I | INTRODUCTION |
South
Africa, southernmost country in Africa, a land of diversity and division
in its geography, people, and political history. Physically, tall mountain
ranges separate fertile coastal plains from high interior plateaus. The
grassland and desert of the plateaus hide pockets of amazing mineral wealth,
particularly in gold and diamonds.
Black Africans comprise more than three
quarters of South Africa’s population, and whites, Coloureds (people of mixed
race), and Asians (mainly Indians) make up the remainder. Among the black
population there are numerous ethnic groups and 11 official languages. Until the
1990s, whites dominated the nonwhite majority population under the political
system of racial segregation known as apartheid. Apartheid ended in the early
1990s, but South Africa is still recovering from the racial inequalities in
political power, opportunity, and lifestyle. The end of apartheid led to a total
reorganization of the government, which since 1994 has been a nonracial
democracy based on majority rule.
South Africa is bordered on the north by
Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; on the east by Mozambique, Swaziland, and the
Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The nation of Lesotho forms
an enclave in the eastern part of the country.
The country is divided into nine provinces.
These provinces are Gauteng, Limpopo Province (formerly Northern Province),
Mpumalanga, North-West Province, Free State, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape,
Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal. The country has three capitals: Cape Town is
the legislative capital; Pretoria, the executive capital; and Bloemfontein, the
judicial capital.
II | LAND AND RESOURCES |
South Africa stretches for some 1,500 km (900
mi) from east to west and 1,000 km (600 mi) from north to south. It has an area
of 1,219,090 sq km (470,693 sq mi). A mountainous ridge called the Great
Escarpment forms a boundary between the interior plateaus and the coastal
regions.
A | Natural Regions |
The interior plateaus occupy about
two-thirds of South Africa, reaching their greatest height in the southeastern
Drakensberg Mountains, part of the Great Escarpment. Njesuthi, a peak of the
Drakensberg, is the highest point in the country at 3,446 m (11,306 ft). The
plateau region consists of three main areas: the High Veld, the Middle Veld, and
the Bush Veld. The High Veld, the largest of the three areas, is the southern
continuation of the great African plateau that stretches north to the Sahara. In
South Africa it ranges in elevation from about 1,200 to 1,800 m (about 4,000 to
6,000 ft) and is characterized by level or gently sloping terrain. Land use
varies from cattle grazing in the west to mixed farming (both crops and
livestock) in the center to growing grain, especially maize (corn), in the east.
The northern boundary of the High Veld is marked by the gold-bearing reef of the
Witwatersrand, which became the industrial heartland of South Africa in the 20th
century.
West of the High Veld is the Middle Veld,
which lies mainly at an elevation of 600 to 1,200 m (2,000 to 4,000 ft). The
Middle Veld is part of the larger Kalahari Basin that extends north to Botswana
and Namibia and contains the southernmost portion of the Kalahari Desert.
Surface water is rare in the Middle Veld because the soils, which consist
largely of unconsolidated sand, quickly absorb rainfall. Plant life in this arid
place is limited to drought-resistant grasses, bushes, and shrubs. Much of the
area is used for sheep grazing. North of the High Veld is the Bush Veld (also
called the Transvaal Basin). This region averages less than 1,200 m (4,000 ft)
in elevation. It is broken into basins by rock ridges, and slopes downward from
the Transvaal Drakensberg in the east to the Limpopo River in the west. The Bush
Veld receives more rain than the High Veld or Middle Veld and includes large
areas of intensive cultivation as well as mixed-farming and cattle-grazing
districts.
Between the edge of the high central
plateau region and the eastern and southern coastline the land descends in a
series of abrupt steps. In the east an interior belt of hill country gives way
to a low-lying plain known as the Eastern Low Veld. In the south, two plateaus,
the Great, or Central, Karoo and the Little, or Southern, Karoo, are situated
above the coastal plain. The plateau of the Great Karoo is separated from the
lower Little Karoo by the Swartberg mountain range. A second range, the
Langeberg, separates the Little Karoo from the coastal plain. Both the plateaus
and the coastal plain are areas of mixed farming.
The southwestern edge of the central
plateau region is marked by irregular ranges of folded mountains which descend
abruptly to a narrow coastal plain, broken by the isolated peak of Table
Mountain. The lower parts of this southwestern region are the centers of wine
and fruit industries.
B | Rivers and Lakes |
The chief rivers are the Orange, Vaal, and
Limpopo. The Orange is the longest, stretching about 2,100 km (about 1,300 mi).
It rises in Lesotho, where it is called the Senqu, and flows northwestward to
the Atlantic Ocean, forming the boundary with Namibia along the river’s
westernmost section. The Vaal rises in the northeast, near Swaziland, and flows
southwestward to its confluence with the Orange. The Limpopo rises further
north, flowing northeastward to the Botswana border and then eastward along the
Botswana and Zimbabwe borders until it enters Mozambique, where it empties into
the Indian Ocean. Many shorter rivers flow south to the Indian Ocean, including
the Sundays (Sondags), Great Fish, and Kei in the Eastern Cape, and the Thukela
(Tugela) in KwaZulu-Natal.
Most of South Africa’s rivers are
irregular in flow and are dry during much of the year. Consequently, they are of
little use for navigation or hydroelectric power, but of some use for irrigation
and water supply. The Orange River Project, begun in 1962, transfers water from
the Orange River to the Great Fish and Sundays river basins. In the late 1970s,
water began to be pumped from the Thukela to the Vaal to meet the growing needs
of the Witwatersrand industrial region. This is supplemented by the major
Lesotho Highlands Water Project, begun in 1986, which diverts water from the
Senqu and other rivers. With the exception of Fundudzi Lake, which was formed by
a huge landslide in the northeastern Soutpansberg Range, South Africa’s only
notable lakes are artificial, and include those created by the Vaal Dam and
Gariep Dam on the Orange River.
C | Coastline |
South Africa’s 2,798 km (1,739 mi) of
coastline has few bays or coves and only one good natural harbor, at Saldanha
Bay in the southwest, which is used mainly for the export of iron ore. Other
ports are essentially artificial, including Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth,
and Richard’s Bay. The most distinctive promontory on the coast is Cape
Peninsula in southwestern South Africa, which ends at the Cape of Good Hope.
Coral reefs fringe parts of the eastern coast.
D | Geology and Soils |
Underlying the plateaus is a great complex
of crystalline rocks. These rocks were worn down over millions of years to form
an almost level surface and are covered in places by thick layers of sandstone
and shale. The layers are nearly horizontal except in the southwest, where
extensive folding has formed irregular hills and mountains. In the Witwatersrand
and the Middle Veld the underlying bedrock is exposed.
The major soil zones are conditioned
largely by climatic factors. In the semiarid north and west, soils are alkaline
and poorly developed. In the southern part of Western Cape Province, rain falls
mostly in the winter months, and soils there form slowly and are generally thin
and immature. The moderate temperatures and summer rainfall of the High Veld and
eastern coastal areas create conditions for more productive organic
decomposition, leading to dark, fertile soils, or chernozems, similar to those
of the North American prairies. Further north and northeast, where temperatures
are high and summer rainfall is relatively heavy, soils are reddish, contain
aluminum and iron compounds, and are less fertile.
E | Plant and Animal Life |
South Africa has remarkably diverse plant
life for a country of its size, comprising thousands of different species, many
of them native. Grasslands cover most of the plateau areas, resembling a prairie
on the nearly treeless High Veld. The Bush Veld is characterized by savanna
vegetation, consisting of mixed grassland with trees and bushes such as the
baobab tree in Limpopo Province and the mopani tree in the central Bush Veld. On
the Great Karoo and Little Karoo, the grasslands are sparse. Vegetation consists
of coarse desert grasses that grow in tufts and become green only after rain.
The semidesert Northern Cape is transformed after spring rains with blooming
wildflowers in the Namaqualand region.
About 90,000 sq km (about 30,000 sq mi) of
the Cape Peninsula and the southern part of Western Cape Province contain the
distinctive fynbos biome (ecological community). Although relatively small in
area, this region constitutes one of the six recognized floral kingdoms of the
world. It includes 8,500 plant species, of which more than 6,000 are indigenous.
This biome is home to the protea, an evergreen shrub for which South Africa is
renowned.
The only significant forests in South
Africa lie along the coasts of Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces, although
there are patches of protected rain forest in the Eastern Low Veld. Hardwood
species such as yellowwood, ironwood, and lemonwood trees are found in these
areas, but softwoods are scarce; coniferous pines from Europe and North America
have been planted to provide timber and wood pulp.
Numerous large mammals, including lions,
elephants, zebras, leopards, monkeys, baboons, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, and
antelopes, are indigenous to South Africa. For the most part such animals are
found only on game reserves. Much of Kruger National Park, the oldest game
reserve, was a protected area as early as 1898. It covers an area of 19,485 sq
km (7,523 sq mi) along the Mozambique border. Kruger National Park includes
nearly every species of indigenous wildlife and is particularly noted for the
small black rhino population built up by the National Parks Board. Other notable
reserves include Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (shared with Botswana) in the
northwest; Addo Elephant National Park, near Port Elizabeth; and Mountain Zebra
National Park, near Cradock. Bird life is abundant and includes the larger
birds: ostrich, francolin (a type of partridge), quail, guinea fowl, and grouse.
Snakes are common in most of the country.
F | Natural Resources |
Only 12 percent of South Africa’s land
area is cultivated and only 8 percent is forested, but the country is rich in
mineral resources. South Africa is the world’s largest producer of gold, with
almost all of it coming from the Witwatersrand. Gold is mined to depths below
3,000 m (10,000 ft), making production expensive. Uranium is also extracted
commercially in the Witwatersrand. Vast, easily worked coal seams occur between
Lesotho and Swaziland, and South Africa has become a leading coal exporter.
Diamonds are another important source of South Africa’s mineral wealth. Most of
South Africa’s diamond fields are located in the Kimberley area of Northern
Cape. South Africa also has large reserves of chromite, vanadium, andalusite,
manganese, platinum, nickel, and fluorite.
G | Climate |
South Africa enjoys a generally warm,
temperate climate. Most of the country experiences light rainfall and long hours
of sunshine.
Rainfall is typically unpredictable.
Prolonged droughts often end with severe floods. Only about one-third of the
country, including the Eastern Low Veld and the Drakensberg, has an annual
rainfall of more than 600 mm (20 in); about half receives from 200 mm to 600 mm
(8 to 20 in), including much of the High Veld, where rainfall diminishes rapidly
from east to west; the remaining area, in the west, is arid, with less than 200
mm (8 in). Rain falls primarily in summer between October and April. In the
drier regions of the plateaus the amount of rainfall and the beginning of the
rainy season vary greatly from year to year. The extreme southwest has a
Mediterranean climate with westerly winds from the Atlantic bringing winter
rainfall mostly between June and September.
