South Africa - Wikipedia South Africa Republic in the southernmost part of Africa This article is about the modern state. For the geographical area, see Southern Africa. For other uses, see South Africa ( disambiguation ). Republic of South Africa 10 other official names Zulu : iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika Xhosa : iRiphabliki yomZantsi Afrika Afrikaans : Republiek van Suid - Afrika Northern Sotho : Repabliki ya Afrika - Borwa Tswana : Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa Southern Sotho : Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa Tsonga : Riphabliki ra Afrika Dzonga Swazi : iRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika Venda : Riphabuḽiki ya Afurika Tshipembe Southern Ndebele : iRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika Flag Coat of arms Motto : `` ! ke e : ǀxarra ǁke '' ( ǀXam ) `` Unity in Diversity '' Anthem : `` National anthem of South Africa '' Location of South Africa ( dark blue ) in the African Union ( light blue ) Capital Pretoria ( executive ) Bloemfontein ( judicial ) Cape Town ( legislative ) Largest city Johannesburg Official languages 11 languages : Zulu Xhosa Afrikaans English Northern Sotho Tswana Southern Sotho Tsonga Swazi Venda Southern Ndebele Ethnic groups ( 2014 ) 80.2 % Black 8.8 % Coloured 8.4 % White 2.5 % Asian Religion See Religion in South Africa Demonym South African Government Unitary dominant - party parliamentary constitutional republic President Cyril Ramaphosa Deputy President David Mabuza Legislature Parliament Upper house National Council Lower house National Assembly Independence from the United Kingdom Union 31 May 1910 Self - governance 11 December 1931 Republic 31 May 1961 Current constitution 4 February 1997 Area Total 1,221,037 km ( 471,445 sq mi ) ( 24th ) Water ( % ) 0.380 Population 2018 estimate 57,725,600 ( 24th ) 2011 census 51,770,560 Density 42.4 / km ( 109.8 / sq mi ) ( 169th ) GDP ( PPP ) 2018 estimate Total $742.461 billion ( 30th ) Per capita $13,591 ( 90th ) GDP ( nominal ) 2018 estimate Total $326.541 billion ( 35th ) Per capita $6,292 ( 88th ) Gini ( 2009 ) 63.1 very high HDI ( 2014 ) 0.666 medium 116th Currency South African rand ( ZAR ) Time zone SAST ( UTC + 2 ) Drives on the left Calling code + 27 ISO 3166 code ZA Internet TLD. za South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa ( RSA ), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometres ( 1,739 mi ) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans ; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe ; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland ( Eswatini ) ; and it surrounds the kingdom of Lesotho. South Africa is the largest country in Southern Africa and the 25th - largest country in the world by land area and, with close to 56 million people, is the world 's 24th-most populous nation. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different African languages, nine of which have official status. The remaining population consists of Africa 's largest communities of European ( white ), Asian ( Indian ), and multiracial ( Coloured ) ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a wide variety of cultures, languages, and religions. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the constitution 's recognition of 11 official languages, which is the fourth highest number in the world. Two of these languages are of European origin : Afrikaans developed from Dutch and serves as the first language of most coloured and white South Africans ; English reflects the legacy of British colonialism, and is commonly used in public and commercial life, though it is fourth - ranked as a spoken first language. 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. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a large role in the country 's recent history and politics. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation. After a long and sometimes violent struggle by the African National Congress and other anti-apartheid activists both inside and outside the country, the repeal of discriminatory laws began in 1990. Since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the country 's democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the `` rainbow nation '' to describe the country 's multicultural diversity, especially in the wake of apartheid. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an upper - middle - income economy, and a newly industrialised country. Its economy is the second - largest in Africa, and the 34th - largest in the world. In terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh - highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed and living on less than US $1.25 a day. Nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. Contents 1 Name 2 History 2.1 Prehistoric archaeology 2.2 Bantu expansion 2.3 Portuguese contacts 2.4 Dutch colonisation 2.5 British colonisation 2.5. 1 Independence 2.5. 2 Beginning of apartheid 2.6 Republic 2.6. 1 End of apartheid 3 Geography 3.1 Climate 3.2 Biodiversity 3.2. 1 Animals 3.2. 2 Fungi 3.2. 3 Plants 3.3 Conservation issues 4 Politics and government 4.1 Law 4.2 Foreign relations 4.3 Military 4.4 Administrative divisions 5 Economy 5.1 Labour market 5.2 Science and technology 5.3 Water supply and sanitation 6 Demographics 6.1 Languages 6.2 Urban centres 6.3 Religions 7 Culture 7.1 Arts 7.2 Popular culture 7.3 Cuisine 7.4 Sports 8 Education 9 Health 9.1 HIV / AIDS 10 See also 11 Notes 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links Name See also : Official names of South Africa The name `` South Africa '' is derived from the country 's geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, reflecting its origin from the unification of four formerly separate British colonies. Since 1961 the long form name in English has been the `` Republic of South Africa ''. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid - Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid - Afrika. Since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning `` south '', is a colloquial name for South Africa, while some Pan-Africanist political parties prefer the term `` Azania ''. History Main article : History of South Africa Prehistoric archaeology South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human - fossil sites in the world. Archaeologists have recovered extensive fossil remains from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has been branded `` the Cradle of Humankind ''. The sites include Sterkfontein, one of the richest sites for hominin fossils in the world. Other sites include Swartkrans, Gondolin Cave Kromdraai, Coopers Cave and Malapa. Raymond Dart identified the first hominin fossil discovered in Africa, the Taung Child ( found near Taung ) in 1924. Further hominin remains have come from the sites of Makapansgat in Limpopo, Cornelia and Florisbad in the Free State, Border Cave in KwaZulu - Natal, Klasies River Mouth in Eastern Cape and Pinnacle Point, Elandsfontein and Die Kelders Cave in Western Cape. These finds suggest that various hominid species existed in South Africa from about three million years ago, starting with Australopithecus africanus. There followed species including Australopithecus sediba, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Homo rhodesiensis, Homo helmei, Homo naledi and modern humans ( Homo sapiens ). Modern humans have inhabited Southern Africa for at least 170,000 years. Migrations that formed the modern Rainbow nation Various researchers have located pebble tools within the Vaal River valley. Bantu expansion Mapungubwe Hill, the site of the former capital of the Kingdom of Mapungubwe Settlements of Bantu - speaking peoples, who were iron - using agriculturists and herdsmen, were already present south of the Limpopo River ( now the northern border with Botswana and Zimbabwe ) by the 4th or 5th century CE. ( See Bantu expansion. ) They displaced, conquered and absorbed the original Khoisan speakers, the Khoikhoi and San peoples. The Bantu slowly moved south. 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 Khoisan people. The Xhosa reached the Great Fish River, in today 's Eastern Cape Province. As they migrated, these larger Iron Age populations displaced or assimilated earlier peoples. In Mpumalanga, several stone circles have been found along with the stone arrangement that has been named Adam 's Calendar. Portuguese contacts At the time of European contact, the dominant ethnic group were Bantu - speaking peoples who had migrated from other parts of Africa about one thousand years before. The two major historic groups were the Xhosa and Zulu peoples. In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias led the first European voyage to land in southern Africa. On 4 December, he landed at Walfisch Bay ( now known as Walvis Bay in present - day Namibia ). This was south of the furthest point reached in 1485 by his predecessor, the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão ( Cape Cross, north of the bay ). Dias continued down the western coast of southern Africa. After 8 January 1488, prevented by storms from proceeding along the coast, he sailed out of sight of land and passed the southernmost point of Africa without seeing it. He reached as far up the eastern coast of Africa as, what he called, Rio do Infante, probably the present - day Groot River, in May 1488, but on his return he saw the Cape, which he first named Cabo das Tormentas ( Cape of Storms ). His King, John II, renamed the point Cabo da Boa Esperança, or Cape of Good Hope, as it led to the riches of the East Indies. Dias ' feat of navigation was later immortalised in Luís de Camões ' Portuguese epic poem, The Lusiads ( 1572 ). Dutch colonisation See also : History of Cape Colony and Dutch Cape Colony Charles Davidson Bell 's 19th - century painting of Jan van Riebeeck, who founded the first European settlement in South Africa, arrives in Table Bay in 1652. By the early 17th century, Portugal 's maritime power was starting to decline, and English and Dutch merchants competed to oust Lisbon from its lucrative monopoly on the spice trade. Representatives of the British East India Company did call sporadically at the Cape in search of provisions as early as 1601, but later came to favour Ascension Island and St. Helena as alternative ports of refuge. Dutch interest was aroused after 1647, when two employees of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) were shipwrecked there for several months. The sailors were able to survive by obtaining fresh water and meat from the natives. They also sowed vegetables in the fertile soil. Upon their return to Holland they reported favourably on the Cape 's potential as a `` warehouse and garden '' for provisions to stock passing ships for long voyages. In 1652, a century and a half after the discovery of the Cape sea route, Jan van Riebeeck established a victualing station at the Cape of Good Hope, at what would become Cape Town, on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. In time, the Cape become home to a large population of `` vrijlieden '', also known as `` vrijburgers '' ( free citizens ), former Company employees who stayed in Dutch territories overseas after serving their contracts. Dutch traders also imported thousands of slaves to the fledgling colony from Indonesia, Madagascar, and parts of eastern Africa. Some of the earliest mixed race communities in the country were later formed through unions between vrijburgers, their slaves, and various indigenous peoples. This led to the development of a new ethnic group, the Cape Coloureds, most of whom adopted the Dutch language and Christian faith. The eastward expansion of Dutch colonists ushered in a series of wars with the southwesterly migrating Xhosa tribe, as both sides competed for the pastureland necessary to graze their cattle near the Great Fish River. Vrijburgers who became independent farmers on the frontier were known as Boers, with some adopting semi-nomadic lifestyles being denoted as trekboers. The Boers formed loose militias, which they termed commandos, and forged alliances with Khoisan groups to repel Xhosa raids. Both sides launched bloody but inconclusive offensives, and sporadic violence, often accompanied by livestock theft, remained common for several decades. British colonisation Great Britain occupied Cape Town between 1795 and 1803 to prevent it from falling under the control of the French First Republic, which had invaded the Low Countries. Despite briefly returning to Dutch rule under the Batavian Republic in 1803, the Cape was occupied again by the British in 1806. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, it was formally ceded to Great Britain and became an integral part of the British Empire. British immigration to South Africa began around 1818, subsequently culminating in the arrival of the 1820 Settlers. The new colonists were induced to settle for a variety of reasons, namely to increase the size of the European workforce and to bolster frontier regions against Xhosa incursions. Depiction of a Zulu attack on a Boer camp in February 1838 In the first two decades of the 19th century, the Zulu people grew in power and expanded their territory under their leader, Shaka. Shaka 's warfare led indirectly to the Mfecane ( `` crushing '', or warfare among the indigenous ethnic communities ), killing 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 people, that devastated and depopulated the inland plateau in the early 1820s. An offshoot of the Zulu, the Matabele people created a larger empire that included large parts of the highveld under their king Mzilikazi. During the early 1800s, many Dutch settlers departed from the Cape Colony, where they had been subjected to British control. They migrated to the future Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal regions. The Boers founded the Boer Republics : the South African Republic ( now Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West provinces ) and the Orange Free State ( Free State ). The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior started the Mineral Revolution and increased economic growth and immigration. This intensified British efforts to gain control over the indigenous peoples. The struggle to control these important economic resources was a factor in relations between Europeans and the indigenous population and also between the Boers and the British. The Anglo - Zulu War was fought in 1879 between the British Empire and the Zulu Kingdom. Following Lord Carnarvon 's successful introduction of federation in Canada, it was thought that similar political effort, coupled with military campaigns, might succeed with the African kingdoms, tribal areas and Boer republics in South Africa. In 1874, Sir Henry Bartle Frere was sent to South Africa as High Commissioner for the British Empire to bring such plans into being. Among the obstacles were the presence of the independent states of the South African Republic and the Kingdom of Zululand and its army. The Zulu nation spectacularly defeated the British at the Battle of Isandlwana. Eventually though the war was lost resulting in the end of the Zulu nation 's independence. Boers in combat ( 1881 ) The Boer Republics successfully resisted British encroachments during the First Boer War ( 1880 -- 1881 ) using guerrilla warfare tactics, which were well suited to local conditions. The British returned with greater numbers, more experience, and new strategy in the Second Boer War ( 1899 -- 1902 ) but suffered heavy casualties through attrition ; nonetheless, they were ultimately successful. Independence Within the country, anti-British policies among white South Africans focused on independence. During the Dutch and British colonial years, racial segregation was mostly informal, though some legislation was enacted to control the settlement and movement of native people, including the Native Location Act of 1879 and the system of pass laws. Eight years after the