Careers, Jobs and Education Resources for: South Africa

Dutch traders landed at the southern tip of modern day South Africa in 1652 and established a stopover point on the spice route between the Netherlands and the East, founding the city of Cape Town. After the British seized the Cape of Good Hope area in 1806, many of the Dutch settlers (the Boers) trekked north to found their own republics. The discovery of diamonds (1867) and gold (1886) spurred wealth and immigration and intensified the subjugation of the native inhabitants. The Boers resisted British encroachments but were defeated in the Boer War (1899-1902); however, the British and the Afrikaners, as the Boers became known, ruled together under the Union of South Africa. In 1948, the National Party was voted into power and instituted a policy of apartheid - the separate development of the races. The first multi-racial elections in 1994 brought an end to apartheid and ushered in black majority rule. (from the CIA)
 
 
 

Economic Overview

South africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors; a stock exchange that is 17th largest in the world; and modern infrastructure supporting an efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. growth has been robust since 2004, as south africa has reaped the benefits of macroeconomic stability and a global commodities boom. however, unemployment remains high and outdated infrastructure has constrained growth. at the end of 2007, south africa began to experience an electricity crisis because state power supplier eskom suffered supply problems with aged plants, necessitating "load-shedding" cuts to residents and businesses in the major cities. daunting economic problems remain from the apartheid era - especially poverty, lack of economic empowerment among the disadvantaged groups, and a shortage of public transportation. south african economic policy is fiscally conservative but pragmatic, focusing on controlling inflation, maintaining a budget surplus, and using state-owned enterprises to deliver basic services to low-income areas as a means to increase job growth and household income.

Environmental Issues

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

Government Type

Republic

Population

48,782,756 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to aids; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (july 2008 est.)

Location

Southern africa, at the southern tip of the continent of africa

Area

Total: 1,219,912 sq km land: 1,219,912 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes prince edward islands (marion island and prince edward island)

Slightly less than twice the size of texas

Country Aliases

Conventional long form: republic of south africa conventional short form: south africa former: union of south africa abbreviation: rsa

Capital

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)

Military Service

18 years of age for voluntary military service; women have a long history of military service in noncombat roles dating back to world war i (2004)

International Disputes

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

Sources: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)