Since most of South Africa is at a high
elevation, temperatures tend to be lower than those of other regions at similar
latitudes. There is a striking difference between temperatures on the east and
west coasts. The east coast is influenced by the warm Agulhas Current and the
west coast by the cold Benguela Current. This results in a temperature
difference of 6°C (11°F) in the mean annual temperatures of the city of Durban
on the east coast and Port Nolloth on the west coast, which are at similar
latitudes. Average temperature ranges in January are 21° to 27°C (69° to 81°F)
in Durban, 14° to 26°C (58° to 78°F) in Johannesburg, and 12° to 34°C (54° to
93°F) in Cape Town. In July the temperature ranges are 11° to 22°C (52° to 72°F)
in Durban, 4° to 17°C (39° to 63°F) in Johannesburg, and 4° to 24°C (38° to
76°F) in Cape Town. Snow is rare except in the higher parts of the Drakensberg,
but winter frosts occur on the higher parts of the plateau.
H | Environmental Issues |
South Africa has a mixed environmental
heritage. Its national parks, reserves, and botanical gardens are among the
best-managed conservation areas in the world, but there are serious
environmental problems too. The most serious environmental threats are
uncontrolled livestock grazing, rampant urban development, and surface
disturbance and pollution associated with mining. Many problems originated from
political and socioeconomic policies associated with the apartheid period that
ended in 1994. Apartheid policies forcing black people to live in separate
homelands, called bantustans, led to overpopulation in these areas. Intensive
settlement, livestock grazing, fuelwood cutting, and overfarming on limited
areas of land in turn led to soil erosion, land degradation, deforestation,
desertification, and bush encroachment (proliferation of bush vegetation
of little value for grazing). These problems are prevalent in the Eastern Cape
and KwaZulu-Natal.
Air pollution is significant, due to the
widespread use of open fires for cooking and heating. Carbon dioxide emissions
from power plants are another major cause of air pollution, leading to acid rain
in the High Veld region. Pollution is also severe in Mpumalanga Province, where
the stable character of the atmosphere prevents pollution from dispersing.
Concern for the environment has grown
since the country’s emergence from apartheid, and efforts are under way to save
a number of endangered species, including the black rhinoceros, the pangolin,
and the humpback dolphin. Extensive areas have been reforested to conserve soil.
South Africa’s extensive system of protected areas includes several national
parks as well as hundreds of nature reserves and a number of private game
reserves. Together, these areas protect about 6.1 percent (2007) of the
country’s total land area. The government has actively encouraged the voluntary
participation of private landowners in the protected area system, which
represents an important source of income for the country. In some cases the
government has chosen to raise funds by selling off some of its parks to private
developers.
III | PEOPLE |
The land now known as South Africa was
originally populated by San hunter-gatherers. About 2,000 years ago people in
some of these communities, the Khoikhoi, began raising livestock when they
acquired animals from Bantu-speaking peoples moving southward across the
Limpopo. These Bantu peoples today account for three-quarters of the total
population. White settlement began in 1652 with the arrival of the Dutch, who
gradually spread into the interior as farmers. They lived isolated lives,
developed their own language, called Afrikaans, and increasingly segregated
themselves from indigenous Bantu peoples, whom they encountered in the interior.
French Huguenot and German settlers were later absorbed into this group, known
as Afrikaners.
British settlers arrived beginning in the
early 1800s, and Indians came in the late 19th and early 20th century. The
majority of Indians were brought as indentured laborers to work on the sugar
plantations of Natal. A substantial Portuguese minority developed in the late
20th century. The offspring of whites and slaves imported by the Dutch from
Southeast Asia and other parts of Africa, and later the offspring of whites and
Bantu peoples, created a sizable Coloured, or mixed-race, population.
Under South Africa’s 20th-century policies
of racial segregation, known as apartheid, the black majority population was
forced to live in particular areas, called bantustans. In order to work in urban
areas, some blacks were permitted to live in townships on the fringes of cities.
Bantustans and townships became greatly overpopulated, and were neglected by the
white government. With the end of apartheid in the 1990s, such exclusionary
policies ended and bantustans and townships have been incorporated into
provincial and civic administrations.
A | Demographics |
The estimated total population of South
Africa in 2008 was 43,786,115. The overall population density (2008 estimate) is
36 persons per sq km (93 per sq mi), but this varies widely across the country.
Rural population densities are highest in the former bantustans and much lower
in historically white-populated areas of commercial farming, especially in
semiarid western areas. Some 58 percent of the population is urban, including
most of the whites, Asians, and Coloureds.
The largest cities in South Africa
include Johannesburg (3,225,812, 2001), the commercial capital and metropolis of
the goldfields; Durban (3,090,122), the country’s leading port; Cape Town
(2,893,247), the legislative capital; Pretoria (1,985,983), the administrative
capital; Port Elizabeth (1,005,779), an industrial city and major port; and
Soweto (858,649), a former township outside Johannesburg.
B | Ethnic Groups |
South Africa has a multiracial and
multiethnic population. Blacks constitute 79 percent of the population. The main
black ethnic groups are Zulu, Xhosa, North Sotho, Tswana, South Sotho, and
Tsonga. Whites account for 10 percent of the population: More than half are
Afrikaners, and most of the rest are of British descent. Coloured people account
for 9 percent of the population, and Asians (mainly Indians) 2 percent.
The white, Asian, and Coloured
populations are highly urbanized. The largest concentrations of Asians and
Coloured people are found in KwaZulu-Natal and the three Cape provinces, but
lesser numbers of both groups live in Gauteng. English-speaking whites and
Afrikaners live in all cities, but Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, and
Pietermaritzburg have more English speakers, whereas Afrikaners are predominant
in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and many of the industrial and mining towns on the
Witwatersrand.
More than half of the blacks are
urbanized, mostly living in formal, low-income townships or informal, rapidly
growing settlements. Millions of blacks still live in rural communities in the
ten former bantustans. The black population of Johannesburg and the rest of
Gauteng Province is ethnically mixed, but in other cities one group tends to be
dominant: Zulu in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, Sotho in Bloemfontein, and Xhosa
in Port Elizabeth, East London, and Cape Town.
C | Language |
Until apartheid ended in 1994 only
Afrikaans and English were official languages, although they represent the home
languages of only a fraction of the total population. Afrikaans is spoken not
only by Afrikaners but also by many Coloured people. English is the primary
language of many whites, but also is spoken by most Asians. The 1994
constitution added nine African languages to the list of recognized, official
languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho or Pedi), Tswana,
Sesotho (Southern Sotho), Tsonga, Venda, Ndebele, and siSwati. Some of these
African languages are mutually understood and many blacks can speak two or more
of them, in addition to English and Afrikaans. Together these 11 languages are
the primary languages of 98 percent of South Africans. Many Indians also speak
Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Gujarati, and Urdu.
In practice English and, to a lesser
extent, Afrikaans retain a dominant position, with English as the main medium of
instruction in schools and most universities. Afrikaners attach great value to
their language, however, and struggle to keep it as a medium of instruction and
to resist any threat to undermine its status.
D | Religion |
About 92 percent of South Africans are
Christians, 2 percent are Hindus, and 2 percent are Muslims. Hindus are mainly
Indian, and Muslims either Indian or Coloured. There has been some growth of
Islam among Coloured people in recent years. The Christian churches include over
4,000 African independent churches that collectively claim several million
adherents.
African independent churches originally
broke off from various mission churches, but have since developed their own
momentum. The majority are now Zionist or Apostolic churches, with some
independent branches of the Pentecostal movement. The Zion Christian Church is
by far the largest of these churches; biannual gatherings at Zion City, its
headquarters in Moria near Pietersburg in Limpopo Province, usually attract at
least 1 million members. In rural KwaZulu-Natal there are hundreds of separate
churches, and at least 900 churches flourish in Soweto.
Most Afrikaners belong to one of the
three Dutch Reformed churches, whose members also include about half of the
Coloured people and a small number of blacks. The Nederduitse Gereformeerde
Kerk (Afrikaans for “Dutch Reformed Church”) is the largest of the Dutch
Reformed churches. It was a racially segregated church that supported the state
during the apartheid years, but then recanted and moved closer to other
churches. Other Christian denominations include Roman Catholics, Methodists,
Anglicans, Lutherans, and Presbyterians. The larger churches in this group were
prominent in the struggle against apartheid, at least at the leadership level. A
number of charismatic churches (an interdenominational Christian movement) have
also been established since the late 20th century, including the Rhema Church in
Randburg, Gauteng Province.
Most people who claim no religious
affiliation are African traditionalists. Their religion has a strong cultural
base and rituals vary according to ethnic group. They generally recognize a
supreme being, but ancestors are much more important, and they believe in
manipulation of the power of spirits. Traditionalists have had some contact with
Christianity and many are in a transitional position, incorporating aspects of
both religions into their beliefs and worship.
E | Education |
Under apartheid the education system was
racially structured with separate national departments for whites, Coloureds,
Asians, and blacks. Although government spending on black education increased
greatly in the late 1980s, at the end of the apartheid era in 1994 per capita
expenditures for white pupils were still four times higher than expenditures for
blacks. Black schools had fewer classrooms than white schools, shortages of
textbooks were common, and few schools had science laboratories of any kind. As
a result, only about 40 percent of black candidates passed matriculation (the
qualification for completing secondary school, a minimum requirement for
entrance to a university) in the early 1990s. At the same time, at least 1.5
million school-age blacks were not in school.
The challenge of restructuring education
in post-apartheid society was immense. The post-apartheid government merged 14
education departments into a unified education system with no racial
distinctions. School attendance is now compulsory for children ages 7 through
15. The number of private schools, attended largely by whites, increased
dramatically in the mid-1990s as public schools were integrated. South Africa’s
literacy rate grew from 82 percent in 1995 to 87 percent in 2005.
South Africa has a well-developed higher
education system, which was also racially segregated until after apartheid.
Numbers of blacks in historically white universities grew rapidly after 1994,
even in Afrikaans-language universities. Most black students, however, attend
historically black universities, including the University of Fort Hare (founded
in 1916) in Alice, North-West University (1980) in Mmabatho, and the University
of Zululand (1960) near Empangeni. Some blacks take correspondence courses
through the University of South Africa in Pretoria (1873). The University of the
Western Cape (1960) in Bellville was historically Coloured, and Durban-Westville
(1961) in Durban was historically Indian. Traditionally white universities
include the English-speaking University of Cape Town (founded as the South
African College in 1829; attained university status in 1918) in Cape Town, the
University of the Witwatersrand (1922) in Johannesburg, the University of Natal
(1910) in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, and Rhodes University (1904) in
Grahamstown. Afrikaans-speaking universities include the University of the
Orange Free State (1855) in Bloemfontein, the University of Pretoria (1930;
founded in 1908 as Transvaal University College), and the University of
Stellenbosch (1918). The University of Port Elizabeth (1964) in Port Elizabeth
uses both English and Afrikaans. In 2002 the government announced a
restructuring of higher education in South Africa. The restructuring involved a
series of mergers that reduced the number of institutions in the country. For
example, the merger of Rand Afrikaans University, Technikon Witwatersrand, and
two campuses of Vista University formed the new University of Johannesburg
(opened in 2005).