end of the Second Boer War and after four years of negotiation, an act of the British Parliament ( South Africa Act 1909 ) granted nominal independence, while creating the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910. The Union was a dominion that included the former territories of the Cape and Natal colonies, as well as the republics of Orange Free State and Transvaal. The Natives ' Land Act of 1913 severely restricted the ownership of land by blacks ; at that stage natives controlled only 7 % of the country. The amount of land reserved for indigenous peoples was later marginally increased. In 1931 the union was fully sovereign from the United Kingdom with the passage of the Statute of Westminster, which abolished the last powers of the British Government on the country. In 1934, the South African Party and National Party merged to form the United Party, seeking reconciliation between Afrikaners and English - speaking `` Whites ''. In 1939 the party split over the entry of the Union into World War II as an ally of the United Kingdom, a move which the National Party followers strongly opposed. Beginning of apartheid `` For use by white persons '' -- apartheid sign In 1948, the National Party was elected to power. It strengthened the racial segregation begun under Dutch and British colonial rule. Taking Canada 's Indian Act as a framework, The Nationalist Government classified all peoples into three races and developed rights and limitations for each. The white minority ( less than 20 % ) controlled the vastly larger black majority. The legally institutionalized segregation became known as apartheid. While whites enjoyed the highest standard of living in all of Africa, comparable to First World Western nations, the black majority remained disadvantaged by almost every standard, including income, education, housing, and life expectancy. The Freedom Charter, adopted in 1955 by the Congress Alliance, demanded a non-racial society and an end to discrimination. Republic On 31 May 1961, the country became a republic following a referendum in which white voters narrowly voted in favour thereof ( the British - dominated Natal province rallied against the issue ). Queen Elizabeth II was stripped of the title Queen of South Africa, and the last Governor - General, Charles Robberts Swart, became State President. As a concession to the Westminster system, the presidency remained parliamentary appointed and virtually powerless until P.W. Botha 's Constitution Act of 1983, which eliminated the office of Prime Minister and instated a near - unique `` strong presidency '' responsible to parliament. Pressured by other Commonwealth of Nations countries, South Africa withdrew from the organisation in 1961, and rejoined it only in 1994. Despite opposition both within and outside the country, the government legislated for a continuation of apartheid. The security forces cracked down on internal dissent, and violence became widespread, with anti-apartheid organisations such as the African National Congress, the Azanian People 's Organisation, and the Pan-Africanist Congress carrying out guerrilla warfare and urban sabotage. The three rival resistance movements also engaged in occasional inter-factional clashes as they jockeyed for domestic influence. Apartheid became increasingly controversial, and several countries began to boycott business with the South African government because of its racial policies. These measures were later extended to international sanctions and the divestment of holdings by foreign investors. F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela shake hands in January 1992 In the late 1970s, South Africa initiated a programme of nuclear weapons development. In the following decade, it produced six deliverable nuclear weapons. End of apartheid The Mahlabatini Declaration of Faith, signed by Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Harry Schwarz in 1974, enshrined the principles of peaceful transition of power and equality for all, the first of such agreements by black and white political leaders in South Africa. Ultimately, F.W. de Klerk opened bilateral discussions with Nelson Mandela in 1993 for a transition of policies and government. In 1990 the National Party government took the first step towards dismantling discrimination when it lifted the ban on the African National Congress and other political organisations. It released Nelson Mandela from prison after 27 years ' serving a sentence for sabotage. A negotiation process followed. With approval from the white electorate in a 1992 referendum, the government continued negotiations to end apartheid. South Africa also destroyed its nuclear arsenal and acceded to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. South Africa held its first universal elections in 1994, which the ANC won by an overwhelming majority. It has been in power ever since. The country rejoined the Commonwealth of Nations and became a member of the Southern African Development Community ( SADC ). Nelson Mandela, first black African President of Republic of South Africa In post-apartheid South Africa, unemployment has been extremely high as the country has struggled with many changes. While many blacks have risen to middle or upper classes, the overall unemployment rate of blacks worsened between 1994 and 2003 by official metrics, but declined significantly using expanded definitions. Poverty among whites, previously rare, increased. In addition, the current government has struggled to achieve the monetary and fiscal discipline to ensure both redistribution of wealth and economic growth. The United Nations Human Development Index of South Africa fell from its 1995 - 2005, while it was steadily rising until the mid-1990s. before recovering its 1995 peak in 2013. This is in large part attributable to the South African HIV / AIDS pandemic which saw South African life expectancy fall from a high point of 62.25 years in 1992 to a low of 52.57 in 2005, and the failure of the government to take steps to address it in the early years. In May 2008, riots left over 60 people dead. The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions estimates over 100,000 people were driven from their homes. The targets were mainly migrants and refugees seeking asylum, but a third of the victims were South African citizens. In a 2006 survey, the South African Migration Project concluded that South Africans are more opposed to immigration than anywhere else in the world. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in 2008 reported over 200,000 refugees applied for asylum in South Africa, almost four times as many as the year before. These people were mainly from Zimbabwe, though many also come from Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia. Competition over jobs, business opportunities, public services and housing has led to tension between refugees and host communities. While xenophobia is still a problem, recent violence has not been as widespread as initially feared. Geography Main article : Geography of South Africa A map of South Africa showing the main topographic features : the Central Plateau edged by the Great Escarpment, and the Cape Fold Belt in the south - west corner of the country Important geographical regions in South Africa. The thick line traces the course of the Great Escarpment which edges the central plateau. The eastern portion of this line, coloured red, is known as the Drakensberg. The Escarpment rises to its highest point, at over 3000 m, where the Drakensberg forms the border between KwaZulu - Natal and Lesotho. None of the regions indicated on the map has a sharp well - defined border, except where the Escarpment or a range of mountains forms a clear dividing line between two regions. Some of the better known regions are coloured in ; the others are simply indicated by their names, as they would be in an atlas. South Africa is located at the southernmost region of Africa, with a long coastline that stretches more than 2,500 km ( 1,553 mi ) and along two oceans ( the South Atlantic and the Indian ). At 1,219,912 km ( 471,011 sq mi ), according to the UN Demographic Yearbook, South Africa is the 25th - largest country in the world. It is about the same size as Colombia, twice the size of France, three times as big as Japan, four times the size of Italy and five times the size of the United Kingdom. Mafadi in the Drakensberg at 3,450 m ( 11,320 ft ) is the highest peak in South Africa. Excluding the Prince Edward Islands, the country lies between latitudes 22 ° and 35 ° S, and longitudes 16 ° and 33 ° E. The interior of South Africa consists of a vast, in most places almost flat, plateau with an altitude of between 1,000 m ( 3,300 ft ) and 2,100 m ( 6,900 ft ), highest in the east and sloping gently downwards towards the west and north, and slightly less noticeably so to the south and south - west. This plateau is surrounded by the Great Escarpment whose eastern, and highest, stretch is known as the Drakensberg. The south and south - western parts of the plateau ( at approximately 1100 -- 1800 m above sea level ), and the adjoining plain below ( at approximately 700 -- 800 m above sea level -- see map on the right ) is known as the Great Karoo, which consists of sparsely populated scrubland. To the north the Great Karoo fades into the even drier and more arid Bushmanland, which eventually becomes the Kalahari desert in the very north - west of the country. The mid-eastern, and highest part of the plateau is known as the Highveld. This relatively well - watered area is home to a great proportion of the country 's commercial farmlands, and contains its largest conurbation ( Gauteng Province ). To the north of Highveld, from about the 25 ° 30 ' S line of latitude, the plateau slopes downwards into the Bushveld, which ultimately gives way to the Limpopo lowlands or Lowveld. Flat topped hills ( called Karoo Koppies ) are highly characteristic of the southern and southwestern Karoo landscape. These hills are capped by hard, erosion resistant dolerite sills. This is solidified lava that was forced under high pressure between the horizontal strata of the sedimentary rocks that make up most of the Karoo 's geology about 180 million years ago. Since then Southern Africa has undergone a prolonged period of erosion removing the relatively soft Karoo rocks, except where they are protected by a cap of dolerite. This photograph was taken near Cradock in the Eastern Cape. The coastal belt, below the Great Escarpment, moving clockwise from the northeast, consists of the Limpopo Lowveld, which merges into the Mpumalanga Lowveld, below the Mpumalanga Drakensberg ( the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment ). This is hotter, drier and less intensely cultivated than the Highveld above the escarpment. The Kruger National Park, located in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, occupies a large portion of the Lowveld covering 19,633 square kilometres ( 7,580 sq mi. ) South of the Lowveld the annual rainfall increases as one enters KwaZulu - Natal Province, which, especially near the coast, is subtropically hot and humid. The KwaZulu - Natal -- Lesotho international border is formed by the highest portion of the Great Escarpment, or Drakensberg, which reaches an altitude of over 3,000 m ( 9,800 ft ). The climate at the foot of this part of the Drakensberg is temperate. Drakensberg, the eastern and highest portion of the Great Escarpment which surrounds the east, south and western borders of the central plateau of Southern Africa The coastal belt below the south and south - western stretches of the Great Escarpment contains several ranges of Cape Fold Mountains which run parallel to the coast, separating the Great Escarpment from the ocean. ( These parallel ranges of fold mountains are shown on the map, above left. Note the course of the Great Escarpment to the north of these mountain ranges. ) The land ( at approximately 400 -- 500 m above sea level ) between two of these ranges of fold mountains in the south ( i.e. between the Outeniqua and Langeberg ranges to the south and the Swartberg range to the north ) is known as the Little Karoo, which consists of semi-desert scrubland similar to that of the Great Karoo, except that its northern strip along the foothills of the Swartberg Mountains, has a somewhat higher rainfall and is therefore more cultivated than the Great Karoo. The Little Karoo is historically, and still, famous for its ostrich farming around the town of Oudtshoorn. The lowland area ( 700 -- 800 m above sea level ) to the north of the Swartberg mountain range up to the Great Escarpment is the lowland part of the Great Karoo ( see map at top right ), which is climatically and botanically almost indistinguishable from the Karoo above the Great Escarpment. The narrow coastal strip between the most seaward Cape Fold Mountain range ( i.e., the Langeberg -- Outeniqua mountains ) and the ocean has a moderately high year - round rainfall, especially in the George - Knysna - Plettenberg Bay region, which is known as the Garden Route. It is famous for the most extensive areas of indigenous forests in South Africa ( a generally forest - poor country ). In the south - west corner of the country the Cape Peninsula forms the southernmost tip of the coastal strip which borders the Atlantic Ocean, and ultimately terminates at the country 's border with Namibia at the Orange River. The Cape Peninsula has a Mediterranean climate, making it and its immediate surrounds the only portion of Africa south of the Sahara which receives most of its rainfall in winter. The greater Cape Town metropolitan area is situated on the Cape Peninsula and is home to 3.7 million people according to the 2011 population census. It is the country 's legislative capital. Spring flowers in Namaqualand The coastal belt to the north of the Cape Peninsula is bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean and the first row of north - south running Cape Fold Mountains to the east. The Cape Fold Mountains peter out at about the 32 ° S line of latitude, after which the coastal plain is bounded by the Great Escarpment itself. The most southerly portion of this coastal belt is known as the Swartland and Malmesbury Plain, which is an important wheat growing region, relying on winter rains. The region further north is known as Namaqualand, which becomes more and more arid as one approaches the Orange River. The little rain that falls, tends to fall in winter, which results in one of the world 's most spectacular displays of flowers carpeting huge stretches of veld in spring ( August -- September ). Cape Floral Region Protected Areas. South Africa also has one possession, the small sub-Antarctic archipelago of the Prince Edward Islands, consisting of Marion Island ( 290 km or 110 sq mi ) and Prince Edward Island ( 45 km or 17 sq mi ) ( not to be confused with the Canadian province of the same name ). Climate Main article : Climate of South Africa Köppen climate types of South Africa South Africa has a generally temperate climate, due in part to being surrounded by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans on three sides, by its location in the climatically milder Southern Hemisphere and due to the average elevation rising steadily towards the north ( towards the equator ) and further inland. Due to this varied topography and oceanic influence, a great variety of climatic zones exist. The climatic zones range from the extreme desert of the southern Namib in the farthest northwest to the lush subtropical climate in the east along the Mozambique border and the Indian Ocean. Winters in South Africa occur between June and August. 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 of shrubland and thicket. This area also produces much of the wine in South Africa. 