South Africa

Situated at the southern tip of Africa, South Africa is 1 233 404km² in size and is edged on three sides by nearly 3 000km of coastline, with the Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The country is bordered in the north by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, and also encloses two independent countries, the kingdoms of Lesotho and Swaziland.

South Africa has three capitals: Cape Town (legislative), Pretoria (administrative) and Bloemfontein (judicial).

Population

The population of South Africa is estimated to be 60,6 million by the end of June 2022, according to Statistics South Africa, of varying origins, cultures, languages and religions. At the last count, 79,2% are African, 8,9% ‘coloured’ (a term used to describe people of mixed race), 8,9% white, and 2,5% Indian. Just over half the population is female.

Climate

South Africa is known for its long sunny days. Most of the nine provinces have summer rainfall, except for the Western Cape, which experiences winter rainfall. The South African Weather Service uses the following dates for seasons:

Provinces

There are nine provinces in South Africa, namely the: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North West and Western Cape.

Communication

South Africa has a well-developed communications infrastructure. A number of cellphone providers offer national coverage and there are well-established landline phone networks. Internet and Wi-Fi are easily accessible in most urban areas.

Languages

South Africa is a multilingual country with 11 official languages, namely: English, Afrikaans, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Siswati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga. Although only about 10% of the population has English as its mother tongue, English is the language most widely understood, and is the second language of the majority of South Africans.