F | Way of Life |
The apartheid system left a profound
imprint on South African society. Most whites enjoy a standard of living and way
of life comparable to people in the world’s most developed countries.
Distinctive features of this lifestyle include an emphasis on sports and
open-air living, which reflect South Africa’s pleasant climate. Sports play a
major role in schools. Rugby is particularly popular among Afrikaners. Cricket
is popular among Afrikaners, English speakers, and increasingly among other
groups as opportunities and facilities gradually improve. Swimming and water
sports, tennis, and golf are all popular in the white community.
Affluent whites typically live in
detached single-story homes with large gardens, often with swimming pools and
sometimes tennis courts. The braaivleis (barbecue) is a popular way of
entertaining. Food is essentially English, with a few distinctive Afrikaans
dishes and some North American influences. The white South African lifestyle
traditionally depended on servants to take care of the home, look after
children, and tend the garden; many servants lived in small rooms on the
employers’ property. This became less common after the end of apartheid as white
incomes decreased, proportionately, and servants’ wages increased.
Wealthy Asians, Coloured people, and a
small but growing minority of blacks have lifestyles similar to whites. For the
great majority of South Africans, however, life is vastly different. Housing in
the townships consists of mostly single-story dwellings, but houses are much
closer together than in predominantly white suburbs. Barracklike hostels house
single black men and migrant workers. An increasing number of urban blacks live
in shantytowns around major cities with minimal facilities and long distances to
travel to work and shops.
Recreational facilities are minimal in
both townships and rural areas, but people play soccer wherever there is open
ground. There are many churches, even in informal settlements, and they play an
important role in social life. Township shebeens (unofficial drinking
houses) take the place of pubs. Incomes restrict most blacks to a staple diet of
mealies, or maize, which is made into a porridge, cheaper cuts of meat,
some fruit, and vegetables. People commonly drink tea; beer, which is often
home-brewed, especially in rural areas, is the main alcoholic drink.
Women are still more disadvantaged in
South African society than in Europe or North America. The post-apartheid
government is anxious to promote gender equality, but traditional attitudes are
slow to change. Women from all ethnic and racial groups are involved in the
labor market, although this often reflects economic necessity rather than
preference.
G | Social Issues |
The apartheid heritage has left a strong
connection between race and socioeconomic class. Under apartheid, from 1948 to
1994, a person’s race influenced occupation, income level, place of residence,
education, choice of partner, freedom of movement, and use of facilities and
amenities. This legacy may take decades to erase.
During most of the 20th century, race was
the central issue in South African politics, but since the end of apartheid
attention has focused on other problems in South African society as well. The
most prominent of these issues are unemployment, lack of housing, poverty, and
crime. Women, especially black women, are disproportionately the victims of
violent crime. These social issues are closely related to one another, and to
some degree they are also the legacy of apartheid.
IV | ARTS |
The historical segregation of racial and
ethnic groups in South Africa has resulted in distinct cultural developments.
White South Africans, especially English speakers, have drawn much of their
culture from Europe. For Afrikaners culture has a wider meaning that overlaps
with the political concerns of Afrikaner nationalism and employment issues.
Traditional Afrikaans culture is strongest in rural areas.
Asians have distinct cultures derived mainly
from the Indian subcontinent. In recent years a new sense of pride has developed
in the Coloured community and found expression in writing, theater, and music.
Urban black culture is multiethnic and draws on international influences, such
as those of African Americans. In rural areas distinct cultural activities of
various ethnic groups, including songs, poems, and oral history, remain
important.
The end of apartheid meant the end of
international sanctions against South Africa. Since 1994 South African art and
culture has attracted unprecedented international interest. In 1995 the biggest
international art exhibition ever held in the country took place in
Johannesburg. The National Arts Festival, held annually in Grahamstown, claims
to be the most important of its kind in the world after the Edinburgh
International Festival in Scotland.
A | Literature |
South African literature has three main
literary traditions in English, Afrikaans, and Bantu languages. Black writers
have contributed to South African literature in all of its linguistic
traditions, including Sesotho, Xhosa, and Zulu, as well as English and
Afrikaans. After the arrival of white settlers, traditional African themes were
written in English by blacks who attended mission schools and training colleges
in the late 19th century. Between World War I (1914-1918) and World War II
(1939-1945), this literature shifted away from a romanticized portrayal of the
world toward the depiction of political oppression. Resistance literature
blossomed after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 and the Soweto uprising in 1976
with themes of black consciousness evident in the poetry and prose of such
writers as Mothobi Mutloatse and Miriam Tlali.
Black South Africans have a long and rich
oral tradition still important today. Modern writers such as Guybon Sinxo
(Xhosa), B. W. Vilakazi (Zulu), Oliver Kgadime Matsepe (Northern Sotho), and
Thomas Mofolo (Southern Sotho) have been heavily influenced by the oral
traditions of their cultures. Other leading black and Coloured writers include
J. R. Jolobe, Alex La Guma, Bloke Modisane, Es’kia Mphahlele, and Adam
Small.
A specifically South African literature in
English, written by white South Africans, emerged with the 1883 publication of
The Story of an African Farm by Olive Schreiner, a novel about a young
girl growing up in southern Africa. In the 20th century Sir Laurens Van der Post
and Peter Lanham wrote novels about the cultural heritage of the peoples of
South Africa. Others have focused specifically on South Africa’s social and
political problems. These include novelists Alan Paton and Nadine Gordimer
(winner of the 1991 Nobel Prize in literature), and playwright Athol Fugard.
Afrikaner novelists, notably Andre Brink and J. M. Coetzee (winner of the 2003
Nobel Prize in literature), have also contributed books in English that deal
with these issues.
Early Afrikaans writing focused on the
political and linguistic struggles of Afrikaners, who are also known as Boers.
This continued after the Boer War (1899-1902), also known as the South African
War. Much Afrikaans writing in the 1930s was introspective and autobiographical,
but in the 1940s the focus turned to World War II and a new social
consciousness. Afrikaans has proved most fruitful as a medium for poetry,
reaching mature expression in the 1930s through such poets as N. P. van Wyk
Louw, Uys Krige, and Elisabeth Eybers. Other important writers of Afrikaans
include poet, dramatist, and critic D. J. Opperman; novelist Etienne Leroux; and
poet Breyten Breytenbach, an outspoken opponent of apartheid.
B | Art and Architecture |
South Africa has more than 3,000 sites of
rock art dating from the Stone Age that depict animals and other subjects. The
Ndebele people are known for the bold and brightly colored patterns with which
they paint their traditional rural homes. Early paintings by European travelers
like Thomas Baines have considerable documentary value today. South Africa’s
first professional artists, including Hugo Naude and Jan Volschenck, depicted
landscapes and were strongly influenced by the artistic traditions of Britain
and the Netherlands. Subsequently, artists like H. Stratford Caldecott and
especially J. Hendrik Pierneef found ways of translating the distinctive
character of the South African environment. Much modern art by black South
Africans originated in the townships around Johannesburg as early as the 1950s.
Reflecting black South Africans’ struggles under the apartheid system, this art
became known as township art. South African artists also experiment with
most foreign styles. Landscapes remain an important theme, and recently some
artists have also begun to concentrate on environmental issues.
Architecturally, South Africa is best
known for the distinctive Cape Dutch buildings found mainly in the Western Cape
and considered among the world’s most beautiful domestic architecture.
Distinctive features include thick, whitewashed walls, curved gables, and a
long, raised stoep, or verandah. Early rectangular buildings were
frequently extended into L-shaped structures, followed later by more ambitious
designs, including the distinctive H-plan of some larger country houses.
After the British occupation in 1806, the
Cape Dutch style was slowly superseded by British influences, including Georgian
architecture and, for public buildings and churches, neoclassical and Gothic
Revival styles. The Victorian period of the mid- and late 1800s was marked by a
great diversity of styles and influences. In Pietermaritzburg several fine
buildings featured the bricks produced there. During the second half of the 20th
century the influence of American architect Louis Kahn tended to
predominate.
C | Music and Dance |
South African music is characterized by
its fusion of diverse musical forms from South Africa and overseas. By the 1950s
unique musical styles had emerged, developed by black musicians in many South
African townships. Township jazz, songs, dance, and popular music reflect a
combination of traditional music, especially of the Zulu and Sotho peoples, with
African American rhythm and blues, jazz, and blues. Some musicians who play in
this hybrid style have won international acclaim, including Hugh Masekela,
Mahlathini Nezintombi Zomgqashiyo, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Ladysmith Black
Mambazo performs isicathamiya, a Zulu-influenced choral style that is
sung a cappella, or without instrumental accompaniment. The group became
prominent through their collaboration with American singer and songwriter Paul
Simon. Also of note are the accordion jive music of Nelcy Sedibe, which
developed as township street music and was influenced by American swing, and the
modern, electric versions of Zulu traditional music performed by Moses Mchunu.
Classical composers have begun to experiment with traditional African musical
instruments as well. The Soweto String Quartet has emerged as an important
example of this approach.
The development of dance in recent years
is linked to the development of protest musicals in the theater. Styles of
dancing on the stage include the toyi-toyi, a militant marching dance
adapted from South African protest marches, as well as traditional Zulu dances.
There are three professional ballet companies in South Africa and several
independent groups.
D | Theater and Film |
South African theater won international
acclaim in the 1980s. A distinctive theater form emerged from the tense
sociopolitical climate of the 1970s and 1980s. New and alternative theater
groups were established, and a playwriting tradition developed, influenced by
the Black Consciousness Movement. This theater form uses popular theater as a
vehicle of protest and social commentary, mixing African and Western elements in
productions of intense energy and vitality. This tradition is perhaps best
exemplified by the work of Athol Fugard and by the world-famous Market Theatre
in Johannesburg.
A national film industry has been slow to
develop in South Africa. This is in part due to past apartheid policies and
ineffective state subsidies for film. Darryl Roodt’s A Place of Weeping
(1986) was the first film criticizing apartheid ever shown on the South African
film circuit and effectively marked the beginning of an alternative film
industry in South Africa. In 1995 Roodt also directed Cry the Beloved
Country, based on a novel by Alan Paton. In 1995 the government created a
fund for training and developing emerging talent in the local film industry, and
a new film subsidy scheme. The Cape Film and Video Foundation, founded in 1993,
actively promotes the Cape provinces as locations for international filmmaking.
E | Libraries and Museums |
Nearly all South African towns and cities
have libraries, the largest of which is the Johannesburg Public Library, with
more than 1.6 million volumes. Other important libraries include the South
African Library in Cape Town, the State Library in Pretoria, and university
libraries including those of the University of South Africa, the University of
the Witwatersrand, the University of Cape Town, the University of Stellenbosch,
and the University of Pretoria.
South Africa has a large number of museums
located in all major and many lesser cities and towns. The most notable include
the National Museum in Bloemfontein, which contains archaeology, paleontology,
and anthropology collections; MuseumAfrica in Johannesburg, which has
collections relating to South African history, including displays representing
the lives of South Africans under apartheid; and in Cape Town, the Michaelis
Collection, the South African National Gallery, the South African Museum, and
the South African Cultural History Museum.