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 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 because 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 m ( 5,709 ft ) and receives an annual rainfall of 760 mm ( 29.9 in ). Winters in this region are cold, although snow is rare. The high Drakensberg mountains, which form the south - eastern escarpment of the Highveld, offer limited skiing opportunities in winter. The coldest place on mainland South Africa is Sutherland in the western Roggeveld Mountains, where midwinter temperatures can reach as low as − 15 ° C ( 5 ° F ). The Prince Edward Islands have colder average annual temperatures, but Sutherland has colder extremes. The deep interior of mainland South Africa has the hottest temperatures : a temperature of 51.7 ° C ( 125.06 ° F ) was recorded in 1948 in the Northern Cape Kalahari near Upington, but this temperature is unofficial and was not recorded with standard equipment, the official highest temperature is 48.8 ° C ( 119.84 ° F ) at Vioolsdrif in January 1993. Biodiversity See also : Wildlife of South Africa and Protected areas of South Africa South Africa signed the Rio Convention on Biological Diversity on 4 June 1994, and became a party to the convention on 2 November 1995. It has subsequently produced a National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, which was received by the convention on 7 June 2006. The country is ranked sixth out of the world 's seventeen megadiverse countries. Animals South African giraffe, Kruger National Park African buffalo ( Syncerus caffer ) male with red - billed oxpecker ( Buphagus erythrorhynchus ), Phinda Private Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa Numerous mammals are found in the bushveld including Transvaal lions, African leopards, South African cheetahs, southern white rhinos, blue wildebeest, kudus, impalas, hyenas, hippopotamuses and South African giraffes. A significant extent of the bushveld exists in the north - east including Kruger National Park and the Sabi Sand Game Reserve, as well as in the far north in the Waterberg Biosphere. South Africa houses many endemic species, among them the critically endangered riverine rabbit ( Bunolagus monticullaris ) in the Karoo. Fungi Up to 1945, more than 4900 species of fungi ( including lichen - forming species ) had been recorded. In 2006, the number of fungi in South Africa was estimated at about 200,000 species, but did not take into account fungi associated with insects. If correct, then the number of South African fungi dwarfs that of its plants. In at least some major South African ecosystems, an exceptionally high percentage of fungi are highly specific in terms of the plants with which they occur. The country 's biodiversity strategy and action plan does not mention fungi ( including lichen - forming fungi ). Plants Sub-tropical forest near Durban Lowveld vegetation of the Kruger National Park With more than 22,000 different higher plants, or about 9 % of all the known species of plants on Earth, South Africa is particularly rich in plant diversity. The most prevalent biome in South Africa is the 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 north - east of the country, with denser growth. There are significant numbers of baobab trees in this area, near the northern end of Kruger National Park. The fynbos biome, which makes up the majority of the area and plant life in the Cape floristic region, 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 plant diversity. Most of the plants are evergreen hard - leaf plants with fine, needle - like leaves, such as the sclerophyllous plants. Another uniquely South African flowering plant group is the genus Protea. There are around 130 different species of Protea in South Africa. While South Africa has a great wealth of flowering plants, only 1 % of South Africa is forest, almost exclusively in the humid coastal plain of KwaZulu - Natal, where there are also areas of Southern Africa mangroves in river mouths. 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. Conservation issues South Africa has lost a large area of natural habitat in the last four decades, primarily due to overpopulation, sprawling development patterns and deforestation during the 19th 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 willow, Hakea, Lantana and Jacaranda ) posing a significant threat to the native biodiversity and the already scarce water resources. The original temperate forest found by the first European settlers 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. Statistics from the South African Environmental Affairs department show a record 1215 rhinos have been killed in 2014. 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 parts of southern Africa will see an increase in temperature by about one degree Celsius along the coast to more than four degrees Celsius in the already hot hinterland such as the Northern Cape in late spring and summertime by 2050. The Cape Floral Kingdom, been identified as one of the global biodiversity hotspots, it will be hit very hard by climate change. Drought, increased intensity and frequency of fire and climbing temperatures are expected to push many rare species towards extinction. Biodiversity of South Africa King protea, national flower Fynbos, Cape Floristic Region Blue crane, national bird Flowers in the West Coast National Park Politics and government Main articles : Government of South Africa, Politics of South Africa, Law of South Africa, and Human rights in South Africa Union Buildings in Pretoria, seat of the executive Houses of Parliament in Cape Town, seat of the legislature South Africa is a parliamentary republic, although unlike most such republics the President is both head of state and head of government, and depends for his tenure on the confidence of Parliament. The executive, legislature and judiciary are all subject to the supremacy of the Constitution, and the superior courts have the power to strike down executive actions and acts of Parliament if they are unconstitutional. The National Assembly, the lower house of Parliament, consists of 400 members and is elected every five years by a system of party - list proportional representation. The National Council of Provinces, the upper house, consists of ninety members, with each of the nine provincial legislatures electing ten members. After each parliamentary election, the National Assembly elects one of its members as President ; hence the President serves a term of office the same as that of the Assembly, normally five years. No President may serve more than two terms in office. The President appoints a Deputy President and Ministers, who form the Cabinet which consists of Departments and Ministries. The President and the Cabinet may be removed by the National Assembly by a motion of no confidence. In the most recent election, held on 7 May 2014, the African National Congress ( ANC ) won 62.2 % of the vote and 249 seats, while the main opposition, the Democratic Alliance ( DA ) won 22.2 % of the vote and 89 seats. The Economic Freedom Fighters, founded by Julius Malema, the former President of the ANC 's Youth Wing who was later expelled from the ANC, won 6.4 % of the vote and 25 seats. The ANC has been the governing political party in South Africa since the end of apartheid. South Africa has no legally defined capital city. The fourth chapter of the Constitution of South Africa, states that `` The seat of Parliament is Cape Town, but an Act of Parliament enacted in accordance with section 76 ( 1 ) and ( 5 ) may determine that the seat of Parliament is elsewhere. '' The country 's three branches of government are split over different cities. Cape Town, as the seat of Parliament, is the legislative capital ; Pretoria, as the seat of the President and Cabinet, is the administrative capital ; and Bloemfontein, as the seat of the Supreme Court of Appeal, is the judicial capital, while the Constitutional Court of South Africa sits in Johannesburg. Most foreign embassies are located in Pretoria. Since 2004, South Africa has had many thousands of popular protests, some violent, making it, according to one academic, the `` most protest - rich country in the world ''. There have been a number of incidents of political repression as well as threats of future repression in violation of the constitution, leading some analysts and civil society organisations to conclude that there is or could be a new climate of political repression, or a decline in political tolerance. In 2008, South Africa placed 5th out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. South Africa scored well in the categories of Rule of Law, Transparency & Corruption and Participation & Human Rights, but was let down by its relatively poor performance in Safety & Security. In November 2006, South Africa became the first African country to legalise same - sex marriage. Law See also : Crime in South Africa Constitutional Court in Johannesburg The Constitution of South Africa is the supreme rule of law in the country. The primary sources of South African law are Roman - Dutch mercantile law and personal law with English Common law, as imports of Dutch settlements and British colonialism. The first European based law in South Africa was brought by the Dutch East India Company and is called Roman - Dutch law. It was imported before the codification of European law into the Napoleonic Code and is comparable in many ways to Scots law. This was followed in the 19th century by English law, both common and statutory. After unification in 1910, South Africa had its own parliament which passed laws specific for South Africa, building on those previously passed for the individual member colonies. The judicial system consists of the magistrates ' courts, which hear lesser criminal cases and smaller civil cases ; the High Court, which has divisions that serve as the courts of general jurisdiction for specific areas ; the Supreme Court of Appeal, and the Constitutional Court, which is the highest court. Soweto Pride 2012 participants protest against violence against lesbians. The country has strong human rights laws but some groups are still discriminated against. It is the first country in Africa to recognise same sex marriage. Nearly 50 murders are committed each day in South Africa. In the year ended March 2014 there were 17,068 murders and the murder rate was 32.2 per 100,000 -- about five times higher than the global average of 6 per 100,000. Middle - class South Africans seek security in gated communities. The private security industry in South Africa is the largest in the world, with nearly 9,000 registered companies and 400,000 registered active private security guards, more than the South African police and army combined. Many emigrants from South Africa also state that crime was a major factor in their decision to leave. Crime against the farming community has continued to be a major problem. South Africa has a high rape rate, with 43 195 rapes reported in 2014 / 15, and an unknown number of sexual assaults going unreported. A 2009 survey found one in four South African men admitted to raping someone and another survey found one in three women out of 4000 surveyed said they had been raped in the past year. Rapes are also perpetrated by children ( some as young as ten ). Child and baby rape incidences are some of the highest in the world, largely as a result of the virgin cleansing myth, and a number of high - profile cases ( sometimes as young as eight months ) have outraged the nation. Foreign Relations Main article : Foreign relations of South Africa Leaders of the BRICS nations at the G - 20 summit in Hangzhou, 2016 As the Union of South Africa, the country was a founding member of the United Nations. The then Prime Minister Jan Smuts wrote the preamble to the United Nations Charter. South Africa is one of the founding members of the African Union ( AU ), and has the second largest economy of all the members. It is also a founding member of the AU 's New Partnership for Africa 's Development ( NEPAD ). South Africa has played a key role as a mediator in African conflicts over the last decade, such as in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Comoros, and Zimbabwe. After apartheid ended, South Africa was readmitted to the Commonwealth of Nations. The country is a member of the Group of 77 and chaired the organisation in 2006. South Africa is also a member of the Southern African Development Community, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, Southern African Customs Union, Antarctic Treaty System, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, G20, G8 + 5, and the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa. South African President Jacob Zuma and Chinese President Hu Jintao upgraded bilateral ties between the two countries on 24 August 2010, when they signed the Beijing Agreement, which elevated South Africa 's earlier `` strategic partnership '' with China to the higher level of `` comprehensive strategic partnership '' in both economic and political affairs, including the strengthening of exchanges between their respective ruling parties and legislatures. In April 2011, South Africa formally joined the Brazil - Russia - India - China ( BRICS ) grouping of countries, identified by President Zuma as the country 's largest trading partners, and also the largest trading partners with Africa as a whole. Zuma asserted that BRICS member countries would also work with each other through the UN, the Group of Twenty ( G20 ) and the India, Brazil South Africa ( IBSA ) forum. Military Main article : South African National Defence Force SANDF soldiers The South African National Defence Force ( SANDF ) was created in 1994, as an all volunteer force composed of the former South African Defence Force, the forces of the African nationalist groups ( Umkhonto we Sizwe and Azanian People 's Liberation Army ), and the former Bantustan 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 Service. 