Major FAQ-South Africa
CULTURE AND RELIGION
HISTORY
Several decades of Apartheid have ended and the generation born after the peaceful resolution of its oppression is growing up with far better opportunities in education, work, and society. But apartheid will r em ain a defining factor of South African history during which Black Africans were r em oved from entire districts in the middle of the night. Some were left, with their belongings, on the side walks with no where to go but others were taken to concentration camps where they endured incredible suffering, murder, and disease. The atrocities lasted through two long governance until 1989 when F.W. de Klerk responded to the legislation of absolute segregation and began its unraveling. The definitive change occurred with the release of political prisoners, namely Nelson Mandela, and an intense, valuable negotiation about the future of South Africa . The two men were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for seeing a peaceful end to generations of segregation. Then in April of 1994, Nelson Mandela became South Africa 's first black president. The country has incredible natural resources and has attracted billions of dollars in foreign investment since sanctions were lifted. The challenges against South Africa r em ain fierce. It will have to face illiteracy, poverty, and HIV/AIDS to become a truly free and equal nation.
GEOGRAPHY
The land of South Africa shares a northwest border with Namibia and Botswana in the Kalahari desert where the geography is arid, dry and with out rain all year round. The cool Atlantic ocean sizzles and spits at the shore in the far northwest corner of this northern border. The northeastern border with Zimbabwe and Mozambique is a much more diverse fauna of brilliant flowers and biodiversity. The other 1,739 mile border is shared with only ocean.
The South African geography boasts warm eastern coasts and chill Atlantic coasts in the west. The north borders fall in some of the hottest, harshest deserts of the world, the Kalahari and Namib. The less drastic plateaus and rolling hills give a balance to the land. The geographic range of South Africa is completed by mountains that run for several hundred kilometers inland along the coasts.
CUISINE
A typical South African food is biltong. Made of meat that has been dried, biltong is similar to meat jerky but is more delicious. It can be made of any kind of meat, even ostrich, antelope, or crocodile.
The pleasant climate of South Africa makes it possible to cook out doors most of the year. South Africans enjoy barbeque typically including sausage spiced with traditional family recipes.
Open air beach side eateries serve fish and you can find specialty eateries for all kinds of food you're craving. In the cape you can find dishes of exotic Asian spices on local produce, curries, and staple maize porridge.
PEOPLE AND LIFESTYLE
South Africa is a multi-lingual country. Besides the 11 officially recognised languages, scores of others are spoken here, as the country lies at the crossroads of southern Africa .
South Africa 's Constitution guarantees equal status to 11 official languages to cater for the country's diverse peoples and their cultures. These are:
- Afrikaans
- English
- isiNdebele
- isiXhosa
- isiZulu
- Sepedi
- Sesotho
- Setswana
- siSwati
- Tshivenda
- Xitsonga
English is generally understood across the country, being the most commonly used language in official and commercial public life. However, it only ranks joint fifth out of 11 as a home language.
South Africa is a nation of over 46-million people of diverse origins, cultures, languages and beliefs.
According to the mid-2005 estimates from Statistics South Africa, the country's population stands at approximately 46.9-million, up from the census 2001 count of 44.8-million.
Africans are in the majority at 37.2-million, constituting 79.4% of the total population. The white population is estimated at 4.4-million (9.3%), the coloured population at 4.1-million (8.8%) and the Indian/Asian population at 1.1-million (2.5%).
While more than three-quarters of South Africa 's population is African or black, this category is neither culturally nor linguistically homogenous. Nine of the country's 11 official languages are African, reflecting a variety of tribal/cultural groupings which nonetheless have a great deal in common in terms of background, culture and descent.
Africans include: the Nguni people, comprising the Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi; the Sotho-Tswana people, comprising the Southern, Northern and Western Sotho (Tswana); the Tsonga; and the Venda .
South Africa 's white population descends largely from the colonial immigrants of the late 17th, 18th and 19th centuries - Dutch, German, French Huguenot and British. Linguistically it is divided into Afrikaans- and English-speaking groups, although many small communities that have immigrated over the last century retain the use of other languages.
The label "coloured" is a contentious one, but still used for people of mixed race descended from slaves brought in from East and central Africa, the indigenous Khoisan who lived in the Cape at the time, indigenous Africans and whites. The majority speak Afrikaans.
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