V | ECONOMY |
Over the course of the 20th century South
Africa changed economically from a producer of raw materials to an industrial
nation that produces both raw materials and commercial products. The nation’s
manufacturing, commerce, and services have been built extensively on the
foundations of mining and farming. The economy remained primarily agricultural
for much of the 19th century until the discovery of diamonds at Kimberley in
1867 and gold on the Witwatersrand in the 1880s. South Africa’s gross domestic
product (GDP) was $255.2 billion in 2006.
The GDP per capita in South Africa is
$5,384.10 per year, which makes South Africa a middle-income country. The modern
industrial and commercial economy gives a minority of the population, including
most whites, a standard of living equivalent to that in Western Europe; but for
many who are wholly or partially excluded from the economy, incomes and
lifestyles are characteristic of developing countries.
There are marked variations in economic
production among different geographic areas in South Africa. A significant
portion of the country’s GDP is produced in Gauteng Province alone, while
minimal commercial activity and poor infrastructure characterize the former
bantustans.
During the apartheid period the South African
government championed the capitalist system, although its own economic policies
were in many respects interventionist, and its racial policies compromised
fundamental elements of capitalism such as the free movement of labor.
International sanctions imposed because of the government’s apartheid policies
were increasingly damaging in the late 1980s but ended in the early 1990s as the
apartheid era came to a close. The majority party in government, the African
National Congress (ANC), came to power in alliance with trade unions and the
Communist Party, leading to fears that it would pursue socialist policies. In
practice its economic policies have been geared to maximizing economic growth,
attracting foreign investment, and privatizing some state assets.
A | Labor |
South Africa has an economically active
population of 20 million (2006 estimate), of whom 62 percent are male and 38
percent female. About 65 percent of the labor force is employed in the service
industry, about 25 percent in industry, and about 10 percent in agriculture
(2003). The current level of unemployment is measured at 27.1 (2004) of the
labor force; it has tended to rise because the population growth outstrips the
capacity of the economy to create new jobs. Unemployment is much higher among
the black population than other groups, and lowest among whites and Asians.
Blacks account for much of the informal sector. This sector includes many
unregulated small businesses as well as individuals providing a variety of
services, such as car washing, street vending, and gardening. Due to the
historically inadequate education and training opportunities available to
blacks, the South African labor force has a high proportion of lower-skilled
workers.
Many of South Africa’s workers belong to
trade unions, most of which are affiliated with larger trade union federations.
The largest is the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), formally
allied to the governing ANC. Other trade union federations include the National
Council of Trade Unions (NACTU) and the Federation of Unions of South Africa
(FEDUSA). Major problems for the union movement are the increasing numbers of
unemployed people, who represent a much larger constituency than the union
movement, and the growing informal sector. Major concerns among the industrial
unions are training and education, human resource development, the removal of
discriminatory practices and the implementation of affirmative action, basic
adult education, centralized collective bargaining, the debate over a national
minimum wage, and the right to strike.
B | Services and Tourism |
In total, service industries contributed 66
percent of GDP in 2006. The largest categories are wholesale and retail trade,
real estate and business services, catering and accommodation, government,
finance, and insurance. Transport, utilities, construction, and community and
personal services make up most of the remainder. The financial sector is highly
developed and on par with industrialized nations.
Tourism is widely viewed as a rich,
potential source of jobs and foreign exchange, and as an eventual alternative to
the gold industry, which is in long-term decline. Attractions include the scenic
beauty of the Cape wine region, the Drakensberg and the mountains of Mpumalanga,
national parks and game reserves, beaches, and the climate. During the apartheid
years this potential could not be realized because of the country’s negative
international image and perceived political instability. Since 1994 the industry
has expanded dramatically, with the number of overseas visitors increased by 52
percent in 1995 alone. In 2006, 8.4 million tourists visited South Africa.
C | Industry |
Since the mineral discoveries of the late
19th century, the South African economy has gradually changed from an
agricultural to an industrialized economy. Industry contributed 31 percent of
GDP in 2006.
C1 | Manufacturing |
Manufacturing overtook mining as the
largest South African industrial sector during World War II (1939-1945).
Metalworking represents the largest manufacturing sector, including metals,
metal products, machinery, and automobiles and other transport equipment. Other
important manufactured products include food, beverages, and tobacco; clothing
and textiles; and chemicals. Much of South Africa’s manufacturing is
concentrated on the Witwatersrand, although Durban, Port Elizabeth, and Cape
Town are also major industrial cities.
Export-driven manufacturing is
considered the key to sustainable growth in South Africa. Until the 1990s, much
South African manufacturing had been sheltered behind protective tariffs and was
not internationally competitive. The end of international sanctions and the
decline of the rand after 1994 helped exporters, and levels of protection have
since been reduced substantially.
C2 | Mining |
The South African mining industry is one
of the most technologically advanced in the world. South Africans are the
world’s foremost deep-level miners, exporting their expertise to many countries.
Historically, the mining industry was built on the foundations of cheap black
labor, but wages have improved substantially since the early 1970s.
The contribution of mining to GDP
declined over the course of the 20th century, but the mining industry still
employs hundreds of thousands of people and continues to dominate exports. South
Africa remains the world’s largest producer of gold, but the industry faces
long-term decline because of its high production costs and falling gold prices.
These costs are primarily the result of the great depth of the South African
mines. The country is rich in many other minerals, and non-gold mining expanded
significantly in the second half of the 20th century. Other important mineral
products include diamonds, coal, uranium, platinum, nickel, chromite, vanadium,
manganese, and fluorite.
D | Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing |
The relative contribution of agriculture,
forestry, and fishing to GDP has steadily declined and was 3 percent in 2006,
but these industries employ hundreds of thousands of people and support many
more in the subsistence sector. Only 12 percent of South Africa’s land area is
cultivated, and most of the rest is suitable only for pastoral farming. The most
important crop is maize (corn), the staple food of most black South Africans.
Other important crops include wheat, sugarcane, barley, potatoes, citrus fruit,
and grapes (for winemaking). Livestock includes poultry, sheep, and cattle.
Under apartheid blacks were restricted to
the ten bantustans, which made up only 13 percent of the country’s total area.
Farming in these areas is primarily for subsistence, and traditional land tenure
systems vest land in the chiefs or headmen, who allocate small plots to
individual farmers. Marketing crops is largely local because of poor
infrastructure. Commercial agriculture remains overwhelmingly white-owned,
employing black farm workers.
Although South Africa has little native
forest, it has developed a significant timber and wood products industry based
on pine, eucalyptus, and wattle plantations. Commercial forests are mainly in
KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga provinces.
The commercial fishing industry is centered
on the waters off the west coast, which are productive because of the cold
Benguela Current. Pilchard, anchovy, and hake are the most common catch. Rock
lobsters are also caught, mainly for export. In terms of volume, multispecies
shoal fishing by purse seine (a surface net that encircles and entraps entire
shoals of fish) is the most important method used, followed by bottom and
mid-water trawling.
E | Energy |
Thermal power plants produce 94 percent
(2003) of South Africa’s electricity. Most are coal-fired power stations located
on or near the main coal fields in Gauteng, Free State, and northern
KwaZulu-Natal. South Africa’s nuclear power station at Koeberg in Western Cape
serves the part of the country most remote from the coal fields.
Eskom, the Electricity Supply Commission,
distributes electricity through a national power grid. South Africa supplies
more than half the electricity generated in the whole of Africa, but in the
early 21st century had yet to supply power to all South African households.
F | Transportation |
South Africa has by far the most developed
transport infrastructure in Africa. The rail system, which links all major
centers, is almost entirely administered by the state-owned Transnet through its
railway division Spoornet. Passenger services are slow by Western European
standards, but the provision of luxury and semiluxury trains is an
attraction.
Car ownership is almost universal among
whites and rising rapidly in the rest of the population, although less so in
rural areas. Commuting for blacks is largely by public transport, including
buses, kombi (minibus) taxis and, in the larger cities such as Cape Town,
Durban, and Johannesburg, commuter railways.
South African Airways provides an extensive
network of air services between all major cities in South Africa, between
Johannesburg and a variety of destinations in Africa, and between South Africa
and major cities in Europe, the Americas, East Asia, and Australia. Smaller
carriers also fly domestic routes. Johannesburg has the country’s major
international airport, but Cape Town has a number of direct overseas
flights.
The ports of Durban, Port Elizabeth, and
Cape Town provide large container terminals. Durban is the busiest port for
general cargo. East London is the only river port in South Africa. Saldanha Bay,
northwest of Cape Town, is the largest port on the west coast of Africa. It was
developed primarily for the export of iron ore from Northern Cape. Richard’s
Bay, one of the best artificial harbors in the world, was developed primarily to
handle bulk cargoes, including coal.
G | Communications |
South Africa has a sophisticated
communications network. The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC)
provides radio services for national and regional audiences and different
language groups. There are also a number of independent radio stations.
The SABC offers three television channels
broadcasting programs in all 11 official languages. The majority of African
households do not have television, although it is widely watched in bars. The
SABC was subject to close government control under apartheid, but now reflects a
wider spectrum of political views. The government is much less intrusive in the
media than during the apartheid years.
There are 18 daily and 48 weekly
newspapers. Their political allegiances are less narrowly defined than in the
apartheid era, with even the more conservative papers giving at least critical
support to the country’s first majority government. Most of the papers are
published in English. Major weeklies include the Sunday Times, Rapport
(published in Afrikaans), the Sunday Independent, the Sunday
Tribune, and the City Press. Regional dailies are published in all
major cities. In Johannesburg those with the largest circulation include the
Sowetan, targeted at black readers; along with The Star, The
Citizen, and Beeld (Afrikaans). Die Burger, an Afrikaans
paper, and the English paper the Cape Argus are published in Cape Town.
The Daily News is published in Durban. Smaller influential papers include
the daily Business Day, the weekly Financial Mail, and the
relatively left-wing weekly Mail and Guardian, all published in
Johannesburg.
The South African Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority oversees the country’s telecommunications networks. South
Africa has two-fifths of the telephone lines in Africa and an expanding mobile
phone network. The Internet is widely used in urban areas, particularly in
business circles.
H | Foreign Trade |
In 2004 South Africa’s total exports were
worth $40.2 billion and imports $47.8 billion. The major exports were gold, iron
and steel, coal, chemicals, automobiles and other transport equipment, and food
products. South Africa is a net exporter of farm products, especially maize,
sugar, fruit, vegetables, and wine, but the country experiences substantial
variations in production because of recurring drought. Imports consist mainly of
machinery and equipment, motor vehicle parts, chemicals, and crude oil.
Germany, the United States, the United
Kingdom, Japan, and Saudi Arabia are the leading suppliers of imported goods.