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 served in multi-national UN peacekeeping forces such as the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade for example. South Africa is the only African country to have successfully developed nuclear weapons. It became the first country ( followed by Ukraine ) with nuclear capability to voluntarily renounce and dismantle its programme and in the process signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991. South Africa undertook a nuclear weapons programme in the 1970s According to former state president FW de Klerk, the decision to build a `` nuclear deterrent '' was taken `` as early as 1974 against a backdrop of a Soviet expansionist threat. '' South Africa is alleged to have conducted a nuclear test over the Atlantic in 1979, although this is officially denied. Former president FW de Klerk maintained that South Africa had `` never conducted a clandestine nuclear test. '' Six nuclear devices were completed between 1980 and 1990, but all were dismantled before South Africa signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1991. Administrative divisions Main article : Provinces of South Africa Provinces of South Africa Each of the nine provinces is governed by a unicameral legislature, which is elected every five years by party - list proportional representation. The legislature elects a Premier as head of government, and the Premier appoints an Executive Council as a provincial cabinet. The powers of provincial governments are limited to topics listed in the Constitution ; these topics include such fields as health, education, public housing and transport. The provinces are in turn divided into 52 districts : 8 metropolitan and 44 district municipalities. The district municipalities are further subdivided into 226 local municipalities. The metropolitan municipalities, which govern the largest urban agglomerations, perform the functions of both district and local municipalities. Province Provincial capital Largest city Area ( km ) Population ( 2016 ) Eastern Cape Bhisho Port Elizabeth 168,966 6,996,976 Free State Bloemfontein Bloemfontein 129,825 2,834,714 Gauteng Johannesburg Johannesburg 18,178 13,399,724 KwaZulu - Natal Pietermaritzburg Durban 94,361 11,065,240 Limpopo Polokwane Polokwane 125,754 5,799,090 Mpumalanga Mbombela Mbombela 76,495 4,335,964 North West Mahikeng Rustenburg 104,882 3,748,435 Northern Cape Kimberley Kimberley 372,889 1,193,780 Western Cape Cape Town Cape Town 129,462 6,279,730 Economy Annual per capita personal income by race group in South Africa relative to white levels Main article : Economy of South Africa The JSE is the largest stock exchange on the African continent. South Africa has a mixed economy, the second largest in Africa after Nigeria. It also has a relatively high GDP per capita compared to other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa ( $11,750 at PPP as of 2012 ). Despite this, South Africa is still burdened by a relatively high rate of poverty and unemployment, and is also ranked in the top 10 countries in the world for income inequality, measured by the Gini coefficient. Unlike most of the world 's poor countries, South Africa does not have a thriving informal economy. Only 15 % of South African jobs are in the informal sector, compared with around half in Brazil and India and nearly three - quarters in Indonesia. The OECD attributes this difference to South Africa 's widespread welfare system. World Bank research shows that South Africa has one of the widest gaps between per capita GNP versus its Human Development Index ranking, with only Botswana showing a larger gap. After 1994 government policy brought down inflation, stabilised public finances, and some foreign capital was attracted, however growth was still subpar. From 2004 onward economic growth picked up significantly ; both employment and capital formation increased. During the presidency of Jacob Zuma, the government has begun to increase the role of state - owned enterprises. Some of the biggest state - owned companies are Eskom, the electric power monopoly, South African Airways ( SAA ), and Transnet, the railroad and ports monopoly. Some of these state - owned companies have not been profitable, such as SAA, which has required bailouts totaling 30 billion rand ( $2.3 billion ) over 20 years. South Africa is a popular tourist destination, and a substantial amount of revenue comes from tourism. Principal international trading partners of South Africa -- besides other African countries -- include Germany, the United States, China, Japan, the United Kingdom and Spain. The South African 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. Due to the aridity of the land, only 13.5 % can be used for crop production, and only 3 % is considered high potential land. In August 2013, South Africa was ranked as the top African Country of the Future by FDi magazine based on the country 's economic potential, labour environment, cost - effectiveness, infrastructure, business friendliness, and Foreign direct investment Strategy. The FSI ranks South Africa as the 36th safest tax haven in the world, ahead of the Philippines but behind the Bahamas. Labour market Workers packing pears for export in the Ceres valley During 1995 -- 2003, the number of formal jobs decreased and informal jobs increased ; overall unemployment worsened. The government 's Black Economic Empowerment policies have drawn criticism from Neva Makgetla, lead economist for research and information at the Development Bank of Southern Africa, for focusing `` almost exclusively on promoting individual ownership by black people ( which ) does little to address broader economic disparities, though the rich may become more diverse. '' Official affirmative action policies have seen a rise in black economic wealth and an emerging black middle class. Other problems include state ownership and interference, which impose high barriers to entry in many areas. Restrictive labour regulations have contributed to the unemployment malaise. Along with many African nations, South Africa has been experiencing a `` brain drain '' in the past 20 years. This is believed to be potentially damaging for the regional economy, and is almost certainly detrimental for the well - being of those reliant on the healthcare infrastructure. The skills drain in South Africa tends to demonstrate racial contours given the skills distribution legacy of South Africa and has thus resulted in large white South African communities abroad. However, the statistics which purport to show a brain drain are disputed and also do not account for repatriation and expiry of foreign work contracts. According to several surveys there has been a reverse in brain drain following the global financial crisis of 2008 -- 2009 and expiration of foreign work contracts. In the first quarter of 2011, confidence levels for graduate professionals were recorded at a level of 84 % in a PPS survey. Illegal immigrants are involved in informal trading. Many immigrants to South Africa continue to live in poor conditions, and the immigration policy has become increasingly restrictive since 1994. Science and technology Main article : Science and technology in South Africa Mark Shuttleworth in space Several important scientific and technological developments have originated in South Africa. The first human - to - human heart transplant was performed by cardiac surgeon Christiaan Barnard at Groote Schuur Hospital in December 1967, Max Theiler developed a vaccine against yellow fever, Allan McLeod Cormack pioneered X-ray computed tomography, and Aaron Klug developed crystallographic electron microscopy techniques. With the exception of that of Barnard, all of these advancements were recognised with Nobel Prizes. Sydney Brenner won most recently, in 2002, for his pioneering work in molecular biology. Mark Shuttleworth founded an early Internet security company Thawte, that was subsequently bought out by world - leader VeriSign. Despite government efforts to encourage entrepreneurship in biotechnology, IT and other high technology fields, no other notable groundbreaking companies have been founded in South Africa. It is the expressed objective of the government to transition the economy to be more reliant on high technology, based on the realisation that South Africa can not compete with Far Eastern economies in manufacturing, nor can the republic rely on its mineral wealth in perpetuity. South Africa has cultivated a burgeoning astronomy community. It hosts the Southern African Large Telescope, the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. South Africa is currently building the Karoo Array Telescope as a pathfinder for the € 1.5 billion Square Kilometre Array project. On 25 May 2012 it was announced that hosting of the Square Kilometer Array Telescope will be split over both the South African and the Australia / New Zealand sites. Water supply and sanitation Main article : Water supply and sanitation in South Africa Two distinctive features of the South African water sector are the policy of free basic water and the existence of water boards, which are bulk water supply agencies that operate pipelines and sell water from reservoirs to municipalities. These features have led to significant problems concerning the financial sustainability of service providers, leading to a lack of attention to maintenance. Following the end of Apartheid, the country had made improvements in the levels of access to water as those with access increased from 66 % to 79 % from 1990 to 2010. Sanitation access increased from 71 % to 79 % during the same period. However, water supply and sanitation in South Africa has come under increasing pressure in recent years despite a commitment made by the government to improve service standards and provide investment subsidies to the water industry. The eastern parts of South Africa suffer from periodic droughts linked to the El Niño weather phenomenon. In early 2018, Cape Town, which has different weather patterns to the rest of the country, faced a water crisis as the city 's water supply was predicted to run dry before the end of June. Water - saving measures were in effect that required each citizen to use less than 50 litres a day. Demographics Main article : Demographics of South Africa Map of population density in South Africa < 1 / km 1 -- 3 / km 3 -- 10 / km 10 -- 30 / km 30 -- 100 / km 100 -- 300 / km 300 -- 1000 / km 1000 -- 3000 / km > 3000 / km Population Year Million 1950 13.6 2000 45.7 2016 56 South Africa is a nation of about 55 million ( 2016 ) people of diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religions. The last census was held in 2011, with a more recent intercensal national survey conducted in 2016. South Africa is home to an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants, including some 3 million Zimbabweans. A series of anti-immigrant riots occurred in South Africa beginning on 11 May 2008. Statistics South Africa asks people to describe themselves in the census in terms of five racial population groups. The 2011 census figures for these groups were Black African at 79.2 %, White at 8.9 %, Coloured at 8.9 %, Asian at 2.5 %, and Other / Unspecified at 0.5 %. The first census in South Africa in 1911 showed that whites made up 22 % of the population ; this had declined to 16 % by 1980. South Africa hosts a sizeable refugee and asylum seeker population. According to the World Refugee Survey 2008, published by the US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, this population numbered approximately 144,700 in 2007. Groups of refugees and asylum seekers numbering over 10,000 included people from Zimbabwe ( 48,400 ), The Democratic Republic of the Congo ( 24,800 ), and Somalia ( 12,900 ). These populations mainly lived in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth. Many refugees have now also started to work and live in rural areas in provinces such as Mpumalanga, KwaZulu - Natal and the Eastern Cape. Languages Main article : Languages of South Africa Map showing the dominant South African languages Zulu ( 22.7 % ) Xhosa ( 16.0 % ) ⁠ Afrikaans ( 13.5 % ) English ( 9.6 % ) Northern Sotho ( 9.1 % ) Tswana ( 8.0 % ) Southern Sotho ( 7.6 % ) Tsonga ( 4.5 % ) Swazi ( 2.5 % ) Venda ( 2.4 % ) Southern Ndebele ( 2.1 % ) None dominant South Africa has 11 official languages : Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda, and Southern Ndebele. In this regard it is fourth only to Bolivia, India, and Zimbabwe in number. While all the languages are formally equal, some languages are spoken more than others. According to the 2011 census, the three most spoken first languages are Zulu ( 22.7 % ), Xhosa ( 16.0 % ), and Afrikaans ( 13.5 % ). Despite the fact that English is recognised as the language of commerce and science, it ranked fourth, and was listed as the first language of only 9.6 % of South Africans in 2011 ; but it remains the de facto lingua franca of the nation. The country also recognises several unofficial languages, including Fanagalo, Khoe, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi, and South African Sign Language. These unofficial languages may be used in certain official uses in limited areas where it has been determined that these languages are prevalent. Many of the unofficial languages of the San and Khoikhoi people contain regional dialects stretching northwards 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 the remainder of their languages are in danger of becoming extinct. White South Africans may also speak European languages, including Portuguese ( also spoken by black Angolans and Mozambicans ), German, and Greek, while some Indian South Africans speak Indian languages, such as Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu. French is spoken in South Africa by migrants from Francophone Africa. Urban centres Largest cities or towns in South Africa 2016 Community Survey Rank Name Province Pop. City of Johannesburg City of Cape Town City of Johannesburg Gauteng 4,949,347 EThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Ekurhuleni City of Cape Town Western Cape 4,004,793 EThekwini Metropolitan Municipality KwaZulu - Natal 3,661,911 Ekurhuleni Gauteng 3,379,104 5 City of Tshwane Gauteng 3,275,152 6 Nelson Mandela Bay Eastern Cape 1,263,051 7 Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality Eastern Cape 810,528 8 Mangaung Free State 759,693 9 Emfuleni Gauteng 733,445 10 Polokwane Local Municipality Limpopo 702,190 Religions Main article : Religion in South Africa Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk in Wolmaransstad Religion in South Africa ( 2010 ) religion percent Protestant 73.2 % No religion 14.9 % Catholic 7.4 % Muslim 1.7 % Hindu 1.1 % Other faith 1.7 % According to the 2001 census, Christians accounted for 79.8 % of the population, with a majority of them being members of various Protestant denominations ( broadly defined to include syncretic African initiated churches ) and a minority of Roman Catholics and other Christians. Christian category includes Zion Christian ( 11.1 % ), Pentecostal ( Charismatic ) ( 8.2 % ), Roman Catholic ( 7.1 % ), Methodist ( 6.8 % ), Dutch Reformed ( Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk ; 6.7 % ), Anglican ( 3.8 % ). Members of remaining Christian churches accounted for another 36 % of the population. Muslims accounted for 1.5 % of the population, Hindus 1.2 %, traditional African religion 0.3 % and Judaism 0.2 %. 15.1 % had no religious affiliation, 0.6 % were other and 1.4 % were unspecified. African initiated churches formed the largest of the Christian groups. It was believed that many of the persons who claimed no affiliation with any organised religion adhered to traditional African religion. There are an estimated 200,000 indigenous traditional healers in South Africa, and up to 60 % of South Africans consult these healers, generally called sangomas or inyangas. These healers use a combination of ancestral spiritual beliefs and a belief in the spiritual and medicinal properties of local fauna and flora, commonly known as muti, to facilitate healing in clients. Many peoples have syncretic religious practices combining Christian and indigenous influences. South African Muslims comprise mainly those who are described as Coloureds and those who are described as Indians. They have been joined by black or white South African converts as well as others from other parts of Africa. South African Muslims claim that their faith is the fastest - growing religion of conversion in the country, with the number of black Muslims growing sixfold, from 12,000 in 1991 to 74,700 in 2004. South Africa is also home to a substantial Jewish population, descended from European Jews who arrived as a minority among other European settlers. This population peaked in the 1970s at 120,000, though only around 67,000 remain today, the rest having emigrated. Even so, these numbers make the Jewish community in South Africa the twelfth largest in the world. Culture Main article : Culture of South Africa Decorated houses, Drakensberg The South African black majority still has a substantial number of rural inhabitants who lead largely impoverished lives. It is among these people that cultural traditions survive most strongly ; as blacks have become increasingly urbanised and Westernised, aspects of traditional culture have declined. Members of the middle class, who are predominantly white but whose ranks include growing numbers of black, coloured and Indian people, have lifestyles similar in many respects to that of people found in Western Europe, North America and Australasia. Arts Eland, rock painting, Drakensberg South African art includes the oldest art objects in the world, which were discovered in a South African cave, and dated from 75,000 years ago. The scattered tribes of Khoisan peoples moving into South Africa from around 10000 BC had their own fluent art styles seen today in a multitude of cave paintings. They were superseded by Bantu / Nguni peoples with their own vocabularies of art forms. New forms of art evolved in the mines and townships : a dynamic art using everything from plastic strips to bicycle spokes. The Dutch - influenced folk art of the Afrikaner Trekboers and the urban white artists earnestly following changing European traditions from the 1850s onwards also contributed to this eclectic mix, which continues to evolve today. Olive Schreiner South African literature emerged from a unique social and political history. One of the first well known novels written by a black author in an African language was Solomon Thekiso Plaatje 's Mhudi, written in 1930. During the 1950s, Drum magazine became a hotbed of political satire, fiction, and essays, giving a voice to urban black culture. Notable white South African authors include Alan Paton, who published the acclaimed novel Cry, the Beloved Country in 1948. Nadine Gordimer became the first South African to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. J.M. Coetzee won the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 2003. When awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy stated that Coetzee `` in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider ''. The plays of Athol Fugard have been regularly premiered in fringe theatres in South Africa, London ( The Royal Court Theatre ) and New York. Olive Schreiner 's The Story of an African Farm ( 1883 ) was a revelation in Victorian literature : it is heralded by many as introducing feminism into the novel form. Breyten Breytenbach was jailed for his involvement with the guerrilla movement against apartheid. Andre Brink was the first Afrikaner writer to be banned by the government after he released the novel A Dry White Season. Popular culture The South African media sector is large, and South Africa is one of Africa 's major media centres. While South Africa 's many broadcasters and publications reflect the diversity of the population as a whole, the most commonly used language is English. However, all ten other official languages are represented to some extent or another. There is great diversity in South African music. Black musicians have developed a unique style called Kwaito, that is said to have taken over radio, television, and magazines. 