SOUTH AFRICA - FACTS AND INFORMATION ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA

FACTS AND INFORMATION ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA

Stes de Necker

CONTENTS

·        Key facts

·        Economy

·        Democracy

·        Geography and climate

·        Provinces

·        Population

·        Languages

·        Education

Key facts:

General:

Official name: Republic of South Africa

Form of state: A federal state, comprising a national government and nine provincial governments.

Legal system: Based on Roman-Dutch law and the 1996 Constitution.

Population (Census 2011): 51.77-million

Measures: metric system

Currency: One rand (R) = 100 cents

Time: Two hours ahead of GMT

Internet domain: .za

Geography:

Area: 1 219 090 square kilometres

Agriculture: 81.6% of total land area

Arable land: 12.1% of total

Irrigated land: 10.15% of arable land

Capitals:

Pretoria (administrative)

Cape Town (legislative)

Bloemfontein (judicial)

Provinces:

Eastern Cape

Gauteng

KwaZulu-Natal

Mpumulanga

Northern Cape

Limpopo

North West

 Free State

Western Cape

Economy

Currency: Rand (R)

Exchange rate: see "market indicators" above right

Real GDP growth rate (second quarter 2012): 3.2%

Ranking in terms of GDP size: 25th largest in the world [IMF]

Consumer inflation rate (May 2012): 5.7% y/y [StatsSA]

Producer inflation rate (May 2012): 6.6% y/y [StatsSA]

Prime bank overdraft lending rate (July 2012): 9%

Labour force (first quarter 2012): 17.95-million economically active [StatsSA]

Unemployment (first quarter 2012): 25.2% [StatsSA]

Sovereign credit rating (2012):
Standard and Poor's: BBB+/Negative
Fitch: BBB+/Negative
Moody's: A3/Negative

GDP composition by sector (2011):
agriculture 2.5%, industry 31.6%, services 65.9%

Key industries:

Mining (world's largest producer of platinum, chromium), automobile assembly, metal- working, machinery, textiles, iron and steel, chemicals, fertilisers, foodstuffs, commercial ship repair.

Main trading partners (2011) [Sars]:

Exports – China 12.77%, US 8.64%, Japan 7.88%, Germany 6.04%, UK 4.11%, India, 3.47%, Switzerland 3.24%, Netherlands 3.05%, Zimbabwe 2,52%, Mozambique 2.5%

Imports – China 14.24%, Germany 10.69%, US 7.88%, Japan 4.74%, Saudi Arabia 4.46%, India 4.03%, UK 4.02%, Iran 3,74%, Nigeria 3.13%, Italy 2.7%

Democracy

National legislature: Bicameral Parliament elected every five years, comprising a 400-seat National Assembly and a 90-seat National Council of Provinces.

Electoral system: List-system of proportional representation based on universal adult suffrage.

Elections: National elections were held in 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009. The next national election will take place within 90 days of 22 April 2014. Head of state: The President is elected by the National Assembly. Under the Constitution, the President is permitted to serve a maximum of two five-year terms. The current President is Jacob Zuma, who was sworn in on 9 May 2009.

South Africa is a vigorous multiparty democracy with an independent judiciary and a free and diverse press.

Until 1994, the country was known for apartheid – white-minority rule. South Africa's remarkable ability to put centuries of racial hatred behind it in favour of reconciliation was widely considered a social miracle, inspiring similar peace efforts in Northern Ireland, Rwanda and elsewhere.

The highest law of the land is the Constitution, which came into force on 4 February 1997, and is considered to be one of the most progressive in the world. The Constitution's Bill of Rights protects equality, freedom of expression and association, property, housing, health care, education, access to information, and access to courts. Protecting those rights is the country's independent judiciary, subject only to the Constitution and the law.

With 13 parties in Parliament, South Africa has a vibrant political system. The African National Congress is the governing party, and strongly in the majority, though the opposition parties are robust and vocal.

SOUTH AFRICA'S POLITICAL PARTIES
Political party	National Assembly seats
African National Congress	264
Democratic Alliance	67
Congress of the People	30
Inkatha Freedom Party	18
Independent Democrats	4
United Democratic Movement	4
Freedom Front Plus	4
African Christian Democratic Party	3
United Christian Democratic Party	2
Pan Africanist Congress	1
African Peoples Convention	1
Minority Front	1
Azanian People's Organisation	1

Geography and climate

South Africa is a medium-sized country, with a total land area of 1 219 090 square kilometres, or roughly equivalent in size to Niger, Angola, Mali or Colombia. It is one- eighth the size of the US, about a third the size of the European Union, twice the size of France and over three times the size of Germany. It measures some 1 600km from north to south, and roughly the same from east to west.

The country lies between 22º and 35º south, flanked on the west by the Atlantic Ocean and on the east by the Indian Ocean, whose waters meet at the country's – and Africa's – most southern tip, Cape Agulhas.

The coastline stretches 2 798 kilometres from a desert border in the northwest, down the icy Skeleton Coast to Cape Agulhas, then up along the green hills and wide beaches on the coast of the Indian Ocean, to a border with subtropical Mozambique in the northeast.

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.

A subtropical location, moderated by ocean on three sides of the country and the altitude of the interior plateau, makes South Africa a warm and sunny country. But it's also dry, with an average annual rainfall of about 450mm, with about 21% of the country receiving less than 200mm a year. 

The world average is 860mm. While the Western Cape gets most of its rainfall in winter, the rest of the country is mostly a summer-rainfall region.