Chief purchasers of South Africa’s exports are the United States, the United
Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and Italy. Trade with the rest of Africa grew even in
the final years of apartheid and has increased considerably since 1994. Most of
South Africa’s exports to Africa are to the other countries of the Southern
African Customs Union (Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, and Swaziland). In 1994,
after restoring normal relations with other African countries, South Africa
joined the Southern African Development Community.
I | Currency and Banking |
The rand, divided into 100
cents, is the basic unit of currency (6.80 rand equal U.S.$1; 2006
average). The South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria, founded in 1920, is
responsible for formulating and implementing monetary policy, overseeing the
banking system, and issuing the currency. There are numerous commercial,
savings, and investment banks, and electronic banking services are well
developed. There is an organized money and capital market that includes the JSE
Securities Exchange (formerly named Johannesburg Stock Exchange) and related
brokerage activities.
VI | GOVERNMENT |
The 20th century produced several
fundamental governmental changes in South Africa. In 1910 the Union of South
Africa was formed as a largely autonomous dominion of Britain. Under the 1910
constitution, the British monarch was the nominal head of state, but authority
over most matters was vested in a single-chamber parliament, headed by a prime
minister. By the 1931 Statute of Westminster, South Africa and other dominions
within the British Commonwealth were proclaimed fully autonomous, gaining
equality status with Britain. In 1961 South Africa became a republic and left
the Commonwealth. The 1961 constitution created the office of president as head
of state. A new constitution in 1984 established a tricameral (three-house)
parliament with white, Coloured, and Asian houses, but excluded the black
majority altogether.
Lengthy constitutional negotiations in the
early 1990s led to the implementation of an interim constitution in April 1994.
These negotiations also resulted in agreement on a number of principles that
would be binding during the negotiations for a final constitution. The final
constitution was passed by parliament in May 1996 but was subsequently rejected
by the Constitutional Court because certain provisions did not comply with the
1994 principles. A revised version was finally accepted in December 1996 and
went into force in February 1997. The new constitution, which included a
comprehensive bill of rights, was the first in the world to prohibit
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
A | Executive |
The president is elected by the majority
party in the National Assembly (one of the two houses of parliament) to a
five-year term, renewable once. The president appoints a deputy president and a
cabinet of ministers from members of the National Assembly.
B | Legislature |
The parliament consists of two houses:
the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. The National
Assembly has 400 members, popularly elected to five-year terms under a system of
proportional representation. The National Council of Provinces has 90 members,
10 from each province. These members, which are appointed by the provincial
legislatures, also serve five-year terms.
C | Judiciary |
South African courts are independent,
subject only to the constitution and the law. The Constitutional Court, located
in Johannesburg, rules on constitutional matters. It is composed of a president
and ten justices, six of whom are appointed by the president on the advice of
the Judicial Service Commission (an advisory body for national and provincial
judicial matters). The other four justices are appointed by the president from
among the judges of the Supreme Court in consultation with the chief justice.
The Supreme Court of Appeal, situated in
Bloemfontein, is the highest court in all but constitutional matters. It is
composed of a chief justice and a number of judges of appeal. Below the Supreme
Court of Appeals are High Courts and Magistrates’ Courts. Black South Africans
may choose to bring civil claims based on indigenous law and custom to a local
chief’s court, with subsequent right of appeal in one of the Magistrate’s
Courts.
D | Provincial and Local Government |
South Africa is divided into nine
provinces. These provinces are Gauteng, Limpopo Province (formerly Northern
Province), Mpumalanga, North-West Province, Free State, Eastern Cape, Northern
Cape, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal.
Until 1994 South Africa was divided into
four provinces (Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal) and ten
bantustans, including four that had been declared independent (Transkei, Venda,
Bophuthatswana, and Ciskei). The bantustans were dissolved and reincorporated
into South Africa when the interim constitution took effect in 1994.
Provincial assemblies are elected by
proportional representation and vary in size from 30 to 80 members, according to
population. Each province has a premier, elected by the provincial assembly, who
presides over an executive council of no more than 10 members. Matters of
exclusive provincial control under the constitution include various planning,
cultural, sporting, and recreational matters. A much longer list of more
important business, including agriculture, education, housing, police (in part),
tourism, regional planning, urban and rural development, and welfare services,
are areas of joint national and provincial control.
At the local level, the country is
divided into metropolitan municipalities, district municipalities, and local
municipalities, each governed by an elected municipal council.
E | Political Parties |
The dominant South African political
party is the African National Congress (ANC). Major opposition parties include
the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party. Other opposition parties
include the United Democratic Movement, Independent Democrats, African Christian
Democratic Party, and Freedom Front Plus.
The ANC, founded in 1912, spearheaded the
liberation struggle against apartheid. Nelson Mandela led the ANC from the early
1950s until the late 1990s. The ANC was based within the country until it was
banned in 1960 and forced to operate from outside South Africa. As a broad
coalition of interests and a liberation movement, its membership overlapped
substantially with the South African Communist Party (SACP, founded in 1921 as
the Communist Party of South Africa). The ANC entered the 1994 elections in
alliance with the SACP and the main trade union federation, COSATU. In the 1994
election the ANC won the support of most black constituents, except in
KwaZulu-Natal, and about one-third of Asian and Coloured votes, but few white
votes. The ANC has dominated each subsequent legislative election. Its policies
are nonracial and seek to redress the injustices of the apartheid years.
The Democratic Party (DP), founded in
1989, was the successor to the relatively liberal white traditions of the
earlier Progressive Party. The DP played an important mediating role in the
negotiations leading to agreement on the interim constitution. Support for the
DP increased markedly prior to the 1999 elections. The DP joined forces with
several other parties in 2000 to form a coalition called the Democratic
Alliance.
The Inkatha Freedom Party, founded in
1975, is an ethnically based party commanding the support of most Zulu in
KwaZulu-Natal. It is more conservative on most issues than the ANC and seeks to
maximize provincial power.
F | Health and Social Services |
The right to adequate health care has
been enshrined in the constitution, but provision represents a major challenge.
Private health facilities can meet the demands of those who can afford to pay,
although the cost of hospitalization, treatment, and medical aid subscriptions
is soaring. For the majority who cannot afford to pay, current government plans
emphasize primary health care that provides a comprehensive package of
health-care services. Payment for treatment in provincial hospitals is based on
a patient’s financial means. A proposed national health insurance program is
being developed for the first time. Since 1994 free health treatment has been
available to children under six years old and some mothers before and after
birth.
South Africa’s infant mortality rate is
very high for a country with its level of income. In 2008 the rate was 58 deaths
per 1,000 live births. This figure conceals great differences between racial
groups because the white figure is less than one-fifth the national
average.
Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)
has become a problem of epidemic proportions in South Africa. In 2005 an
estimated 5,300,000 South Africans were infected with the human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV) that causes AIDS. Tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and measles are also
prevalent diseases. Much of the black and Coloured population suffers high
incidences of TB, measles, and other infectious and contagious diseases such as
gastroenteritis and respiratory infections. Malaria is endemic in the
low-altitude areas of Limpopo Province, Mpumalanga, and eastern KwaZulu-Natal.
For whites the main causes of death are stroke, heart disease, and cancer.
Social welfare services are provided by
government agencies and the private sector, sometimes working in cooperation.
Private sector initiatives like Operation Hunger and child welfare societies
make a major contribution. The government proposes to create a more integrated
welfare system that will harness state and private sector resources more
effectively. It is committed to affirmative action to address inherited racial
inequalities. Children are a particular focus, with programs under way to
resolve the plight of homeless street children and legislate against child abuse
and child labor.
G | Defense |
South Africa’s armed forces answer to the
elected parliament and executive civilian authorities. The South African
National Defense Force (SANDF) in 2004 included an army of 36,000 soldiers, an
air force of 9,250, and a navy of 4,500 personnel. The army experienced major
restructuring after the end of apartheid, as seven separate military forces were
integrated into one.
H | International Organizations |
With the end of South Africa’s
international isolation in 1994, the country resumed participation in many
international organizations from which it was excluded in the final years of
apartheid. The most important organization is the United Nations, in which South
Africa reclaimed its seat in June 1994. In the same month the country became the
51st member of the Commonwealth of Nations after an absence of 33 years. South
Africa is also a member of the African Union and the Southern African
Development Community.
VII | HISTORY |
The early history of South Africa dates
nearly 3 million years to Australopithicus africanus, one of the earliest
human ancestors. Archaeological evidence indicates that people resembling the
San (bush people) and the Khoikhoi inhabited southern Africa thousands of years
ago. The San were traditionally hunters and gatherers while the Khoikhoi were
nomadic and herded cattle. Centuries before whites settled in South Africa,
Bantu-speaking groups migrated from west central Africa and settled in a fertile
region between the Drakensberg Mountains and the Indian Ocean. These early Bantu
people are thought to be the ancestors of the modern Nguni, a people comprising
the Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, and other groups.
A | Arrival of Europeans and the Mfecane |
In 1652 Dutch East India Company
official Jan van Riebeeck arrived at the Cape of Good Hope with orders to
establish a fort and provision station for company ships on long journeys around
Africa to Asia. Below Table Mountain, Cape Town eventually grew out of the first
settlements around the Dutch fort. The original inhabitants Riebeeck encountered
were the San and the Khoikhoi. At first, company officials bartered with them
for cattle and set up gardens to grow fresh produce. By 1657 it became evident
that the company’s farming efforts were inadequate, so a small number of company
employees were released from their contracts and given land to work as
independent farmers supplying the company’s needs. Khoikhoi livestock also
proved insufficient for the needs of ships that stopped at the Cape, so the
independent farmers, called free burghers, began raising livestock as well.
By the 1660s pressure on the Khoikhoi
and the San increased as more of their land was taken by European farmers. The
Dutch East India Company encouraged Dutch, German, and French Huguenot
immigration between 1680 and 1707 to what later became known as the Cape Colony.
The colonists, mostly farmers and cattle herders, became known as Boers
(Dutch for “farmers”) or Afrikaners. They developed their own distinctive
culture and language (Afrikaans) and practiced their own form of Calvinism, a
Protestant religion. During the second half of the 17th century slaves were
imported from Asia and other parts of Africa. By the early decades of the 18th
century, after two short wars, the Khoikhoi had lost most of their lands to the
European settlers; large numbers of them had died as a result of newly
introduced diseases such as smallpox, and many of those who remained were placed
in positions of servitude. In the same period the San were forced north by the
colonists and many were eliminated for cattle raiding. Sexual relations between
members of these ethnic groups resulted in the emergence of a distinct group
that became known as the Cape Coloureds.
In the 1770s the European settlers
encountered Bantu-speaking peoples, who were ending several thousand years of
migration. Nguni Bantu groups settled along the eastern coast of what is now
South Africa while Sotho groups occupied the interior north of Cape Colony. In
the early 19th century competition for land led to a period of conflict and
forced migration among Bantu-speaking peoples known as the mfecane (Nguni for
'the crushing'). It is estimated that hundreds of thousands died during the
wars, entire groups disappeared, and centralization resulted in the creation or
strengthening of several Bantu states, including the Zulu, Swazi, and Sotho
kingdoms.