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. South Africa has produced world - famous jazz musicians, notably Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Abdullah Ibrahim, Miriam Makeba, Jonathan Butler, Chris McGregor, and Sathima Bea Benjamin. Afrikaans music covers multiple genres, such as the contemporary Steve Hofmeyr, the punk rock band Fokofpolisiekar and the singer - songwriter Jeremy Loops. South African popular musicians that have found international success include Johnny Clegg, as well as Seether. Although few South African film productions are known outside South Africa itself, many foreign films have been produced about South Africa. Arguably, the most high - profile film portraying South Africa in recent years was District 9. Other notable exceptions are the film Tsotsi, which won the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film at the 78th Academy Awards in 2006 as well as U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, which won the Golden Bear at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival. In 2015, Oliver Hermanus film The Endless River became the first South African film selected for the Venice Film Festival. Cuisine Main article : South African cuisine Meat on a traditional South African braai South African culture is diverse ; foods from many cultures are enjoyed by all and especially marketed to tourists who wish to sample the large variety of South African cuisine. South African cuisine is heavily meat - based and has spawned the distinctively South African social gathering known as the braai, a variation of the barbecue. South Africa has also developed into a major wine producer, with some of the best vineyards lying in valleys around Stellenbosch, Franschhoek, Paarl and Barrydale. Sports Main article : Sport in South Africa South Africa 's most popular sports are soccer, rugby and cricket. Other sports with significant support are swimming, athletics, golf, boxing, tennis, ringball, and netball. Although soccer commands the greatest following among the youth, other sports like basketball, surfing and skateboarding are increasingly popular. Soccer players who have played for major foreign clubs include Steven Pienaar, Lucas Radebe and Philemon Masinga, Benni McCarthy, Aaron Mokoena, and Delron Buckley. South Africa hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and FIFA president Sepp Blatter awarded South Africa a grade 9 out of 10 for successfully hosting the event. The Springboks in a bus parade after winning the 2007 Rugby World Cup Famous boxing personalities include Baby Jake Jacob Matlala, Vuyani Bungu, Welcome Ncita, Dingaan Thobela, Gerrie Coetzee and Brian Mitchell. Durban Surfer Jordy Smith won the 2010 Billabong J - Bay competition making him the no 1 ranked surfer in the world. South Africa produced Formula One motor racing 's 1979 world champion Jody Scheckter. Famous current cricket players include AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Faf du Plessis etc. Most of them also participate in the Indian Premier League. South Africa has also produced numerous world class rugby players, including Francois Pienaar, Joost van der Westhuizen, Danie Craven, Frik du Preez, Naas Botha and Bryan Habana. South Africa hosted and won the 1995 Rugby World Cup and won the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France. It followed the 1995 Rugby World Cup by hosting the 1996 African Cup of Nations, with the national team going on to win the tournament. It also hosted the 2003 Cricket World Cup, the 2007 World Twenty20 Championship. South Africa has also won the inaugural edition of the 1998 ICC KnockOut Trophy by defeating West Indies in the final. South Africa team also went onto win the inaugural edition of the Blind Cricket World Cup in 1998. In 2004, the swimming team of Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in Athens, simultaneously breaking the world record in the 4x100 freestyle relay. Penny Heyns won Olympic Gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. In 2012 Oscar Pistorius became the first double amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympic Games in London. In golf, Gary Player is generally regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time, having won the Career Grand Slam, one of five golfers to have done so. Other South African golfers to have won major tournaments include Bobby Locke, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, Tim Clark, Trevor Immelman, Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel. Education This section needs to be updated. Please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. ( July 2018 ) Main article : Education in South Africa Schoolchildren in Mitchell 's Plain The adult literacy rate in 2007 was 88.7 %. South Africa has a 3 tier system of education starting with primary school, followed by high school and tertiary education in the form of ( academic ) universities and universities of technology. Learners have twelve years of formal schooling, from grade 1 to 12. Grade R is a pre-primary foundation year. Primary schools span the first seven years of schooling. High School education spans a further five years. The Senior Certificate examination takes place at the end of grade 12 and is necessary for tertiary studies at a South African university. Public universities in South Africa are divided into three types : traditional universities, which offer theoretically oriented university degrees ; universities of technology ( formerly called `` Technikons '' ), which offer vocational oriented diplomas and degrees ; and comprehensive universities, which offer both types of qualification. There are 23 public universities in South Africa : 11 traditional universities, 6 universities of technology and 6 comprehensive universities. Under apartheid, schools for blacks were subject to discrimination through inadequate funding and a separate syllabus called Bantu Education which was only designed to give them sufficient skills to work as labourers. In 2004 South Africa started reforming its higher education system, merging and incorporating small universities into larger institutions, and renaming all higher education institutions `` university ''. By 2015, 1.4 million students in higher education have benefited from a financial aid scheme which was promulgated in 1999. Public expenditure on education was at 5.4 % of the 2002 -- 05 GDP. Health Main articles : Health in South Africa and Healthcare in South Africa AIDS has caused a fall in life expectancy. According to the South African Institute of Race Relations, the life expectancy in 2009 was 71 years for a white South African and 48 years for a black South African. The healthcare spending in the country is about 9 % of GDP. About 84 % of the population depends on the public healthcare system, which is beset with chronic human resource shortages and limited resources. About 20 % of the population uses private healthcare. Only 16 % of the population is covered by medical schemes. The rest pay for private care `` out of pocket '' or through hospital cash plans. The three dominant hospital groups, Mediclinic, Life Healthcare and Netcare, together control 75 % of the private hospital market. South Africa is home to the third largest hospital in the world, the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital. HIV / AIDS Main article : HIV / AIDS in South Africa According to the 2015 UNAIDS Report, South Africa has an estimated 7 million people living with HIV -- more than any other country in the world. A 2008 study revealed that HIV / AIDS infection in South Africa is distinctly divided along racial lines : 13.6 % of blacks are HIV - positive, whereas only 0.3 % of whites have the disease. Most deaths are experienced by economically active individuals, resulting in many AIDS orphans who in many cases depend on the state for care and financial support. It is estimated that there are 1,200,000 orphans in South Africa. The link between HIV, a virus spread primarily by sexual contact, and AIDS was long denied by President Thabo Mbeki and his health minister Manto Tshabalala - Msimang, who insisted that the many deaths in the country are due to malnutrition, and hence poverty, and not HIV. In 2007, in response to international pressure, the government made efforts to fight AIDS. After the 2009 General Elections, President Jacob Zuma appointed Dr Aaron Motsoaledi as the new minister and committed his government to increasing funding for and widening the scope of AIDS treatment, and by 2015, South Africa had made significant progress in HIV treatment, with the widespread availability of cheap and effective medication resulting in an increase in life expectancy from 52.1 years to 62.5 years. See also South Africa portal Outline of South Africa Notes Jump up ^ The Khoi, Nama and San languages, South African Sign Language, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Portuguese, Telugu, Tamil, Urdu, Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and `` other languages used for religious purposes in South Africa '' have a special status ( Chapter 1, Article 6 of the South African Constitution ). References Jump up ^ `` The Constitution ''. Constitutional Court of South Africa. Retrieved 3 September 2009. Jump up ^ `` Principal Agglomerations of the World ''. Citypopulation.de. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ Mid-year population estimates 2014. Statistics South Africa Jump up ^ `` Mid - year population estimates '' ( PDF ). http://www.statssa.gov.za/. 2018 - 07 - 23. Retrieved 2018 - 07 - 23. External link in website = ( help ) ^ Jump up to : Census 2011 : Census in brief ( PDF ). Pretoria : Statistics South Africa. 2012. pp. 23 -- 25. ISBN 9780621413885. Archived ( PDF ) from the original on 13 May 2015. ^ Jump up to : `` South Africa ''. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 26 April 2015. Jump up ^ `` Gini Index ''. World Bank. Retrieved 2 March 2011. Jump up ^ `` 2015 Human Development Report '' ( PDF ). United Nations Development Programme. 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015. Jump up ^ `` South African Maritime Safety Authority ''. South African Maritime Safety Authority. Retrieved 16 June 2008. Jump up ^ `` Coastline ''. The World Factbook. CIA. Retrieved 16 June 2008. ^ Jump up to : `` South Africa Fast Facts ''. SouthAfrica.info. April 2007. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2008. Jump up ^ Guy Arnold. `` Lesotho : Year In Review 1996 -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia ''. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ Schenoni Luis. `` The Southern African Unipolarity : Year In Review 2017 -- Journal of Contemporary African Studies ''. JCAS. Retrieved 30 September 2017. Jump up ^ `` Rainbow Nation -- dream or reality ? ''. BBC News. 18 July 2008. Retrieved 10 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` South Africa ''. World Bank. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ David Waugh ( 2000 ). `` Manufacturing industries ( chapter 19 ), World development ( chapter 22 ) ''. Geography : An Integrated Approach. Nelson Thornes. pp. 563, 576 -- 579, 633, 640. ISBN 978 - 0 - 17 - 444706 - 1. Retrieved 24 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` South Africa 's Unemployment Rate Increases to 23.5 % ''. Bloomberg. 5 May 2009. Retrieved 30 May 2010. Jump up ^ `` HDI '' ( PDF ). UNDP. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 19 December 2008. Jump up ^ Cooper, Andrew F ; Antkiewicz, Agata ; Shaw, Timothy M ( 10 December 2007 ). `` Lessons from / for BRICSAM about South - North Relations at the Start of the 21st Century : Economic Size Trumps All Else ? ''. International Studies Review. 9 ( 4 ) : 675, 687. doi : 10.1111 / j. 1468 - 2486.2007. 00730. x. Jump up ^ David A. Lynch ( 2010 ). Trade and Globalization : An Introduction to Regional Trade Agreements. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 51. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7425 - 6689 - 7. Retrieved 25 August 2013. Southern Africa is home to the other of sub-Saharan Africa 's regional powers : South Africa. South Africa is more than just a regional power ; it is currently the most developed and economically powerful country in Africa, and now it is able to use that influence in Africa more than during the days of apartheid ( white rule ), when it was ostracised. Jump up ^ Livermon, Xavier ( 2008 ). `` Sounds in the City ''. In Nuttall, Sarah ; Mbembé, Achille. Johannesburg : The Elusive Metropolis. Durham : Duke University Press. p. 283. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8223 - 8121 - 1. Mzansi is another black urban vernacular term popular with the youth and standing for South Africa. Jump up ^ `` Mzansi DiToloki ''. Deaf Federation of South Africa. