South Africa Information Guide & Facts

Area: 1,228,376 sq. km
Population: c. 44.8 million
Capital City: Pretoria (1.25 million)
People: African/Black 79%
Languages: South Africa has eleven officially recognised languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, Sepedi, Setswana, Sesotho, Zitsonga, Siswati, Tshibenda, Ndebele
Religion(s): All principle religions are represented in South Africa
Currency: (ZAR) Rand (100 cents = 1 Rand)

GEOGRAPHY

Land area – 1,228,376 km2 (larger than The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy & Germany combined).

The total land border is 4,750 km; to the North - Botswana 1,840 km, Lesotho 909 km, Mozambique 491 km, Namibia 855 km, Swaziland 430 km, Zimbabwe 225 km. South Africa is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the South & West and the Indian Ocean to the South & East.

South Africa has a coastline of 2,954km, with few natural harbours. The coastal strip is below 1,500 feet fringed by steep mountain ranges, with a high plateau in the interior ranging up to 6,000 feet above sea level. On the west coast, the cold Atlantic current produces arid scrubland conditions, changing to summer rainfall grassland as one approaches the central plateau of the country. A continuous mountain range runs down the east coast, warmed by the Indian Ocean producing a sub-tropical climate. The far north of the country has savannah-type vegetation, whilst the southern tip has a winter rainfall Mediterranean climate.

HISTORY

Recent History

1989 - FW de Klerk replaces PW Botha as president, meets Mandela. Public facilities desegregated. Many ANC activists freed.
1990 - ANC ban rescinded, Mandela released after 27 years in prison.
1991 - Start of multi-party talks. De Klerk repeals remaining apartheid laws, international sanctions lifted. Major fighting between ANC and Zulu Inkatha movement.
1993 - Agreement on interim constitution.
1994 April - ANC wins first non-racial elections. Mandela becomes president, Government of National Unity formed, Commonwealth membership restored, remaining sanctions lifted. South Africa takes seat in UN General Assembly after 20-year absence.
1996 - Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu begins hearings on human rights crimes committed by former government and liberation movements during apartheid era. Parliament adopts new constitution. National Party withdraws from coalition, saying it is being ignored.
1998 - Truth and Reconciliation Commission releases its report, branding apartheid a crime against humanity and finding the ANC accountable for human rights abuses.
1999 - ANC wins general elections, Thabo Mbeki takes over as president.
2000 - Local elections. ANC takes most of the 237 local councils (59%) but the Democratic Alliance - created five months previously from a merger of the Democratic Party, the New National Party and the Federal Alliance - captures nearly a quarter of the votes. The Inkatha Freedom Party wins 9%.
2001 - Durban hosts the UN World Conference Against Racism.
2001 – The New National Party split from the Democratic Alliance and announce a alliance with the ruling ANC.
2002 – Johannesburg hosts the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development.

Longer Historical Perspective

1600s – Europeans arrive – set up strategic outposts for trade routes to East Indies.
1795 – British take possession of Cape during French revolutionary wars.
1803-6 – Dutch take Cape Colony from British.
1816 – Shaka becomes leader of the Zulus.
1820 onwards – Systematic arrival of new settlers to colonise.
1820s-1830s – Zulu Wars.
1836-38 – Great Trek organised by Voortrekker's – emigration from Cape Colony northwards in protest against British rule.
1867 – Discovery of diamonds at the confluence the Orange and Vaal rivers, and of gold - first in the Tati area.
1879 – The Zulu, with vastly inferior weapons, kill 1500 British and defeat the army at Isandhlwana.
1879 – The British defeat the Zulu at the Battle of Ulundi. Battle of Rorke's Drift – 150 British soldiers defend a supply station against 4,000 Zulus.
1887 – Zululand made a British Colony.
1899-1902 – Anglo-Boer war.
1910 - The Cape Colony, Natal, the Orange Free State and Transvaal joined to form the Union of South Africa, which had the status of a dominion within the British Empire. Both Cape Town and Pretoria were to be capitals.
1912 - Native National Congress founded, later renamed the African National Congress (ANC).
1913 - Land Act introduced to prevent blacks, except those living in Cape Province, from buying land outside reserves.
1914 - National Party founded. World War I broke out; the Botha administration led South Africa into the war on the side of the British. Adjacent German South-West Africa occupied by South African forces (1915).
1918 - Secret Broederbond (brotherhood) established to advance the Afrikaner cause.
1919 - South West Africa (Namibia) comes under South African administration.
1923 - Natives (Urban Areas) Act - established segregation in the cities, forced blacks to carry special papers at all times to be allowed to stay in the cities.
1939-45 – World War II. Political rivalry in South Africa between Smuts (Afrikaner leader of United party) who supported the British, and Malan and Hertzog (reunited National Party) supported the Germans.
1948 - Policy of apartheid (separateness) adopted when National Party (NP) takes power.
1950 - Population classified by race. Group Areas Act passed to segregate blacks and whites. Communist Party banned. ANC responds with campaign of civil disobedience, led by Nelson Mandela. Immorality Act - banned sexual relations between people from different races.
1960 - Seventy black demonstrators killed at Sharpeville. ANC banned.
1961 - South Africa declared a republic, leaves the Commonwealth. Mandela heads ANC's new military wing, which launches sabotage campaign.
1960s - International pressure against government begins, South Africa excluded from Olympic Games.
1964 - ANC leader Nelson Mandela sentenced to life imprisonment.
1970s - More than 3 million people forcibly resettled in black 'homelands'.
1976 - More than 600 killed in clashes between black protesters and security forces during uprising which starts in Soweto.
1984-89 - Township revolt, state of emergency.

ECONOMY

Basic economic facts

GDP: US$112bn (2001 at exchange rate)(a); US$320bn (2001, at PPP)(b)
GDP per head: US$2,519 (2001, at exchange rate); US$7,882 (2001, at PPP)(b)
((a) (EIU estimate. (b) Purchasing power parity.)
Annual Growth: Expected to reach 2.3% in 2003, and 4% in 2004.
Inflation: CPI(X) 6.6% (July 2003)
Major Industries: mining (world's largest producer of platinum, gold, chromium), automobile assembly, machinery, textile, iron & steel, chemicals, fertiliser, & foodstuffs, Financial Services (26%)
Manufacturing (24%),
Wholesale and Retail Trade (17%)
Transport, Storage and Communication (13%)
Mining (8%)
Other (12%)

Major trading partners:
Exports from South Africa (2001)
UK (7.6%)
US (10.6%)
Japan (7.1%)

Imports into South Africa (2001)
UK (9.4%)
Germany (13.3%)
US (11.9%)
Aid & development: UK DfID-SA budget is just over £30million
Exchange rate: at 29 August: GB£1 = ZAR 11.4130
US$1 = ZAR 7.353