The mfecane fundamentally altered the
political and social configuration of the entire region. It was set in motion by
one of the great military geniuses of the 19th century, Shaka, who ruled the
Zulu kingdom. He introduced a type of spear with a long blade called an
assegai, organized a regimental system based on age groups, and
introduced new strategies of warfare. The kingdoms, or states, that emerged from
the mfecane came into direct conflict with white expansion in the 19th
century.
A1 | Early British Settlement |
British forces twice occupied the Cape
region, in 1795 and in 1806; in 1814 Britain was granted the Cape Colony in a
treaty drawn up at the Congress of Vienna, at which European powers negotiated
the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815). After 1820 thousands of British
colonists arrived in South Africa and demanded that English law be imposed.
English became the official language in 1822, Khokhoi workers were given
protection under new labor laws in 1828, and slavery was abolished in 1833.
These measures were bitterly resented
by Afrikaners and resulted in the Great Trek, in which thousands of Afrikaners
migrated northward, some settling in Natal and others continuing east across the
Orange River and north across the Vaal River. From 1835 to the early 1840s,
between 12,000 and 15,000 Afrikaner families, accompanied by slaves and
servants, left the Cape Colony because changes introduced by the British were
intolerable.
A2 | Cape Frontier Wars |
As settlers moved across the country
they encountered resistance from the Bantu-speaking people, and in particular
from the well-armed Xhosa, who had been moving slowly south and southwest for
hundreds of years and were also in search of land. The Afrikaners and the Xhosa
clashed along the Great Fish River, and in 1781 the first of nine frontier wars
took place. For nearly 100 years, the Xhosa fought the Cape Colony settlers,
first the Afrikaners and later the British. The British also encroached on Xhosa
lands, precipitating several of these bloody wars. In the Fourth Frontier War,
which lasted from 1811 to 1812, the British forced the Xhosa back across the
Great Fish River and set up forts along this boundary.
In 1818 differences between two Xhosa
leaders, Ndlambe and Ngqika, ended in Ngqika’s defeat, but the British continued
to recognize Ngqika as the paramount chief. He appealed to the British for help
against Ndlambe, who retaliated by attacking Grahamstown in 1819 during the
Fifth Frontier War. The Xhosa prophet Maqana Nxele emerged at this time and
promised “to turn bullets into water.” He led the Xhosa armies in several
attacks, including the one on Grahamstown in 1819, and was subsequently captured
and imprisoned on Robben Island. After this war the British made a futile
attempt to declare the area between the Great Fish River and the Keiskamma River
neutral territory. More fighting took place, however, until eventually all Xhosa
territories were incorporated into the Cape Colony.
B | The Establishment of the Afrikaner Republics |
In Natal the Afrikaners who had migrated
during the Great Trek were confronted with the Zulu kingdom. On December 16,
1838, an important battle between the Afrikaners and the Zulu, the Battle of
Blood River, led to the defeat of the Zulu and the establishment of the Republic
of Natalia by 1840. The battle remains of symbolic importance to many Afrikaners
because their ancestors were said to have made a covenant with God for
victory.
After the British declared the coastal
region of Natal a crown colony in 1843 and annexed it to the Cape Colony in
1845, most of the Afrikaners left and headed west and north where they joined
other Voortrekkers (Afrikaans for “pioneers”). They settled inland, north
of the Orange River, and further north in the Transvaal region (north of the
Vaal River). The governor of the Cape Colony, Sir Harry Smith, gained control of
the region between the Orange and Vaal rivers in 1848, and the territory was
renamed the Orange River Sovereignty. Smith’s move was overturned by the British
government, however. The British government recognized the independence of the
Transvaal territories in 1852 at the Sand River Convention, and recognized the
former Orange River Sovereignty as the Orange Free State in 1854 at the
Bloemfontein Convention. By the late 1850s the Transvaal territories beyond the
Vaal River had coalesced into the South African Republic. Although attempts to
unite the two Afrikaner republics were unsuccessful, they maintained a close
relationship in the following years. They shared policies that separated blacks
and whites and allowed no equality between the races.
The Afrikaners in the Orange Free State
encountered the Basotho king Moshoeshoe, who was ruling a loose group of
chieftaincies from the mountain of Thaba Bosiu (in present-day west central
Lesotho). From the 1830s when Afrikaners and British began settling the
surrounding territory, Moshoeshoe demonstrated great skill in protecting his
land and subjects by playing one group of white settlers against the other.
After the Orange Free State was established in 1854, the Afrikaners and the
Basotho fought extensively over the boundaries of their territories. Although
the Basotho had also fought with the British in the late 1840s and early 1850s,
Moshoeshoe asked the British to incorporate Basotho lands into a protectorate to
prevent further attacks by Afrikaners. The protectorate of Basutoland was
created in 1868. This area ultimately became the independent nation of
Lesotho.
In 1856 Natal was split from the Cape
Colony and reestablished as a separate colony, with representative government.
In 1872 the Cape Colony received self-government from Britain, which meant the
government was independent except in foreign and economic affairs. After the
discovery of diamonds in 1867 in Griqualand West, an area claimed by the South
African Republic, Britain renewed its expansionist policy into Afrikaner
territory, annexing Griqualand West in 1871 and the nearly bankrupt, politically
unstable South African Republic in 1877.
The British were unresponsive to
Afrikaner needs and there were fundamental differences over taxes. The Transvaal
Afrikaners decided to fight for independence. The British were defeated at the
battle of Majuba in February 1881, which led to the British decision to restore
self-government. In 1883 Afrikaner leader Paul Kruger was elected president of
the republic.
B1 | The British in Natal |
Before 1879 the Thukela (Tugela) River
was the boundary between Zululand and Natal. Cetshwayo, who became the Zulu king
in the 1870s, assembled an army estimated at 60,000 and refused to disband it
when the British insisted that he do so. British troops invaded in January 1879
but were not prepared for the terrain, and a large number of them were killed in
the Battle of Isandlwana. In July 1879, however, the British won a battle in the
Zulu capital of Ulundi. This defeat permanently neutralized the Zulu
military.
B2 | The Boer War |
In 1885 Britain annexed Bechuanaland
(now Botswana), thwarting President Kruger’s plan to expand Afrikaner territory
to the west. Vast gold deposits were discovered in the southern Transvaal in
1886. The mining industry was financed by the British and thousands of English
miners, called Uitlanders (foreigners) by the Afrikaners, entered the
Transvaal.
Kruger refused to grant civil equality
to Uitlanders and taxed them and foreign companies heavily. After negotiations
failed, British financier Cecil Rhodes, prime minister of the Cape Colony,
encouraged the Uitlanders to revolt in 1895. They were supported by a small
invading force under the command of Leander Starr Jameson. The raid was a
failure and although Rhodes was absolved of any involvement, he was forced to
resign as prime minister.
Relations between the Cape Colony and
the two Afrikaner republics worsened after British statesman Alfred Milner
became governor of the Cape Colony in 1897. In October 1899 Kruger declared war.
The Boer War (also known as the South African War), which lasted for two and a
half years, pitted the might of the British Empire against the Afrikaners. After
some initial success, the British forces occupied all major urban centers by
mid-1900. British forces, which have been estimated at 500,000, far outnumbered
a force of about 90,000 in the Afrikaner armies.
The Afrikaners, however, continued to
wage a costly guerrilla war until 1902. Toward the end of the war the British
used a “scorched-earth policy” in which Afrikaner farms were destroyed and
thousands of women and children were held in concentration camps. More than
20,000 Afrikaners were said to have died in the camps. In addition, more than
14,000 blacks from the region died in concentration camps during the war. Under
the terms of the Treaty of Vereeniging, signed on May 31, 1902, the Transvaal
territories and the Orange River Colony (as the Orange Free State became known
in 1900) became British crown colonies. In 1906 and 1907 they were given
constitutions as self-governing colonies.
C | A Segregated Nation |
With the South Africa Act of 1910 the
British parliament established the dominion of the Union of South Africa with
the four colonies as its provinces. A clause in the act provided that the
policies of the provinces toward blacks would be retained and could be changed
only by a two-thirds majority vote of parliament. In Cape Province (formerly the
Cape Colony), Coloureds and a few blacks could vote, a right not available to
them in the other three provinces.
Discrimination against nonwhites was
inherent in South African society from the earliest days. Before World War I,
Indian leader Mohandas K. Gandhi led the struggle to assure civil rights for
Indian residents. Despite some government concessions, including abolition of
the poll tax, the Indian population retained second-class status after the war.
South African blacks had an even lower status in the white-dominated state.
Urban blacks lived in segregated areas and could not hold office. They had no
viable unions, and technical and administrative positions were closed to
them.
Politics were focused on differences
between English-speaking South Africans and Afrikaners as well as racial
differences. Party politics gathered momentum after elections were held in 1910,
and the first parliament was formed. The South African Party (SAP) was formed by
members of the coalition who won the 1910 election. A former Afrikaner
commander, Louis Botha, became prime minister. General Botha and the SAP tried
to bridge the differences between the two major white groups, but Afrikaners,
particularly those in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, rejected these
efforts.
One of the first moves of the new
parliament was to pass the Natives Land Act of 1913 which prevented blacks,
except those living in Cape Province, from buying land outside so-called
reserves. The land allotted to these reserves made up 7 percent of the total
land of the country. Because of the limited amount of land available to blacks,
the act also ensured that the migratory labor system would continue and cheap
black labor would be available in the mines and industries.
C1 | Politics During the Two World Wars |
In 1914 General J. B. M. Hertzog
founded the National Party (NP), which emphasized Afrikaner language and
culture. It used as one of its slogans “South Africa First,” in contrast to the
SAP, which appeared more strongly tied to the interests of the British Empire.
Botha’s commitment to Britain in World War I increased Afrikaner resentment, and
in the 1915 election the NP received relatively strong support. Botha himself
led the South African forces that conquered German South-West Africa in 1915.
This former German colony eventually became a League of Nations mandate under
South African supervision in 1920.
While the SAP won the largest number of
votes, it only controlled 54 seats in the parliament while the NP controlled 27.
Botha was therefore forced to enter a coalition with the smaller Unionist Party
in order to govern. After Botha died in 1919, he was succeeded by General Jan
Christiaan Smuts.
Official politics in South Africa from
the 1920s continued to be dominated by the conflicting positions of the two
white groups. Hertzog and the NP insisted that reconciliation between Afrikaners
and British be based on full equality between the two groups. His party
therefore demanded that the Afrikaans language be given equal status with
English, that the country have a separate flag, not the British Union Jack, and
that South Africa have the right to secede from the British Empire.
In 1918 a secret organization known as
the Broederbond (Afrikaans for “association of brothers”) was established
to advance the Afrikaner cause and interests. This organization became a
powerful vehicle for the preservation of Afrikaner language, culture, and
traditions. Above all, its aim was to find ways for Afrikaners to attain
positions of power throughout the society. The Broederbond was exclusively for
Afrikaners who were over 25 years old, male, Protestant, and specially invited
to join.