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 15 January 2014. uMzantsi in Xhosa means ' south ', Mzansi means this country, South Africa Jump up ^ Taylor, Darren. `` South African Party Says Call Their Country ' Azania ' ''. VOA. Retrieved 18 February 2017. Jump up ^ Wymer, John ; Singer, R ( 1982 ). The Middle Stone Age at Klasies River Mouth in South Africa. Chicago : University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 76103 - 9. Jump up ^ Deacon, HJ ( 2001 ). `` Guide to Klasies River '' ( PDF ). Stellenbosch University. p. 11. Retrieved 5 September 2009. Jump up ^ `` Fossil Hominid Sites of Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Kromdraai, and Environs ''. Jump up ^ Stephen P. Broker. `` Hominid Evolution ''. Yale - New Haven Teachers Institute. Retrieved 19 June 2008. Jump up ^ Langer, William L., ed. ( 1972 ). An Encyclopedia of World History ( 5th ed. ). Boston, MA : Houghton Mifflin Company. p. 9. ISBN 978 - 0 - 395 - 13592 - 1. Jump up ^ Leakey, Louis Seymour Bazett ( 1936 ). `` Stone Age cultures of South Africa ''. Stone age Africa : an outline of prehistory in Africa ( reprint ed. ). Negro Universities Press. p. 79. Retrieved 2018 - 02 - 21. In 1929, during a brief visit to the Transvaal, I myself found a number of pebble tools in some of the terrace gravels of the Vaal River, and similar finds have been recorded by Wayland, who visited South Africa, and by van Riet Lowe and other South African prehistorians. Jump up ^ Domville - Fife, C.W. ( 1900 ). The encyclopedia of the British Empire the first encyclopedic record of the greatest empire in the history of the world ed. London : Rankin. p. 25. Jump up ^ Mackenzie, W. Douglas ; Stead, Alfred ( 1899 ). South Africa : Its History, Heroes, and Wars. Chicago : The Co-Operative Publishing Company. Jump up ^ Pakeman, SA. Nations of the Modern World : Ceylon ( 1964 ed. ). Frederick A Praeger, Publishers. pp. 18 -- 19. ASIN B0000CM2VW. ^ Jump up to : Alexander Wilmot & John Centlivres Chase. History of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope : From Its Discovery to the Year 1819 ( 2010 ed. ). Claremont : David Philip ( Pty ) Ltd. pp. 1 -- 548. ISBN 978 - 1 - 144 - 83015 - 9. Jump up ^ Kaplan, Irving. Area Handbook for the Republic of South Africa ( PDF ). pp. 46 -- 771. Jump up ^ `` African History Timeline ''. West Chester University of Pennsylvania. ^ Jump up to : Hunt, John ( 2005 ). Campbell, Heather - Ann, ed. Dutch South Africa : Early Settlers at the Cape, 1652 -- 1708. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 13 -- 35. ISBN 978 - 1 - 904744 - 95 - 5. Jump up ^ Worden, Nigel ( 2010 - 08 - 05 ). Slavery in Dutch South Africa ( 2010 ed. ). Cambridge University Press. pp. 40 -- 43. ISBN 978 - 0 - 521 - 15266 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Nelson, Harold. Zimbabwe : A Country Study. pp. 237 -- 317. ^ Jump up to : Stapleton, Timothy ( 2010 ). A Military History of South Africa : From the Dutch - Khoi Wars to the End of Apartheid. Santa Barbara : Praeger Security International. pp. 4 -- 6. ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 36589 - 8. Jump up ^ Keegan, Timothy. Colonial South Africa and the Origins of the Racial Order ( 1996 ed. ). David Philip Publishers ( Pty ) Ltd. pp. 85 -- 86. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8139 - 1735 - 1. ^ Jump up to : Lloyd, Trevor Owen ( 1997 ). The British Empire, 1558 -- 1995. Oxford : Oxford University Press. pp. 201 -- 203. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 873133 - 7. Jump up ^ `` Shaka : Zulu Chieftain ''. Historynet.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2008. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Shaka ( Zulu chief ) ''. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ W.D. Rubinstein ( 2004 ). Genocide : A History. Pearson Longman. p. 22. ISBN 978 - 0 - 582 - 50601 - 5. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ Williams, Garner F ( 1905 ). The Diamond Mines of South Africa, Vol II. New York : B. F Buck & Co. pp. Chapter XX. Jump up ^ Bond, Patrick ( 1999 ). Cities of gold, townships of coal : essays on South Africa 's new urban crisis. Africa World Press. p. 140. ISBN 978 - 0 - 86543 - 611 - 4. Jump up ^ Cape of Good Hope ( South Africa ). Parliament House. ( 1906 ). `` Report of the Select Committee on Location Act ''. Cape Times Limited. Retrieved 30 July 2009. Jump up ^ Godley, Godfrey Archibald, Welsh, William Thomson, Hemsworth, H. D ( 1920 ). `` Report of the Inter-departmental committee on the native pass laws ''. Cape Times Limited, government printers : 2. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Great Britain Colonial Office ; Transvaal ( Colony ). Governor ( 1901 -- 1905 : Milner ) ( January 1902 ). `` Papers relating to legislation affecting natives in the Transvaal ''. His Majesty 's Stationery Office. Jump up ^ De Villiers, John Abraham Jacob ( 1896 ). The Transvaal. London : Chatto & Windus. pp. 30 ( n46 ). Retrieved 30 July 2009. Jump up ^ Cana, Frank Richardson ( 1911 ). `` South Africa ''. In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica. 25 ( 11th ed. ). Cambridge University Press. p. 467. Jump up ^ `` Native Land Act ''. South African Institute of Race Relations. 19 June 1913. Archived from the original on 14 October 2010. Jump up ^ Gloria Galloway, `` Chieft Reflect on Apartheid '', The Globe and Mail, 11 Dec 2013 Jump up ^ Beinart, William ( 2001 ). Twentieth - century South Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 202. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 289318 - 5. Jump up ^ Noah, Trevor ( 2016 ). Born a Crime : Stories from a South African Childhood,. Random House. ISBN 978 - 0399588174. Jump up ^ `` Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd ''. South African History Online. Retrieved 9 March 2013. On 5 October 1960 a referendum was held in which White voters were asked `` Do you support a republic for the Union ? '' -- 52 percent voted ' Yes '. Jump up ^ Gibson, Nigel ; Alexander, Amanda ; Mngxitama, Andile ( 2008 ). Biko Lives ! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko. Hampshire : Palgrave Macmillan. p. 138. ISBN 978 - 0 - 230 - 60649 - 4. Jump up ^ Switzer, Les ( 2000 ). South Africa 's Resistance Press : Alternative Voices in the Last Generation Under Apartheid. Issue 74 of Research in international studies : Africa series. Ohio University Press. p. 2. ISBN 978 - 0 - 89680 - 213 - 1. Jump up ^ Mitchell, Thomas ( 2008 ). Native vs Settler : Ethnic Conflict in Israel / Palestine, Northern Ireland and South Africa. Westport : Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 194 -- 196. ISBN 978 - 0 - 313 - 31357 - 8. Jump up ^ Bridgland, Fred ( 1990 ). The War for Africa : Twelve months that transformed a continent. Gibraltar : Ashanti Publishing. p. 32. ISBN 978 - 1 - 874800 - 12 - 5. Jump up ^ Landgren, Signe. Embargo Disimplemented : South Africa 's Military Industry ( 1989 ed. ). Oxford University Press. pp. 6 -- 10. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 829127 - 5. Jump up ^ `` South Africa Profile ''. Nti.org. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ John Pike. `` Nuclear Weapons Program ( South Africa ) ''. Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 30 October 2011. ^ Jump up to : `` Post-Apartheid South Africa : the First Ten Years -- Unemployment and the Labor Market '' ( PDF ). IMF. Jump up ^ `` Zuma surprised at level of white poverty -- Mail & Guardian Online : The smart news source ''. Mail & Guardian. 18 April 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2010. Jump up ^ `` South Africa ''. Human Development Report. United Nations Development Programme. 2006. Archived from the original on 29 November 2007. Retrieved 28 November 2007. Jump up ^ `` 2015 United Nations Human Development Report '' ( PDF ). Jump up ^ `` South African Life Expectancy at Birth, World Bank ''. Jump up ^ `` Ridicule succeeds where leadership failed on AIDS ''. South African Institute of Race Relations. 10 November 2006. Archived from the original on 24 May 2016. ^ Jump up to : `` Broke - on - Broke Violence ''. Retrieved 6 July 2011. Jump up ^ `` COHRE statement on Xenophobic Attacks ''. Retrieved 6 July 2011. Jump up ^ Southern African Migration Project ; Institute for Democracy in South Africa ; Queen 's University ( 2008 ). Jonathan Crush, ed. The perfect storm : the realities of xenophobia in contemporary South Africa ( PDF ). Idasa. p. 1. ISBN 978 - 1 - 920118 - 71 - 6. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013. ^ Jump up to : United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. `` UNHCR Global Appeal 2011 -- South Africa ''. UNHCR. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Country Comparison ''. World Factbook. CIA. Jump up ^ `` United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics ''. unstats.un.org. Retrieved 2017 - 12 - 12. Jump up ^ `` How big is South Africa ? - South Africa Gateway ''. South Africa Gateway. 23 November 2017. Archived from the original on 12 December 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2017. Jump up ^ McCarthy, T. & Rubidge, B. ( 2005 ). The story of earth and life. p. 263, 267 - 268. Struik Publishers, Cape Town. ^ Jump up to : Atlas of Southern Africa. ( 1984 ). p. 13. Readers Digest Association, Cape Town Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1975 ) ; Micropaedia Vol. III, p. 655. Helen Hemingway Benton Publishers, Chicago. Jump up ^ Atlas of Southern Africa. ( 1984 ). p. 186. Readers Digest Association, Cape Town Jump up ^ `` Kruger National Park ''. Africa.com. Archived from the original on 18 December 2014. Retrieved 16 December 2014. Jump up ^ Atlas of Southern Africa. ( 1984 ). p. 151. Readers Digest Association, Cape Town Jump up ^ McCarthy, T. & Rubidge, B. ( 2005 ). The story of earth and life. p. 194. Struik Publishers, Cape Town. ^ Jump up to : Geological map of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland ( 1970 ). Council for Geoscience, Geological Survey of South Africa. Jump up ^ Encyclopædia Britannica ( 1975 ) ; Micropaedia Vol. VI, p. 750. Helen Hemingway Benton Publishers, Chicago. ^ Jump up to : Atlas of Southern Africa. ( 1984 ). p. 19. Readers Digest Association, Cape Town Jump up ^ Atlas of Southern Africa. ( 1984 ). p. 113. Readers Digest Association, Cape Town Jump up ^ `` South Africa 's geography -- SouthAfrica.info ''. Safrica.info. Archived from the original on 8 June 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ South Africa yearbook. South African Communication Service. 1997. p. 3. Jump up ^ `` List of Parties ''. Retrieved 8 December 2012. ^ Jump up to : `` South Africa 's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan '' ( PDF ). Retrieved 10 December 2012. Jump up ^ `` Biodiversity of the world by countries ''. Institutoaqualung.com.br. Archived from the original on 1 November 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010. Jump up ^ Rong, I.H. ; Baxter, A.P. ( 2006 ). `` The South African National Collection of Fungi : Celebrating a centenary 1905 -- 2005 ''. Studies in Mycology. 55 : 1 -- 12. doi : 10.3114 / sim. 55.1. 1. PMC 2104721. PMID 18490968. Jump up ^ Crous, P.W. ; Rong, I.H. ; Wood, A. ; Lee, S. ; Glen, H. ; Botha, W. l ; Slippers, B. ; De Beer, W.Z. ; Wingfield, M.J. ; Hawksworth, D.L. ( 2006 ). `` How many species of fungi are there at the tip of Africa ? ''. Studies in Mycology. 55 : 13 -- 33. doi : 10.3114 / sim. 55.1. 13. PMC 2104731. PMID 18490969. Jump up ^ Marincowitz, S. ; Crous, P.W. ; Groenewald J.Z. & Wingfield, M.J. ( 2008 ). `` Microfungi occurring on Proteaceae in the fynbos. CBS Biodiversity Series 7 '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ Marco Lambertini ( 2000 - 05 - 15 ). `` The Flora / The Richest Botany in the World ''. A Anturalist 's Guide to the Tropics ( Revised edition ( May 15, 2000 ) ed. ). University Of Chicago Press. p. 46. ISBN 978 - 0 - 226 - 46828 - 0. Jump up ^ `` Plants and Vegetation in South Africa ''. Southafrica-travel.net. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ Environmental Affairs ( 22 January 2015 ). `` Progress in the war against poaching ''. Environmental Affairs. South Africa. Archived from the original on 23 January 2015. Retrieved 22 January 2015. Jump up ^ `` South African National Biodiversity Institute ''. Sanbi.org. 30 September 2011. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Term Limits in Africa ''. The Economist. 6 April 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` Chapter 4 -- Parliament ''. 19 August 2009. Archived from the original on 30 May 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2013. Jump up ^ Abahlali baseMjondolo. `` Mercury : Rethinking the crisis of local democracy ''. Abahlali.org. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ J. Duncan ( 31 May 2010 ). `` The Return of State Repression ''. South African Civil Society Information Services. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` Increasing police repression highlighted by recent case ''. Freedom of Expression Institute. 2006. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ Imraan Buccus ( 2011 ). `` Political tolerance on the wane in South Africa ''. SA Reconciliation Barometer. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` South Africa 's recent performance in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance ''. Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2013. Jump up ^ `` SA marriage law signed ''. BBC News. 30 November 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ Pamela Snyman & Amanda Barratt ( 2 October 2002 ). `` Researching South African Law ''. w / Library Resource Xchange. Archived from the original on 17 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008. Jump up ^ `` How dangerous is South Africa ? ''. BBC News. 17 May 2010. Jump up ^ Check, Institute for Security Studies and Africa. `` Factsheet : South Africa 's official crime stats unpacked ''. Jump up ^ K Landman. `` Gated communities in South Africa : Comparison of four case studies in Gauteng '' ( PDF ). Wits University. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2013. Jump up ^ `` South Africa has world 's largest private security industry ; needs regulation -- Mthethwa ''. DefenceWeb. Retrieved 3 May 2013. Jump up ^ `` Bigger than the army : South Africa 's private security forces ''. CNN. 8 February 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013. Jump up ^ `` Afrikaner Farmers Migrating to Georgia ''. VOA. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2013. Jump up ^ Adriana Stuijt ( 17 February 2009 ). `` Two more S. African farmers killed : death toll now at 3,037 ''. Digital Journal. Archived from the original on 20 May 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2011. Jump up ^ https://africacheck.org/factsheets/guide-rape-statistics-in-south-africa/ Jump up ^ `` South African rape survey shock ''. BBC News. 18 June 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010. Jump up ^ `` South Africa 's rape shock ''. BBC News. 19 January 1999. Retrieved 30 May 2010. ^ Jump up to : `` Child rape in South Africa ''. Medscape. Retrieved 31 December 2010. Jump up ^ Perry, Alex ( 5 November 2007 ). `` Oprah scandal rocks South Africa ''. Time. Retrieved 15 May 2011. Jump up ^ Rosalind Rosenberg ( Summer 2001 ). `` Virginia Gildersleeve : Opening the Gates ( Living Legacies ) ''. Columbia Magazine. Jump up ^ Schlesinger, Stephen E. ( 2004 ). Act of Creation : The Founding of the United Nations : A Story of Superpowers, Secret Agents, Wartime Allies and Enemies, and Their Quest for a Peaceful World. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Westview, Perseus Books Group. pp. 236 -- 7. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8133 - 3275 - 8. Jump up ^ `` China, South Africa upgrade relations to `` comprehensive strategic partnership '' ``. Capetown.china-consulate.org. 25 August 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` New era as South Africa joins BRICS ''. Southafrica.info. 11 April 2011. Archived from the original on 18 April 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2013. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) Jump up ^ `` SA brings ' unique attributes ' to BRICS ''. Southafrica.info. 14 April 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2013. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) ^ Jump up to : `` Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 200 of 1993 ( Section 224 ) ''. South African Government. 1993. Archived from the original on 12 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008. Jump up ^ Col LB van Stade, Senior Staff Officer Rationalisation, SANDF ( 1997 ). `` Rationalisation in the SANDF : The Next Challenge ''. Institute for Security Studies. Archived from the original on 16 March 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2008. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ `` Defence Act 42 of 2002 '' ( PDF ). South African Government. 12 February 2003. p. 18. