it is the most widely
   spoken language across racial barriers as well as globally, even though
   it is not the most widely spoken language by population. There are
   eleven official names for South Africa, one for each of the official
   national languages.

   The country also recognises eight non-official languages: Fanagalo,
   Khoe, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi, San and South African
   Sign Language. These non-official 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 northward 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 Angolan and Mozambican blacks), German, and
   Greek, while many Asians and Indians in South Africa speak South Asian
   languages, such as Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil.

Crime

   Crime has been a major problem in South Africa. According to a survey
   for the period 1998-2000 compiled by the United Nations, South Africa
   was ranked second for assault and murder (by all means) per capita, in
   addition to being ranked second for rape and first for rapes per
   capita. Total crime per capita is tenth out of the sixty countries in
   the data set. Nevertheless, crime has had a pronounced effect on
   society: many wealthier South Africans moved into gated communities,
   abandoning the central business districts of some cities for the
   relative security of suburbs. This effect is most pronounced in
   Johannesburg, although the trend is noticeable in other cities as well.
   Many emigrants from South Africa also state that crime was a big
   motivator for them to leave. Crime against the farming community has
   continued to be a major problem in the country.

Military

   South Africa's armed forces, known as the South African National
   Defence Force (SANDF), was created in 1994. Previously known simply as
   the South African Defence Force (SADF), the new force consists of the
   forces of the old SADF, as well as the forces of the African
   nationalist groups, namely Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), Azanian People's
   Liberation Army (APLA), and the former homeland defence forces. The
   SANDF is subdivided into four branches, the South African Army, the
   South African Air Force, the South African Navy, and the South African
   Military Health Services.

   In recent years, the SANDF has become a major peacekeeping force in
   Africa, and has been involved in operations in Lesotho, the Democratic
   Republic of the Congo, and Burundi, amongst others. It has also
   participated as a part of multi-national UN peacekeeping forces.

   South Africa undertook a nuclear weapons program in the 1970s and may
   have conducted a nuclear test over the Atlantic in 1979. It has since
   renounced its nuclear program and, after destroying its small nuclear
   arsenal, signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991. It is the
   only African country to have successfully developed nuclear weapons
   and, to date, the only country in the world to have voluntarily
   dismantled its entire nuclear weapons arsenal.

International rankings

   Organisation Survey Ranking
   A.T. Kearney/ Foreign Policy Magazine Globalization Index 2005 48 out
   of 62
   Heritage Foundation/The Wall Street Journal 2006 Index of Economic
   Freedom 50 out of 157
   IMD International World Competitiveness Yearbook 2005 46 out of 60
   Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index (2005) 31 out of 167
   Save the Children Children's Index Rank 2005 65 out of 110
   The Economist Worldwide Quality-of-Life Index 2005 92 out of 111
   Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2006 51 out of
   163
   United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index 2006 121
   out of 177
   World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007 45 out of
   125
   Yale University Centre for Environmental Law and Policy and Columbia
   University Centre for International Earth Science Information Network
   Environmental Sustainability Index 96 out of 146 countries
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