In 1921 leaders of the country’s
gold-mining industry decided to replace white labor with black labor in an
effort to cut costs. This move led to a major uprising in March 1922 called the
Rand Revolt. Prime Minister Smuts declared martial law and used the military to
contain the revolt. The revolt resulted in 200 dead. The real impact of the Rand
Revolt came in 1924 when Hertzog’s NP, with the help of white labor, unseated
Smuts at a time of rising black militancy. The result was the protection of
white workers and the exclusion of blacks from managerial positions.
During the economic depression of the
1930s a coalition was formed, and Hertzog and Smuts became dual leaders of the
new United Party. Britain’s declaration of war against Germany in 1939, however,
split the coalition. Hertzog, who tried to keep South Africa neutral, was
replaced as prime minister by Smuts, and the Union declared war on Germany on
September 6, 1939, thereby entering World War II. Because of pro-German
sentiment among Afrikaners, however, the Union did not quickly pass a draft law.
All members of the Union’s armed forces were volunteers and their only combat
action occurred in East and North Africa and Italy.
C2 | Apartheid Instituted |
In 1948 the all-white NP came to power
with Daniel F. Malan as prime minister. Segregation and inequality between races
had existed as a matter of custom and practice in South Africa, but after 1948
they were enshrined in law. The NP won the general election that year in a
coalition with the smaller Afrikaner Party. The United Party, led by General
Smuts, became the official opposition. The United Party mainly had an urban base
with substantial support from English-speaking South Africans, while the NP’s
support was drawn almost entirely from Afrikaans-speaking South Africans.
At the heart of the NP’s legislative
agenda was apartheid (Afrikaans for “separateness”), a doctrine of white
supremacy promoted as a program of separate development. Once in power, the NP
extended and legalized white economic exploitation, political domination, and
social privilege. These tenets were reinforced with a harsh and intrusive
security system, separate and unequal education, job discrimination, and
residential segregation. Such fundamental rights as protection against search
without a warrant and the right to a trial were violated. A severe
anti-Communist law was passed in 1950. It equated Communism with any struggle
for political, economic, or social change, and served as an excuse to arrest
many of the government’s opponents.
The Group Areas Act was also passed in
1950. It specified that separate areas be reserved for each of the four main
racial groups: whites, blacks, Coloureds, and Asians. Stringent pass laws that
restricted and controlled black access to white areas were implemented across
the nation in 1952. Blacks without passes who remained in urban areas for more
than 72 hours were subject to imprisonment. Millions were arrested for such
violations. Marriage between whites and blacks was outlawed.
Beginning in the 1950s the government
divided the black population into ethnic groups and assigned each group to a
so-called homeland, also referred to as a bantustan. Ten of these territories
were eventually established; Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Gazankulu, KaNgwane,
KwaNdebele, KwaZulu, Lebowa, Qwaqwa, Transkei, and Venda. The Development Land
and Trust Act of 1936 had augmented the amount of land blacks could own from 7
percent to 13 percent, and these areas became the basis for the bantustans.
Prime Minister Malan retired in 1954
and was succeeded by another NP leader, Johannes G. Strijdom, who removed legal
obstacles to the further implementation of apartheid. To assure support for the
program, the Supreme Court was filled with six judges sympathetic to apartheid
who would hear constitutional questions, a step that received parliamentary
approval in 1955. NP control of the Senate was effected by their increased
membership from 77 to 89 in elections that same year. Shortly after the 1958
elections for the House of Assembly, in which the NP members increased their
seats from 94 to 103, Strijdom died.
Strijdom’s replacement was Hendrik F.
Verwoerd, an uncompromising supporter of apartheid who implemented the concept
of separate development of the races through the bantustan, or homeland, policy.
In 1959 the government passed the Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act, an
unsuccessful attempt to diffuse international criticism of apartheid by offering
blacks the right to participate in a political process within the bantustans.
The act, which ended black representation in the national parliament, defined
blacks as citizens of bantustans, although they retained their South African
citizenship. The economic advantage of the policy from the government’s point of
view was that it would relieve the government of welfare obligations to millions
of blacks without losing the benefits of an abundant supply of cheap black
labor. The policy was vehemently opposed by blacks who saw it as a further
erosion of their rights because it forced them to accept citizenship in remote,
underdeveloped bantustans.
By the end of the 1970s all of the
bantustans had become nominally self-governing. Although called self-governing,
they were in fact entirely dependent on the national government and incapable of
sustaining 75 percent of the country’s population. Thus, most blacks continued
to live in white areas. The vast majority of those who lived in the bantustans
commuted to white areas as part of an enormous migrant labor force.
D | Resistance to Apartheid |
In 1912 the South African Native National
Congress was founded by a group of black urban and traditional leaders who
opposed the policies of the first Union of South Africa government, especially
laws that appropriated African land. In 1923 the organization was renamed the
African National Congress (ANC). At first its main agenda was to protect voting
rights for blacks in the Cape Province. For nearly 50 years it pursued a policy
of peaceful protests and petitions.
During the 1950s, while the South African
government passed and implemented oppressive apartheid laws, black South
Africans responded by intensifying their political opposition. The ANC
dramatically increased its membership under the leadership of Albert Luthuli and
Nelson Mandela became one of the organization’s principal organizers. Although
the membership of the ANC was largely black, it was a multiracial organization
with white and Asian members, some of whom assumed leadership positions.
After decades of receiving no response to
demands for justice and equality, the ANC launched the Defiance Against Unjust
Laws Campaign in 1952, in cooperation with the South African Indian Congress, an
Asian antiapartheid political organization. The campaign was a nonviolent one in
which apartheid laws were deliberately broken. After several months of civil
disobedience and 8,000 arrests, rioting broke out in a number of cities, which
resulted in considerable property damage and 40 deaths. Black protest and white
repression continued. In 1956 three black women were killed when thousands of
them confronted the police because of their inclusion under amended pass laws,
which had previously applied only to black men.
Despite the ANC’s increasing militancy,
its aims were still reformist, seeking to change the existing system, rather
than revolutionary. In 1955 the ANC brought together nearly 3,000 delegates of
all races in Kliptown in the Transvaal to adopt the Freedom Charter. This
remarkable document, which affirms that South Africa belongs to all its people,
remains to this day the clearest statement of the guiding principles of the ANC.
It emphasizes that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based
on the will of the people and the people in South Africa had been robbed of
their birthrights to land, liberty, and peace by a form of government founded on
injustice and inequality. It stated that, “Every man and woman shall have the
right to vote for and stand as candidates for all bodies which make laws.”
In 1958 Robert Sobukwe left the ANC; he
founded the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) in April 1959. The PAC insisted on a
militant strategy based exclusively on black support in contrast to the ANC’s
multiracial approach. Black attitudes toward the liberation process changed
dramatically after the Sharpeville Massacre on March 21, 1960. White police
opened fire on a mass demonstration organized by the PAC, killing 69 blacks and
wounding more than 180. The Sharpeville Massacre led to violence and protests
throughout the country. The government declared a state of emergency and
arrested many members of the PAC and the ANC. In April 1960 the PAC and ANC were
banned.
In 1961, in response to the government’s
actions, the ANC organized Umkhonto we Sizwe (Zulu for “Spear of the
Nation”) to conduct an armed struggle against the regime. On December 16, 1961,
when Afrikaners were commemorating the Battle of Blood River, Umkhonto’s first
act of sabotage took place. From its inception, however, the underground
organization refused to engage in terrorism against civilians and only attacked
symbolic targets, police stations, military offices, and other government
buildings. The PAC’s military wing, in contrast, attacked white civilians.
On a trip to several other African
countries in 1962, Nelson Mandela arranged for ANC recruits to undergo military
training abroad. The South African government, concerned with the potential of
Umkhonto to cause increased unrest, passed new legislation that gave the police
broad powers of arrest without warrant. In July 1963 police raided Umkhonto’s
secret headquarters in the Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia and arrested most of
its leadership. Mandela, who was already in prison at the time, was put on trial
with the other Umkhonto leaders, all of whom were sentenced to life
imprisonment. With the imprisonment of the nationalist leadership and the
earlier banning of the ANC and PAC, South Africa entered a decade of enforced
calm.
The government held a referendum in
October 1960 to decide whether South Africa should become a republic and on May
31, 1961, the country officially became the Republic of South Africa. In
addition, it chose to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Nations before it was
forced to leave because of apartheid policies. The government continued to
implement repressive legislation. A 1963 act provided for detention of up to 90
days without trial for the purpose of interrogating anyone even suspected of
having committed or intending to commit sabotage or any offense under the
Suppression of Communism Act or the Unlawful Organizations Act. The Terrorism
Act, passed in 1967, provided for the indefinite detention without trial of
suspected terrorists or persons in possession of information about terrorist
activities.
Prime Minister Verwoerd was assassinated
in September 1966 and John Vorster, who had been minister of justice, police,
and prisons, was chosen to succeed him. One of the important challenges facing
South Africa during Vorster’s tenure as prime minister was the increasing
hostility of states surrounding South Africa. Angola and Mozambique achieved
independence in 1975, and their new governments were opposed to the South
African government’s policies of apartheid. Liberation struggles were underway
in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Namibia in the mid-1970s, causing an atmosphere
of unrest.
In the late 1960s Stephen Biko and other
black students founded the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM), which was loosely
based on the Black Power movement in the United States. In South Africa it
emphasized black leadership and non-cooperation with the government or with
bantustan leaders, who were considered collaborators with the government. The
BCM was involved in establishing the South African Students’ Organization (SASO)
for black students. In 1969 SASO split from the National Union of South African
Students (NUSAS), a white-led but nonracial liberal organization, and from the
University Christian Movement. Biko, the president of SASO, believed blacks had
to provide their own leadership in the liberation process. SASO and the Black
Peoples Convention (BPC), a coalition of black organizations, held rallies in
September 1974 to mark the independence of Mozambique, despite a government ban
on such meetings. Many were arrested, including several of the leaders, who were
then prosecuted and sentenced. The BCM had a formative influence on students and
young South Africans, who played a crucial role in the liberation process. In
September 1977 Stephen Biko died after being mistreated while in police
custody.
The 1970s witnessed the emergence of a
Zulu-based ethnic organization called Inkatha, which became the Inkatha Freedom
Party (IFP). The IFP was led by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi and rejected early by
the ANC because the ANC opposed its exclusive ethnic character and close
cooperation with the existing white power structure. These differences turned
into violent confrontations in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991
investigations revealed that the South African government had given covert
training and financial support to Inkatha in an effort to foster division among
black organizations in the country.
The 1970s were also marked by a new and
revitalized phase of black trade unionism even though government restrictions
continued to limit unions’ political effectiveness. The dependence of the South
African economy on black workers created a powerful political and economic
force, and from the 1970s onward this growing power was demonstrated by a series
of illegal boycotts and strikes. The growth of militant worker and youth
organizations in this period was a clear indication that banning the nationalist
movements had not ended black resistance. It was not until 1981 that black trade
unions could be officially registered and black workers were given the right to
strike. The power of the black trade union movement continued to grow and played
a central role in ending apartheid and in the transition to black majority
rule.