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 24 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008. ^ Jump up to : Mosiuoa Lekota ( 5 September 2005 ). `` Address by the Minister of Defence at a media breakfast at Defence Headquarters, Pretoria ''. Department of Defence. Retrieved 23 June 2008. ^ Jump up to : Lieutenant Colonel Roy E. Horton III ( BS, Electrical Engineering ; MS, Strategic Intelligence ) ( October 1999 ). `` Out of ( South ) Africa : Pretoria 's Nuclear Weapons Experience ''. USAF Institute for National Security Studies. Retrieved 23 June 2008. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) ^ Jump up to : Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. ( May 1993 ). `` South Africa comes clean ''. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. pp. 3 -- 4. ISSN 0096 - 3402. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ Christine Dodson ( 22 October 1979 ). `` South Atlantic Nuclear Event ( National Security Council, Memorandum ) '' ( PDF ). George Washington University under Freedom of Information Act Request. Retrieved 23 June 2008. Jump up ^ Stats in Brief, 2010 ( PDF ). Pretoria : Statistics South Africa. 2010. p. 3. ISBN 978 - 0 - 621 - 39563 - 1. Jump up ^ `` Community Survey 2016 In Brief '' ( PDF ). Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 28 April 2018. Jump up ^ `` Inequality in income or expenditure / Gini index, Human Development Report 2007 / 08 ''. Hdrstats.undp.org. 4 November 2010. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` Distribution of family income -- Gini index ''. Cia.gov. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` South Africa has highest gap between rich and poor ''. Business Report. 28 September 2009. Archived from the original on 23 October 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2010. Jump up ^ `` South Africa 's economy : How it could do even better ''. The Economist. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 17 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` DEPWeb : Beyond Economic Growth ''. The World Bank Group. Retrieved 17 October 2011. ^ Jump up to : `` Economic Assessment of South Africa 2008 : Achieving Accelerated and Shared Growth for South Africa ''. OECD. Archived from the original on 9 August 2009. Jump up ^ `` Commanding Plights. '' The Economist 29 August 2015 : 37 - 38. Print. Jump up ^ `` SA Economic Research -- Tourism Update '' ( PDF ). m / Investec. October 2005. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 24 June 2008. Retrieved 23 June 2008. ^ Jump up to : `` South Africa ''. The World Factbook. CIA. Jump up ^ Unequal protection the state response to violent crime on South African farms. Human Rights Watch. 2001. ISBN 978 - 1 - 56432 - 263 - 0. Jump up ^ Mohamed, Najma ( 2000 ). `` Greening Land and Agrarian Reform : A Case for Sustainable Agriculture ''. In Ben Cousins. At the Crossroads : Land and Agrarian Reform in South Africa Into the 21st Century. Programme for Land and Agrarian Studies ( PLAAS ). ISBN 978 - 1 - 86808 - 467 - 8. Jump up ^ `` African Countries of the Future 2013 / 14 ''. fDiIntelligence.com. Retrieved 4 December 2013. Jump up ^ Neva Makgetla ( 31 March 2010 ). `` Inequality on scale found in SA bites like acid ''. Business Day. South Africa. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` Black middle class boosts car sales in South Africa -- Business -- Mail & Guardian Online ''. Mail & Guardian. 15 January 2006. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Economic Assessment of South Africa 2008 ''. OECD. Archived from the original on 23 April 2009. Jump up ^ Collier, P. ( 3 December 2004 ). `` World Bank, IMF study 2004 ''. Journal of African Economies. 13 : ii15 -- ii54. CiteSeerX 10.1. 1.203. 2508. doi : 10.1093 / jae / ejh042. Retrieved 30 May 2010. Jump up ^ `` Health Personnel in Southern Africa : Confronting maldistribution and brain drain '' ( PDF ). Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 30 May 2010. Jump up ^ Haroon Bhorat ; et al. ( 2002 ). `` Skilled Labour Migration from Developing Countries : Study on South and Southern Africa '' ( PDF ). International Labour Office. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` South Africa 's brain - drain generation returning home ''. CNN World. 22 April 2009. Archived from the original on 16 December 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2011. Jump up ^ `` South Africa 's brain drain reversing ''. Times Live. Retrieved 4 June 2011. Jump up ^ `` Graduates confident about SA ''. Times Live. Retrieved 4 June 2011. Jump up ^ Solomon, Hussein ( 1996 ). `` Strategic Perspectives on Illegal Immigration into South Africa ''. African Security Review. 5 ( 4 ) : 3. doi : 10.1080 / 10246029.1996. 9627681. Archived from the original on 19 October 2005. Jump up ^ Mattes, Robert ; Crush, Jonathan & Richmond, Wayne. `` The Brain Gain : Skilled Migrants and Immigration Policy in Post-Apartheid South Africa ''. Southern African Migration Project, Queens College, Canada. Archived from the original on 25 November 2005. Jump up ^ `` SKA announces Founding Board and selects Jodrell Bank Observatory to host Project Office ''. SKA 2011. 2 April 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2011. Jump up ^ `` Africa and Australasia to share Square Kilometre Array ''. BBC. 25 May 2012. ^ Jump up to : WHO / UNICEF : Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation : Data table South Africa Archived 9 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine., 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2012 Jump up ^ `` Professor Says Cape Town Crisis Should Serve as a ' Wakeup Call to All Major U.S. Cities ' ''. www.newswise.com. Retrieved 2018 - 06 - 14. ^ Jump up to : https://theconversation.com/why-cape-towns-drought-was-so-hard-to-forecast-84735 Jump up ^ `` The 11 cities most likely to run out of drinking water - like Cape Town '' 11 February 2018. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-42982959. Jump up ^ `` World Population Prospects : The 2017 Revision ''. ESA.UN.org ( custom data acquired via website ). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 10 September 2017. Jump up ^ `` Community Survey 2016 ''. Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 2 May 2018. Jump up ^ `` Anti-immigrant violence spreads in South Africa, with attacks reported in Cape Town -- The New York Times ''. International Herald Tribune. 23 May 2008. Archived from the original on 21 February 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Escape From Mugabe : Zimbabwe 's Exodus ''. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Jump up ^ `` More illegals set to flood SA ''. Fin24. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` South African mob kills migrants ''. BBC. 12 May 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2008. Jump up ^ Barry Bearak ( 23 May 2008 ). `` Immigrants Fleeing Fury of South African Mobs ''. The New York Times. Retrieved 5 August 2008. Jump up ^ Lehohla, Pali ( 5 May 2005 ). `` Debate over race and censuses not peculiar to SA ''. Business Report. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2013. Others pointed out that the repeal of the Population Registration Act in 1991 removed any legal basis for specifying ' race '. The Identification Act of 1997 makes no mention of race. On the other hand, the Employment Equity Act speaks of ' designated groups ' being ' black people, women and people with disabilities '. The Act defines ' black ' as referring to ' Africans, coloureds and Indians '. Apartheid and the racial identification which underpinned it explicitly linked race with differential access to resources and power. If the post-apartheid order was committed to remedying this, race would have to be included in surveys and censuses, so that progress in eradicating the consequences of apartheid could be measured and monitored. This was the reasoning that led to a ' self - identifying ' question about ' race ' or ' population group ' in both the 1996 and 2001 population censuses, and in Statistics SA 's household survey programme. Jump up ^ Study Commission on U.S. Policy toward Southern Africa ( U.S. ) ( 1981 ). South Africa : time running out : the report of the Study Commission on U.S. Policy Toward Southern Africa. University of California Press. p. 42. ISBN 978 - 0 - 520 - 04547 - 7. ^ Jump up to : `` World Refugee Survey 2008 ''. U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. 19 June 2008. Archived from the original on 19 October 2014. Jump up ^ `` Constitution of South Africa, Chapter 1, Section 6 ''. Fs.gov.za. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved 30 May 2010. Jump up ^ `` The languages of South Africa ''. SouthAfrica.info. 4 February 1997. Archived from the original on 4 March 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2010. CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown ( link ) Jump up ^ `` Community Survey 2016 : Provinces at a Glance '' ( PDF ). Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 28 April 2018. Jump up ^ `` Religions in South Africa - PEW - GRF ''. www.globalreligiousfutures.org. ^ Jump up to : `` South Africa -- Section I. Religious Demography ''. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 15 July 2006. Jump up ^ Wessel Bentley ; Dion Angus Forster ( 2008 ). `` God 's mission in our context, healing and transforming responses ''. Methodism in Southern Africa : A Celebration of Wesleyan Mission. AcadSA. pp. 97 -- 98. ISBN 978 - 1 - 920212 - 29 - 2. Jump up ^ van Wyk, Ben - Erik and van Oudtshoorn, Gericke N ( 1999 ). Medicinal Plants of South Africa. Pretoria : Briza Publications. p. 10. ISBN 978 - 1 - 875093 - 37 - 3. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ `` South Africa ''. State.gov. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 30 October 2011. ^ Jump up to : `` In South Africa, many blacks convert to Islam / The Christian Science Monitor ''. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Muslims say their faith growing fast in Africa ''. Religionnewsblog.com. Retrieved 7 November 2010. Jump up ^ Rebecca Weiner, Rebecca Weiner, ed. ( 2010 ), South African Jewish History and Information ( PDF ), Jewish Virtual Library, retrieved 13 August 2010 Jump up ^ `` Black middle class explodes ''. FIN24. 22 May 2007. Archived from the original on 22 August 2007. Jump up ^ Radford, Tim ( 16 April 2004 ). `` World 's Oldest Jewellery Found in Cave ''. London : Buzzle.com. Retrieved 16 April 2011. Jump up ^ `` The Nobel Prize in Literature : John Maxwell Coetzee ''. Swedish Academy. 2 October 2003. Retrieved 2 August 2009. Jump up ^ `` South African music after Apartheid : kwaito, the `` party politic, '' and the appropriation of gold as a sign of success ``. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` South African Wine Guide : Stellenbosch, Constantia, Walker Bay and more ''. Thewinedoctor.com. Retrieved 30 October 2011. Jump up ^ `` Sport in South Africa ''. SouthAfrica.info. Archived from the original on 29 June 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2010. Jump up ^ Cooper, Billy ( 12 July 2010 ). `` South Africa gets 9 / 10 for World Cup ''. Mail & Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 9 September 2010. Jump up ^ `` National adult literacy rates ( 15 + ), youth literacy rates ( 15 -- 24 ) and elderly literacy rates ( 65 + ) ''. UNESCO Institute for Statistics. ^ Jump up to : `` A parent 's guide to schooling ''. Retrieved 31 August 2010. Jump up ^ `` Education in South Africa ''. SouthAfrica.info. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2010. Jump up ^ `` Bantu Education ''. Overcoming Apartheid. Retrieved 20 June 2010. Jump up ^ Cele, S'thembile ; Masondo, Sipho ( 18 January 2015 ). `` Shocking cost of SA 's universities ''. fin24.com. City Press. Retrieved 19 January 2015. Jump up ^ `` Human Development Report 2009 -- South Africa ''. Hdrstats.undp.org. Archived from the original on 15 April 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010. Jump up ^ Peoples Budget Coalition Comments on the 2011 / 12 Budget Archived 16 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine. ^ Jump up to : `` ' Clinic - in - a-Box ' seeks to improve South African healthcare ''. SmartPlanet. Archived from the original on 30 July 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` South Africa ''. ICAP at Columbia University. Retrieved 25 August 2013. ^ Jump up to : `` Motsoaledi to reform private health care ''. Financial Mail. Retrieved 25 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` What does the demand for healthcare look like in SA ? '' ( PDF ). Mediclinic Southern Africa. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2013. Jump up ^ `` The Biggest Hospitals in the World ''. 2 January 2013. Jump up ^ `` HIV and AIDS estimates ( 2015 ) ''. Jump up ^ `` South Africa HIV & AIDS Statistics ''. AVERT.org. Retrieved 6 May 2013. ^ Jump up to : `` AIDS orphans ''. Avert. Retrieved 8 October 2006. Jump up ^ `` Sack SA Health Minister -- world 's AIDS experts ''. afrol News. Retrieved 8 October 2006. Jump up ^ `` Situation Analysis. HIV & AIDS and STI Strategic Plan 2007 -- 2011 '' ( PDF ). info.gov.za. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on 30 May 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2013. Jump up ^ `` Zuma announces AIDS reforms ''. UNPAN. Retrieved 9 March 2010. Jump up ^ https://theconversation.com/south-africa-has-excelled-in-treating-hiv-prevention-remains-a-disaster-51501 Further reading A History of South Africa, Third Edition. Leonard Thompson. Yale University Press. 1 March 2001. 384 pages. ISBN 0 - 300 - 08776 - 4. Economic Analysis and Policy Formulation for Post-Apartheid South Africa : Mission Report, Aug. 1991. International Development Research Centre. IDRC Canada, 1991. vi, 46 p. Without ISBN Emerging Johannesburg : Perspectives on the Postapartheid City. Richard Tomlinson, et al. 1 January 2003. 336 pages. ISBN 0 - 415 - 93559 - 8. Making of Modern South Africa : Conquest, Segregation and Apartheid. Nigel Worden. 1 July 2000. 194 pages. ISBN 0 - 631 - 21661 - 8. South Africa : A Narrative History. Frank Welsh. Kodansha America. 1 February 1999. 606 pages. ISBN 1 - 56836 - 258 - 7. South Africa in Contemporary Times. Godfrey Mwakikagile. New Africa Press. February 2008. 260 pages. ISBN 978 - 0 - 9802587 - 3 - 8. The Atlas of Changing South Africa. A.J. Christopher. 1 October 2000. 216 pages. ISBN 0 - 415 - 21178 - 6. The Politics of the New South Africa. Heather Deegan. 28 December 2000. 256 pages. ISBN 0 - 582 - 38227 - 0. Twentieth - Century South Africa. William Beinart Oxford University Press 2001, 414 pages, ISBN 0 - 19 - 289318 - 1 External links Find more aboutSouth Africaat Wikipedia 's sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary Media from Wikimedia Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Textbooks from Wikibooks Travel guide from Wikivoyage Learning resources from Wikiversity Government of South Africa `` South Africa ''. