South Africa

 

Good morning all it is a much cooler day here in my part of the world, this week we are looking at another African country but this one you should all have heard of it is South Africa.

It is on the southernmost tip of the African continent, it is known for its great diversity in cultures, languages, religious beliefs and ethnic groups.

When we think of the capital most of us would say Cape Town but in fact, South Africa has three capitals as each branch of government has its own capital city. The administrative capital of South Africa is Pretoria, the legislative capital is Cape Town, and the judicial capital is Bloemfontein.

Why is this well in 1910, when the Union of South Africa was formed, there was a great dispute about the location of the new country's capital city. A compromise was reached to spread a balance of power throughout the country, and this led to the three capitals of South Africa.

The population is around 63 million, with Black South Africans as the majority, with around 80% the rest is made up of coloured South Africans at around 8%, Indian or Asian South Africans at around 2.6% and  White South Africans being around 8%.

The country has nine provinces:

• The Eastern Cape
• The Free State
• Gauteng
• KwaZulu-Natal
• Limpopo
• Mpumalanga
• The Northern Cape
• North West
• The Western Cape 

Each province has its own government, including a premier, legislature, and executive council. The provinces also have their own distinct landscapes, populations, economies, and climates. 

South Africa's provinces were increased from four to nine in the lead-up to the 1994 general election.

This was done by reintegrating the country's former homelands, known as Bantustans, into the country. 

The flag is a horizontal bicolour of red and blue with a green band in the middle that splits into a "Y" shape. The flag also features a black triangle on the hoist side, with narrow yellow or gold bands separating the triangle from the arms of the "Y".

The flag was adopted in 1994 after the end of Apartheid to represent the country's new democracy.

The country has a diverse religious population, with Christianity being the most widely practice with around 85% of the population being Christian. The largest group of Christian churches are the African Independent Churches, which include the Zion Christian Church and the Apostolic Church. 

Around 7% of the population practices Indigenous beliefs. Many Indigenous people combine Christian and Indigenous religious practices. 

It is believed that about 6% of the population is atheist or agnostic. 

There is also Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism practiced in the country.

South Africa is a secular state with a constitution that guarantees freedom of religion. The state's relationship with religion is more moderate and tolerant, allowing for voluntary religious observances within state institutions.

Like many African countries South Africa isn’t considered a safe country to visit due to crime, civil unrest, and kidnapping. Violent crime is common and includes armed robbery, rape, carjacking, and mugging. There are also "smash-and-grab" attacks on vehicles. It is the 20^th worst country in regards of safety and security.

Many would know of Apartheid which was in South Africa from 1948 to 1994 and was the racial segregation under the all-white government of South Africa which dictated that non-white South Africans (a majority of the population) were required to live in separate areas from whites and use separate public facilities and contact between the two groups would be limited. The different racial group were physically separated according to their location, public facilities and social life.

In 1948, after the National Party won that year’s elections, Apartheid became a social project of the government based on a series of laws which made it legal.

There are at least thirty-five languages are spoken in the country with twelve of them being regarded as official languages, they are Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, English and South African Sign Language.

English is the primary language used in parliamentary and state discourse, though all official languages are equal in legal status.

 

The South African Rand  is the currency of South Africa and is issued by the South African Reserve Bank. The South African rand has the symbol R. It is subdivided into 100 cents. The name is derived from the word 'Witwatersrand', which means 'ridge of white waters'.