D1 | Struggle with the United Nations |
Beginning in 1952 the General Assembly
of the United Nations took up the issue of South Africa’s racial policies
annually. The tone of early UN resolutions and declarations was civil, even
conciliatory, reflecting the hope that South Africa might be convinced to
reform. The General Assembly at first simply called upon South Africa to
recognize its obligations to end racial discrimination under the UN Charter. The
assembly subsequently “regretted” South Africa’s refusal to end apartheid.
After the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960,
a UN Security Council resolution blamed South Africa for the shootings, and the
UN General Assembly’s first successful sanctions vote against South Africa
occurred two years later. South Africa’s unwavering policy of whites-only
representation on sports teams resulted in their expulsion from the Olympic
Games and a dozen other international sports federations in the 1960s.
After World War II the UN made several
attempts to control South Africa’s administration of South-West Africa. The UN
General Assembly voted in October 1966 to terminate South Africa’s mandate over
South-West Africa, which was renamed Namibia, and established a council to
assume responsibility for the territory. South Africa rejected all UN actions
and proceeded to integrate the territory into its own economy.
In June 1971 the International Court of
Justice ruled that South Africa’s presence in Namibia was illegal. The situation
became critical when the Angola-based South West Africa People's Organization
(SWAPO) stepped up its campaign of guerrilla attacks on targets in Namibia.
South Africa responded by building up defenses, attacking Angola, and aiding the
rebels who were fighting the Cuban-supported Angolan government. The war
continued for almost 20 years until peace talks, sponsored by the United States,
resulted in independence for Namibia in 1990. In 1974 South Africa was suspended
from the UN General Assembly, and by the 1980s General Assembly resolutions
referred to apartheid as a crime against humanity. This was a reflection of
growing international opposition to apartheid.
D2 | Deepening Crises |
A major confrontation between
protesters and South African police occurred in the black township of Soweto,
near Johannesburg, on June 16, 1976. Thousands of black high school students
demonstrated against a government ruling that required certain high school
subjects to be taught in Afrikaans, which was seen as the language of
oppression. At least 575 people were killed, and rioting and confrontations
between police and students spread throughout the country. This led to a new
phase in the liberation process in which black youth became deeply involved.
Many left the country to join the liberation movements while others continued to
work with the underground resistance movement.
By the 1980s the psychological,
financial, and human costs of maintaining order were increasing as the cycle of
repression, black violence, and white counterviolence accelerated. In May 1983,
in an effort at limited reforms, Prime Minister P. W. Botha introduced a
constitutional amendment that created a tricameral parliament with three
racially separate chambers: one for whites, one for Asians, and one for
Coloureds. The amendment was approved the same year by a referendum open to
white voters only. Elections to the Coloured and Asian legislative bodies were
held in August 1984. But 77 percent of the eligible Coloured voters and 80
percent of the Asian voters boycotted the elections because the new plan
continued to exclude blacks.
The structure of the new tricameral
parliament gave the appearance of power-sharing, but white control of the
presidency and the predetermined numerical superiority of the white chamber
ensured that real power would remain in white hands. Most important, the new
arrangement continued to exclude South Africa’s black majority, who were not
allowed to vote or stand as candidates for election. Reaction to the
constitutional amendment was the exact opposite of what the white government
intended. Beginning in September 1984 there were violent confrontations
throughout the country and the government declared successive states of
emergency.
A crisis of unprecedented magnitude and
duration was precipitated by the constitutional changes and other grievances
such as chronic black unemployment, inadequate housing, rent increases, inferior
black schools, and an ever-increasing crime rate, especially in the black
townships. The government’s plan to restore law and order through a policy of
modest reform with continuing repression failed. Between 1984 and 1986
prohibitions against interracial marriages and racially mixed political parties
were repealed and rights to conduct business and own property in designated
urban areas were extended to blacks. At the same time, over 2,000 blacks were
killed and as many as 24,000 arrested and detained in confrontations with
security forces. The government’s limited reforms were rejected by blacks, who
wanted apartheid abolished, as well as by conservative whites who felt that the
reforms had already gone too far.
International financial institutions
began to regard South Africa as unsafe for investment. This, combined with
increasing demands for international sanctions, led more than 200 U.S. companies
to pull out of South Africa during the 1980s. The rand was devalued, and foreign
investment virtually dried up. White South African emigration increased
dramatically. Throughout 1987 and 1988, President P. W. Botha approved some
limited changes while rejecting others. Although he refused to hold talks with
the ANC, a group of white South African business leaders, academics, and
politicians saw the need to begin such a dialogue and met with exiled leaders of
the ANC in Senegal. Some whites recognized that the country’s deteriorating
economy and increasing international isolation could not be reversed without
far-reaching changes.
E | Negotiations and Change |
F. W. de Klerk succeeded P. W. Botha in
1989 as head of the National Party and later that year as president of South
Africa. Soon after taking office, de Klerk permitted large multiracial crowds in
Cape Town and Johannesburg to march against apartheid. He met with Archbishop
Desmond M. Tutu and other black leaders, ordered the release of many black
political prisoners, and lifted the ban on antiapartheid organizations such as
the ANC. With the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in 1990, serious
negotiations began over the transition to a post-apartheid South Africa.
The negotiation process proved long and
difficult. De Klerk’s NP was unwilling at first to consider transferring power
to the country’s black majority and tried vigorously to institute minority veto
power over majority decisions. The ANC then staged general strikes and other
nonviolent protests to try forcing the NP to change their position on the issue.
The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), which opened in December
1991, finally led to a compromise between the NP and the ANC. Eventually, as a
result of compromises on both sides, an agreement was reached on November 13,
1993, which pledged to institute a nonracial, nonsexist, unified, and democratic
South Africa based on the principle of “one person, one vote.” A Transitional
Executive Council was formed to supervise national elections and install new
national and provincial governments.
South Africa’s first truly nonracial
democratic election was held on April 27, 1994, and was declared “substantially
free and fair” by the Independent Electoral Commission. Nearly 20 million votes
were cast and the ANC received an impressive 63 percent, just short of the
two-thirds majority that would have given it the power to write the new
constitution on its own without negotiating with other parties. The NP won a
surprising 20 percent of the votes because of substantial support from Coloured
and Asian voters who feared ANC domination. Only two other parties were able to
win the 5 percent minimum for a cabinet seat in the coalition government:
Buthelezi’s Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Freedom Front, a coalition of
right-wing white groups.
The ANC won substantial majorities in
seven of the nine newly established provinces, the exceptions being in the
Western Cape region where the NP defeated the ANC, in part because of the
support of Coloured voters, and in KwaZulu-Natal where the IFP was credited with
a majority of the votes despite a number of voting irregularities. The PAC and
the liberal Democratic Party had limited appeal for the electorate and made poor
showings. Nelson Mandela was elected president of a coalition government by the
National Assembly, and he chose Thabo Mbeki as one of two deputy presidents.
Former president F. W. de Klerk was chosen by the NP as the other deputy
president. In June South Africa rejoined the Commonwealth of Nations.
F | Majority Rule in South Africa |
Although all apartheid legislation was
repealed, South Africa remained a country of extreme contradictions. Mandela’s
government faced the challenge of restructuring the economy and redistributing
economic benefits, providing housing and health care, and improving employment
possibilities and educational opportunities.
F1 | The Truth and Reconciliation Commission |
Another challenge Mandela’s government
faced was how to handle the widespread allegations of human-rights violations
and other atrocities committed by the former government during apartheid. In a
move toward uncovering past events without further polarizing the society, the
government created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
On April 15, 1996, this 17-member
commission began conducting hearings, presided by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The
purpose of the commission was to collect and investigate victims’ accounts from
the period of 1960 through 1994, to consider amnesty for those who confess their
participation in atrocities, and to make recommendations for reparations. The
commission was established in the hope that it would foster healing and prevent
such crimes from happening again.
Many people in South Africa, however,
wanted punishment for those responsible for the crimes, and the commission’s
compromises involving amnesty and confession were a source of controversy.
Exposures of atrocities pointed to the highest levels of the apartheid regime. A
former chief of the South African police force admitted that he had ordered acts
of terror with the knowledge and approval of then President P. W. Botha and the
cabinet. Activities of the ANC as well as the apartheid regime came under the
scrutiny of the commission. In 1998 the commission released its final report,
which condemned actions of all the major political organizations during the
apartheid period.
F2 | New South African Constitution |
The South African parliament approved
a new constitution in May 1996. The right-wing Freedom Front abstained from the
vote in parliament. The representatives of the IFP did not participate in the
session at all. IFP representatives refused to participate mainly because the
party advocates more autonomy for the provinces than the ANC is willing to
allow. The new constitution excludes any discrimination based on race, gender,
age, or sexual orientation, and abolishes the death penalty.
One day after adoption of the new
constitution the NP decided to split from the coalition government. The NP
contended that the new constitution did not provide shared power at the
executive level or any form of joint decision-making. The NP also hoped that by
leaving the government it would be able to establish itself as a viable
opposition party.
In September 1996 the Constitutional
Court declined to certify the new constitution because it failed to meet the
terms of the interim constitution regarding the role of provincial government.
The court ruled that the new constitution gave the nine provinces substantially
fewer powers than the interim constitution required. By the end of the year,
members of the Constitutional Assembly redrafted the constitution to meet the
court’s requirements, and the final version was approved by parliament in
December. The new constitution was implemented in stages between 1997 and
2000.
F3 | Recent Developments |
In late 1997 President Mandela retired
as party leader of the ANC and was replaced by executive deputy president Thabo
Mbeki. Mandela, who announced in 1996 that he would not seek another term as
president, groomed Mbeki to succeed him. In June 1999 legislative elections the
ANC won two-thirds of the seats in the National Assembly and selected Mbeki as
South Africa’s president.
In the early 21st century South Africa
grappled with high unemployment, poverty, and a growing AIDS epidemic. Under
Mbeki, the government extended the country’s infrastructure, bringing
electricity and water to millions of South Africans, and built thousands of new
houses for the poor. The government has pledged to provide those same basic
necessities to the millions of South Africans who have not yet received them. In
April 2004 parliamentary elections the ANC won almost 70 percent of the seats in
the National Assembly, which reelected Mbeki as president.
In 2006 South Africa became the first
country in Africa, and the fifth in the world, to legalize same-sex marriage.
The Constitutional Court had ruled in December 2005 that the country’s Marriage
Act was unconstitutional because it did not include same-sex unions in the legal
definition of marriage. The South African constitution’s bill of rights
prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. The court gave the South
African parliament a year to amend the country’s marriage laws. The Civil Union
Act, which went into effect at the end of November 2006, officially guarantees
that married same-sex couples have all of the legal rights associated with
marriage.
The History section of this article
was contributed by N. Brian Winchester and Patrick O’Meara. The remainder of the
article was contributed by Anthony Lemon.
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