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. South Africa from UCB Libraries GovPubs South Africa from the BBC News Wikimedia Atlas of South Africa South Africa articles History Timeline ( nl ) Years Early history Cape Colony Orange Free State Transvaal First Boer War Second Boer War Great Depression World War II Apartheid Border War Since 1994 By topic Economy Military Geography Districts Earthquakes Estuaries Forests Islands Lakes Mountain ranges Municipalities National parks Populated places Provinces Rivers Wildlife Politics Constitution Courts Elections Foreign relations Government Human rights Law Parliament Political parties President State security and intelligence Minister Co-ordinating committee ( NICC ) Intelligence agency ( NIA ) Communications centre ( NCC ) Communications security ( COMSEC ) Secret Service ( SASS ) Intelligence academy ( SANAI ) Law enforcement Department of Police Police Service Criminal intelligence ( SAPS ) Special Task Force National Intervention Unit NFDD Municipal Police Independent Complaints Directorate Department of Correctional Services Biometrics use Military Department of Defence Defence Force Air Force Army Navy Military Health Service Special Forces Commando System Intelligence Economy Agriculture Communications Economic history Energy Foreign trade Mining industry Rand ( currency ) Stock exchange Taxation Tourism Trade unions Transportation Water and sanitation Society Crime Education Feminism Health Healthcare Immigration Intersex Languages LGBT Racism Religion Sexual violence Social movements Xenophobia Culture Architecture Art Cinema Cuisine Flag HIV / AIDS Homelessness Literature Media Music Public holidays Sports Demographics Asian Indian Chinese Bantu Ndebele Pedi Sotho Swazi Tsonga Tswana Venda Xhosa Zulu Coloured Cape Coloured Cape Malay Griqua Khoisan White Afrikaner British Outline Index Category Portal Countries and territories of Africa Sovereign states entirely / mostly in Africa Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea - Bissau Ivory Coast ( Côte d'Ivoire ) Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe partly in Africa France Mayotte Réunion Italy Pantelleria Pelagie Islands Portugal Madeira Spain Canary Islands Ceuta Melilla Plazas de soberanía Yemen Socotra Territories and dependencies Îles Éparses France Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha UK Southern Provinces ( Western Sahara ) States with limited recognition Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland Unclear sovereignty. Links to related articles Group of Eight ( G8 ) and Group of Eight + Five ( G8 + 5 ) G8 members Canada France Germany Italy Japan Russia ( suspended ) United Kingdom United States Representative European Union G8 + 5 Brazil China India Mexico South Africa See also Group of Six Group of Seven G7 + 1 G20 major economies Argentina Australia Brazil Canada China European Union France Germany India Indonesia Italy Japan Mexico Russia Saudi Arabia South Africa Republic of Korea Turkey United Kingdom United States BRICS Membership Brazil Russia India China South Africa Summits Yekaterinburg 2009 Brasília 2010 Sanya 2011 New Delhi 2012 Durban 2013 Fortaleza 2014 Ufa 2015 Goa 2016 Xiamen 2017 Johannesburg 2018 Brazil 2019 Chelyabinsk 2020 Bilateral relations Brazil -- China Brazil -- India Brazil -- Russia Brazil -- South Africa China -- India China -- Russia China -- South Africa India -- Russia India -- South Africa Russia -- South Africa Leaders Temer Putin Modi Xi Ramaphosa Related New Development Bank BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement BRICS Leaders BRICS Cable BRICS Universities League BRICS U-17 Football Cup 2016 Goa World Trade Organization System Accession and membership Appellate Body Dispute Settlement Body International Trade Centre Chronology of key events Issues Criticism Doha Development Round Singapore issues Quota Elimination Peace Clause Agreements General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade Agriculture Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Technical Barriers to Trade Trade Related Investment Measures Trade in Services Trade - Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Government Procurement Information Technology Marrakech Agreement Doha Declaration Bali Package Ministerial Conferences 1st ( 1996 ) 2nd ( 1998 ) 3rd ( 1999 ) 4th ( 2001 ) 5th ( 2003 ) 6th ( 2005 ) 7th ( 2009 ) 8th ( 2011 ) 9th ( 2013 ) 10th ( 2015 ) 11th ( 2017 ) People Roberto Azevêdo ( Director - General ) Pascal Lamy Supachai Panitchpakdi Alejandro Jara Rufus Yerxa Members Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belize Benin Bolivia Botswana Brazil Brunei Burkina Faso Burma Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Cuba Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Fiji Gabon The Gambia Georgia Ghana Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea - Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Iceland India Indonesia Israel Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nepal New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Qatar Russia Rwanda St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Saudi Arabia Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands South Africa Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Switzerland Tajikistan Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United States Uruguay Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe European Union Austria Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom Special administrative regions of the People 's Republic of China, participates as `` Hong Kong, China '' and `` Macao China ''. Officially the Republic of China, participates as `` Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu '', and `` Chinese Taipei '' in short. Southern African Development Community ( SADC ) Member states Angola Botswana Democratic Republic of the Congo Lesotho Madagascar Malawi Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Seychelles South Africa Swaziland Tanzania Zambia Zimbabwe Leaders Chairpersons Levy Mwanawasa Kgalema Motlanthe Secretaries - General Kaire Mbuende Prega Ramsamy Tomaz Salomão See also Southern African Development Coordination Conference ( forerunner ) Southern African Customs Union ( SACU ) Common Monetary Area ( CMA ) Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa ( COMESA ) African Union ( AU ) History Pan-Africanism Casablanca Group Monrovia Group Abuja Treaty Sirte Declaration Lome Summit Organisation of African Unity Chairperson Secretary General Geography Borders Extreme points Member states Regions Organs Executive Council Permanent Representatives ' Committee Specialized Technical Committees Assembly Chairperson Commission Chairperson Deputy Chairperson AUCC Pan-African Parliament Bureau Secretariat Gallagher Estate African Court of Justice African Court on Human and Peoples ' Rights ECOSOCC Committees Peace and Security Political Affairs Infrastructure and Energy Social Affairs and Health HR, Sciences and Technology Trade and Industry Rural Economy and Agriculture Economic Affairs Women and Gender Cross-Cutting Programs Financial Institutions AFRA Commission African Central Bank African Monetary Fund African Investment Bank Peace and Security Council ACIRC African Standby Force Panel of the Wise UNAMID AMIB AMIS AMISOM MISCA Politics APRM Foreign relations African Charter on Human and Peoples ' Rights African Commission on Human and Peoples ' Rights Enlargement Symbols Anthem Emblem Flag Economy Currencies Development Bank African Economic Community NEPAD African Continental Free Trade Area Single African Air Transport Market Culture Africa Day Languages Theory Afro United States of Africa United States of Latin Africa Category Countries and territories bordering the Indian Ocean Africa Comoros Djibouti Egypt Eritrea France Mayotte Réunion Kenya Madagascar Mauritius Mozambique Rodrigues ( Mauritius ) Seychelles Somalia South Africa Sudan Tanzania Zanzibar, Tanzania Asia Bangladesh British Indian Ocean Territory Chagos Archipelago - United Kingdom Christmas Island ( Australia ) Cocos ( Keeling ) Islands ( Australia ) India Indonesia Malaysia Maldives Myanmar Oman Pakistan Sri Lanka Thailand Timor - Leste Yemen Other Antarctica Australian Antarctic Territory French Southern and Antarctic Lands Heard Island and McDonald Islands Australia Peri-Antarctic countries and overseas territories Argentina Australia Heard Island and McDonald Islands Macquarie Island Bouvet Island Chile Falkland Islands French Southern and Antarctic Lands Kerguelen Islands New Zealand New Zealand Subantarctic Islands South Africa Prince Edward Islands South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands `` Peri-Antarctic '' ( meaning `` close to the Antarctic '' ) does not include territorial claims in Antarctica itself. Members of the Commonwealth of Nations Sovereign states ( Members ) Antigua and Barbuda Australia Bahamas Bangladesh Barbados Belize Botswana Brunei Cameroon Canada Cyprus Dominica Fiji Ghana Grenada Guyana India Jamaica Kenya Kiribati Lesotho Malawi Malaysia Malta Mauritius Mozambique Namibia Nauru New Zealand Nigeria Pakistan Papua New Guinea Rwanda St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Solomon Islands South Africa Sri Lanka Swaziland Tanzania The Gambia Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tuvalu Uganda United Kingdom Vanuatu Zambia Dependencies of Members Australia Ashmore and Cartier Islands Australian Antarctic Territory Christmas Island Cocos ( Keeling ) Islands Coral Sea Islands Heard Island and McDonald Islands Norfolk Island New Zealand Cook Islands Niue Ross Dependency Tokelau United Kingdom Akrotiri and Dhekelia Anguilla Bermuda British Antarctic Territory British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Falkland Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Montserrat Pitcairn Islands St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Turks and Caicos Islands Source : Commonwealth Secretariat - Member States English - speaking world Click on a coloured area to see an article about English in that country or region Further links Articles English - speaking world History of the English language British Empire English in the Commonwealth of Nations Anglosphere Lists List of countries by English - speaking population List of countries where English is an official language Countries and territories where English is the national language or the native language of the majority Africa Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha Americas Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda The Bahamas Barbados Belize Bermuda British Virgin Islands Canada Cayman Islands Dominica Falkland Islands Grenada Guyana Jamaica Montserrat Saba Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands United States United States Virgin Islands Europe Guernsey Ireland Isle of Man Jersey United Kingdom Oceania Australia New Zealand Norfolk Island Pitcairn Islands Countries and territories where English is an official language, but not the majority first language Africa Botswana Cameroon The Gambia Ghana Kenya Lesotho Liberia Malawi Mauritius Namibia Nigeria Rwanda Sierra Leone Somaliland South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe Americas Puerto Rico Asia Christmas Island Cocos ( Keeling ) Islands Hong Kong Special Administrative Region India Pakistan Philippines Singapore Europe Gibraltar Akrotiri and Dhekelia Malta Oceania American Samoa Cook Islands Fiji Guam Kiribati Marshall Islands Micronesia Nauru Niue Northern Mariana Islands Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tokelau Tuvalu Vanuatu Dependencies shown in italics. Coordinates : 30 ° S 25 ° E ﻿ / ﻿ 30 ° S 25 ° E ﻿ / - 30 ; 25 BNF : cb11993638s ( data ) GND : 4078012 - 0 HDS : 3467 ISNI : 0000 0001 2167 3042 LCCN : n79023005 NARA : 10035829 NDL : 00567657 NLA : 35513495 SUDOC : 028016009 VIAF : 159069376 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=South_Africa&oldid=854754127 '' Categories : South Africa Afrikaans - speaking countries and territories Bantu countries and territories BRICS nations Commonwealth republics Countries in Africa English - speaking countries and territories G20 nations Member states of the African Union Member states of the Commonwealth of Nations Member states of the United Nations Southern African countries States and territories established in 1910 Hidden categories : CS1 errors : external links CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica with Wikisource reference CS1 : Julian -- Gregorian uncertainty CS1 maint : BOT : original - url status unknown Webarchive template wayback links Articles with short description Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism Wikipedia indefinitely move - protected pages Use dmy dates from March 2017 Use South African English from September 2013 All Wikipedia articles written in South African English Articles containing Zulu - language text Articles containing Xhosa - language text Articles containing Afrikaans - language text Articles containing Northern Sotho - language text Articles containing Tswana - language text Articles containing Sotho - language text Articles containing Tsonga - language text Articles containing Swazi - language text Articles containing Venda - language text Articles containing Southern Ndebele - language text Pages using infobox country with unknown parameters Pages using infobox country or infobox former country with the symbol caption or type parameters All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November 2017 All articles that may contain original research Articles that may contain original research from July 2018 Articles with unsourced statements from July 2013 Articles with unsourced statements from July 2018 All articles with failed verification Articles with failed verification from October 2011 Wikipedia articles needing clarification from October 2011 Pages using columns with the default column width Wikipedia articles in need of updating from July 2018 All Wikipedia articles in need of updating Interlanguage link template link number Use South African English from July 2013 Coordinates on Wikidata Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with HDS identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with NARA identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Wikipedia articles with NLA identifiers Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk View source Contents About Wikipedia Wikinews Wikiquote Wikivoyage Languages Acèh Адыгэбзэ Адыгабзэ Afrikaans Akan Alemannisch አማርኛ Ænglisc Aragonés Arpetan Asturianu Avañe'ẽ Azərbaycanca تۆرکجه Bamanankan বাংলা Bahasa Banjar Bân - lâm - gú Башҡортса Беларуская Беларуская ( тарашкевіца ) ‎ भोजपुरी Bikol Central Български Boarisch བོད ་ ཡིག Bosanski Brezhoneg Буряад Català Чӑвашла Cebuano Čeština Chavacano de Zamboanga Chi - Chewa ChiShona Cymraeg Dansk Davvisámegiella Deitsch Deutsch ދިވެހިބަސް Diné bizaad Dolnoserbski ཇོང ་ ཁ Eesti Ελληνικά Emiliàn e rumagnòl Español Esperanto Estremeñu Euskara Eʋegbe فارسی Fiji Hindi Føroyskt Français Frysk Gaeilge Gaelg Gagauz Gàidhlig Galego 贛 語 Gĩkũyũ ગુજરાતી गोंयची कोंकणी / Gõychi Konknni 客家 語 / Hak - kâ - ngî Хальмг 한국어 Hausa Հայերեն हिन्दी Hornjoserbsce Hrvatski Ido Igbo Ilokano বিষ্ণুপ্রিয়া মণিপুরী Bahasa Indonesia Interlingua Interlingue Ирон IsiXhosa IsiZulu Íslenska Italiano עברית Basa Jawa ಕನ್ನಡ Kapampangan Къарачай - малкъар ქართული कॉशुर / کٲشُر Қазақша Kernowek Kinyarwanda Kiswahili Коми Kongo Kreyòl ayisyen Kurdî Кыргызча Ladino Лезги لۊری شومالی Latgaļu Latina Latviešu Lëtzebuergesch Lietuvių Ligure Limburgs Lingála Livvinkarjala La. lojban. Luganda Lumbaart Magyar मैथिली Македонски Malagasy മലയാളം Malti Māori मराठी მარგალური مصرى مازِرونی Bahasa Melayu Baso Minangkabau Mìng - dĕ̤ng - ngṳ̄ Mirandés Мокшень Монгол မြန်မာဘာသာ Nāhuatl Dorerin Naoero Nederlands Nedersaksies नेपाली नेपाल भाषा 日本 語 Нохчийн Nordfriisk Norfuk / Pitkern Norsk Norsk nynorsk Nouormand Novial Occitan ଓଡ଼ିଆ Oromoo Oʻzbekcha / ўзбекча ਪੰਜਾਬੀ पालि پنجابی Papiamentu پښتو Patois ភាសា ខ្មែរ Piemontèis Tok Pisin Plattdüütsch Polski Português Qaraqalpaqsha Qırımtatarca Reo tahiti Ripoarisch Română Rumantsch Runa Simi Русиньскый Русский Саха тыла ᱥᱟᱱᱛᱟᱲᱤ संस्कृतम् Sängö Sardu Scots Seeltersk Sesotho Sesotho sa Leboa Setswana Shqip Sicilianu Simple English سنڌي SiSwati Slovenčina Slovenščina Ślůnski Soomaaliga کوردی Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Basa Sunda Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் Taqbaylit Tarandíne Татарча / tatarça తెలుగు ไทย ትግርኛ Тоҷикӣ ᏣᎳᎩ Tsetsêhestâhese Tshivenda ತುಳು Türkçe Türkmençe Українська اردو ئۇيغۇرچە / Uyghurche Vahcuengh Vèneto Vepsän kel ' Tiếng Việt Volapük Võro Walon 文言 West - Vlams Winaray Wolof 吴语 Xitsonga ייִדיש Yorùbá 粵語 Zazaki Zeêuws Žemaitėška 中文 डोटेली Bahasa Hulontalo ГӀалгӀай Kabɩyɛ Lingua Franca Nova 235 more Edit links This page was last edited on 13 August 2018, at 15 : 09 ( UTC ). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: where is south africa located in the world
Answer: the southernmost country in Africa