Provinces

South Africa has nine provinces, which vary considerably in size.

The smallest is tiny and crowded Gauteng, a highly urbanised region, and the largest the vast, arid and empty Northern Cape, which takes up almost a third of South Africa's total land area.

PROVINCIAL LAND AREA
Province	Area	% of total
Eastern Cape	169 580 km²	13.9%
Free State	129 480 km²	10.6%
Gauteng	17 010 km²	1.4%
KwaZulu-Natal	92 100 km²	7.6%
Limpopo	123 910 km²	10.2%
Mpumalanga	79 490 km²	6.5%
Northern Cape	361 830 km²	29.7%
North West	116 320 km²	9.5%
Western Cape	129 370 km²	10.6%
TOTAL	1 219 090 km²	100%

POPULATION BY PROVINCE CENSUS 2011
Province	Population	% of total
Eastern Cape	6 562 053	12.7%
Free State	2 745 590	5.3%
Gauteng	12 272 263	23.7%
KwaZulu-Natal	10 267 300	19.8%
Limpopo	5 404 868	10.4%
Mpumalanga	4 039 939	7.8%
Northern Cape	1 145 861	2.2%
North West	3 509 953	6.8%
Western Cape	5 822 734	11.3%
TOTAL	51 770 560	100%

Source: Statistics South Africa

Population

South Africa is a nation of diversity, with 51.77-million people and a variety of cultures, languages and religious beliefs.

According to Census 2011, the country's population stands at 51 770 560 people.

Africans are in the majority at 41 000 938, making up 79.2% of the total population.

The coloured population is estimated at 4 615 401 (8.9%), the white population at 4 586 838 (8.9%), and the Indian/Asian population at 1 286 930 (2.5%). In the census carried out in 2011, 280 454 (0.5%) South Africans classified themselves as "other".

Females make up just over half (51.3%) of the population, and males 48.7%.

CENSUS 2011
Population group	Number	% of total
African	41 000 938	79.2%
Coloured	4 615 401	8.9%
White	4 586 838	8.9%
Indian/Asian	1 286 930	2.5%
TOTAL	51 770 560	100%

Source: Statistics South Africa

See: South Africa's population

Languages

South Africa is a multilingual country. The country's democratic Constitution, which came into effect on 4 February 1997, recognises 11 official languages, to which it guarantees equal status. These are:

Afrikaans

English

isiNdebele

isiXhosa

isiZulu

Sesotho sa Leboa

Sesotho

Setswana

siSwati

Tshivenda

Xitsonga

Besides the official languages, scores of others – African, European, Asian and more – are spoken in South Africa, as the country lies at the crossroads of southern Africa.

According to Census 2011, isiZulu is the most common home language is, spoken by nearly a quarter of the population. It is followed by isiXhosa at 17.6%, Afrikaans at 13.3%, Sepedi at 9.4%, and Setswana and English each at 8.2%.

Sesotho is the mother tongue of 7.9% of South Africans, while the remaining four official languages are spoken at home by less than 5% of the population each.

Most South Africans are multilingual, able to speak more than one language. English- and Afrikaans-speaking people tend not to have much ability in indigenous languages, but are fairly fluent in each other's language. Most South Africans speak English, which is fairly ubiquitous in official and commercial public life. The country's other lingua franca is isiZulu.

SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGES 2011
Language	Number of speakers*	% of total
Afrikaans	6 855 082	13.5%
English	4 892 623	9.6%
isiNdebele	1 090 223	2.1%
isiXhosa	8 154 258	16%
isiZulu	11 587 374	22.7%
Sepedi	4 618 576	9.1%
Sesotho	3 849 563	7.6%
Setswana	4 067 248	8%
Sign language	234 655	0.5%
SiSwati	1 297 046	2.5%
Tshivenda	1 209 388	2.4%
Xitsonga	2 277 148	4.5%
Other	828 258	1.6%
TOTAL	50 961 443**	100%

* Spoken as a home language
** Unspecified and not applicable are excluded
Source: Census 2001

Education

At about 7% of gross domestic product (GDP) and 20% of total state expenditure, South Africa has one of the highest rates of public investment in education in the world.

School life spans 13 years or grades, from grade 0, otherwise known as grade R or "reception year", through to grade 12 or "matric" – the year of matriculation.

Under the South African Schools Act of 1996, education is compulsory for all South Africans from the age of seven (grade 1) to age 15, or the completion of grade 9.

South Africa has a vibrant higher education sector, with nearly 900 000 students enrolled in the country's 23 state-funded tertiary institutions: 11 universities, six universities of technology, and six comprehensive institutions.

There are currently around 450 registered private FET colleges, which cover training provided from Grades 10 to 12, including career-oriented education and training.

According to Census 2011, the percentage of people aged 20 or older who have higher education increased from 8.4% in 2001 to 12.1%. The number of those who matriculated increased from 20.4% to 28.5%. Those who had no schooling at all decreased from 17.9% to 8.6%.

There has been moderate increase in people aged between five and 24 attending private institutions rather than public ones. Gauteng topped the list with 16% of people in this age group attending private institutions. This was followed by the Western Cape with 7.5%, and the Free State with 6.4%.

The functional illiteracy rates – that is, people 15 years old and over with no education or a highest level of education less than grade seven – have dropped from 31.5% in 2001 to 19.1% in 2011. 

Poorer rural provinces, such as Limpopo and the Northern Cape, have cut their functional illiteracy rates by almost half to around 25% since 1996.

Read more:   www.southafrica.info