South Africa

• mostly semiarid;
• subtropical along east coast;
• sunny days, cool nights

total:

12.5 cu km/yr (31%/6%/63%)

per capita:

264 cu m/yr (2000)

• lack of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures;
• growth in water usage outpacing supply;
• pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge;
• air pollution resulting in acid rain;
• soil erosion;
• desertification

at birth:

1.02 male(s)/female

under 15 years:

1 male(s)/female

15-64 years:

1.01 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.69 male(s)/female

total population:

0.99 male(s)/female (2008 est.)

degree of risk:

intermediate

food or waterborne diseases:

bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever

vectorborne disease:

Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever and malaria

water contact disease:

schistosomiasis (2008)

noun:

South African(s)

adjective:

South African

conventional long form:

Republic of South Africa

conventional short form:

South Africa

former:

Union of South Africa

abbreviation:

RSA

name:

Pretoria (administrative capital)

geographic coordinates:

25 42 S, 28 13 E

time difference:

UTC+2 (7 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)

note: Cape Town (legislative capital); Bloemfontein (judicial capital)

• 31 May 1910 (Union of South Africa formed from four British colonies:
  • Cape Colony,
  • Natal,
  • Transvaal,
  • and Orange Free State)
  ;
• 31 May 1961 (republic declared) 27 April 1994 (majority rule)

chief of state:

• President Kgalema MOTLANTHE (since 25 September 2008);
• Executive Deputy President Baleka MBETE (since 25 September 2008);
• note - Thabo MBEKI resigned as president effective 25 September 2008;
• the president is both the chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Kgalema MOTLANTHE (since 25 September 2008); Executive Deputy President Baleka MBETE (since 25 September 2008)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by the president

elections:

• president elected by the National Assembly for a five-year term (eligible for a second term);
• election last held on 25 September 2008 (next to be held in April 2009);
• note - Kgalema MOTLANTHE is serving out the term of Thabo MBEKI

election results:

• Kgalema MOTLANTHE elected president;
• National Assembly vote - Kgalema MOTLANTHE 269, Joe SEREMANE 50, other 41;
• note - Thabo MBEKI resigned as president effective 25 September 2008, Kgalema MOTLANTHE is serving the remainder of his term

• Constitutional Court;
• Supreme Court of Appeals;
• High Courts;
• Magistrate Courts

• African Christian Democratic Party or ACDP [Kenneth MESHOE];
• African National Congress or ANC [Jacob ZUMA];
• Democratic Alliance or DA [Helen ZILLE];
• Freedom Front Plus or FF+ [Pieter MULDER];
• Inkatha Freedom Party or IFP [Mangosuthu BUTHELEZI];
• New National Party or NNP;
• Pan-Africanist Congress or PAC [Motsoko PHEKO];
• United Democratic Movement or UDM [Bantu HOLOMISA]

• Congress of South African Trade Unions or COSATU [Zwelinzima VAVI, general secretary];
• South African Communist Party or SACP [Blade NZIMANDE, general secretary];
• South African National Civics Organization or SANCO [Mlungisi HLONGWANE, national president]

note: note - COSATU and SACP are in a formal alliance with the ANC

chief of mission:

Ambassador Welile Augustine NHLAPO

chancery:

3051 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 232-4400

FAX:

[1] (202) 265-1607

consulate(s) general:

Chicago, Los Angeles, New York

chief of mission:

Ambassador Eric BOST

embassy:

877 Pretorius Street, Pretoria

mailing address:

P. O. Box 9536, Pretoria 0001

telephone:

[27] (12) 431-4000

FAX:

[27] (12) 342-2299

consulate(s) general:

Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg

• two equal width horizontal bands of red (top) and blue separated by a central green band that splits into a horizontal Y, the arms of which end at the corners of the hoist side;
• the Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by narrow yellow bands;
• the red and blue bands are separated from the green band and its arms by narrow white stripes

agriculture:

9%

industry:

26%

services:

65% (2007 est.)

lowest 10%:

1.4%

highest 10%:

44.7% (2000)

general assessment:

the system is the best developed and most modern in Africa

domestic:

• combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity is nearly 110 telephones per 100 persons;
• consists of carrier-equipped open-wire lines, coaxial cables, microwave radio relay links, fiber-optic cable, radiotelephone communication stations, and wireless local loops;
• key centers are Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria

international:

• country code - 27;
• the SAT-3/WASC and SAFE fiber optic cable systems connect South Africa to Europe and Asia;
• satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean)

total:

20,872 km

narrow gauge:

20,436 km 1.065-m gauge (8,931 km electrified); 436 km 0.610-m gauge (2006)

total:

362,099 km

paved:

73,506 km (includes 239 km of expressways)

unpaved:

288,593 km (2002)

total:

3

by type:

container 1, petroleum tanker 2

foreign-owned:

1 (Denmark 1)

registered in other countries:

8 (Bahamas 1, Nigeria 1, NZ 1, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1, Seychelles 1, UK 3) (2008)

males age 16-49:

11,622,507

females age 16-49:

11,501,537 (2008 est.)

males age 16-49:

6,042,498

females age 16-49:

5,471,103 (2008 est.)

male:

529,201

female:

522,678 (2008 est.)

• with the end of apartheid and the establishment of majority rule, former military, black homelands forces, and ex-opposition forces were integrated into the South African National Defense Force (SANDF);
• as of 2003 the integration process was considered complete

• South Africa has placed military along the border to apprehend the thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing economic dysfunction and political persecution;
• as of January 2007, South Africa also supports large numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (33,000), Somalia (20,000), Burundi (6,500), and other states in Africa (26,000);
• managed dispute with Namibia over the location of the boundary in the Orange River;
• in 2006, Swazi king advocates resort to ICJ to claim parts of Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal from South Africa

refugees (country of origin):

• 10,772 (Democratic Republic of Congo);
• 7,818 (Somalia);
• 5,759 (Angola) (2007)

current situation:

• South Africa is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for forced labor and sexual exploitation;
• women and girls are trafficked internally - and occasionally to European and Asian countries - for sexual exploitation;
• women from other African countries are trafficked to South Africa and, less frequently, onward to Europe for sexual exploitation;
• men and boys are trafficked from neighboring countries for forced agricultural labor;
• Asian and Eastern European women are trafficked to South Africa for debt-bonded sexual exploitation

tier rating:

• Tier 2 Watch List - South Africa is on the Tier 2 Watch List for a fourth consecutive year for its failure to show increasing efforts to address trafficking;
• the government provided inadequate data in 2007 on trafficking crimes investigated or prosecuted, or on resulting convictions or sentences;
• it also did not provide information on its efforts to protect victims of trafficking;
• the country continues to deport and/or prosecute suspected foreign victims without providing appropriate protective services (2008)

• transshipment center for heroin, hashish, and cocaine, as well as a major cultivator of marijuana in its own right;
• cocaine and heroin consumption on the rise;
• world's largest market for illicit methaqualone, usually imported illegally from India through various east African countries, but increasingly producing its own synthetic drugs for domestic consumption;
• attractive venue for money launderers given the increasing level of organized criminal and narcotics activity in the region and the size of the South African economy