Politicla and Cultural geographies

Government

The Houses of Parliament in Cape Town (Courtesy of Wikipedia)

The formal country name is Republic of South Africa, which is declared on May 31, 1961. There are 9 provinces: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North-West, and Western Cape. The legal system is based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law but has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, according to CIA World Factbook.

South Africa has three capital cities: Cape Town, the largest of the three, is the legislative capital; Pretoria is the administrative capital; and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital. South Africa has a bicameral parliament: the National Council of Provinces (the upper house) has 90 members, while the National Assembly (the lower house) has 400 members (Wikipedia).

Members of the lower house are elected on a population basis by proportional representation: half of the members are elected from national lists and the other half are elected from provincial lists. Ten members are elected to represent each province in the National Council of Provinces, regardless of the population of the province. Elections for both chambers are held every five years. The government is formed in the lower house, and the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly is the President, according to Wikipeidia.

According to Wikipedia, the primary sources of South Africa law are Roman-Dutch mercantile law and personal law with English Common law, as imports of Dutch settlements and British colonialism. The first European based law in South Africa was brought by the Dutch East India Company and is called Roman-Dutch law. It was imported before the codification of European law into the Napoleonic Code and is comparable in many ways to Scots law. This was followed in the 19th century by English law, both common and statutory. Starting in 1910 with unification, South Africa had its own parliament which passed laws specific for South Africa, building on those previously passed for the individual member colonies. During the years of apartheid, the country's political scene was dominated by figures like B. J. Vorster and P. W. Botha, as well as opposition figures such as Harry Schwarz, Joe Slovo and Helen Suzman.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South African politics have been dominated by the African National Congress (ANC), which has been the dominant party with 60–70% of the vote. The main challenger to the rule of the ANC is the Democratic Alliance party, which received 16.7% of the vote in the 2009 election and 14.8% in the 2006 election(Wikipedia).

The formerly dominant New National Party, which introduced apartheid through its predecessor, the National Party, chose to merge with the ANC on 9 April 2005. Other major political parties represented in Parliament are the Congress of the People, which split from the ANC and won 7.4% of the vote in 2009, and the Inkatha Freedom Party, which mainly represents Zulu voters and took 4.6% of the vote in the 2009 election (Wikipedia).

Since 2004, the country has had many thousands of popular protests, some violent, making it, according to one academic, the "most protest-rich country in the world". Many of these protests have been organized from the growing shanty towns that surround South African cities (Wikipedia).

In 2008, South Africa placed 5th out of 48 sub-Saharan African countries on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. South Africa scored well in the categories of Rule of Law, Transparency & Corruption and Participation & Human Rights, but was let down by its relatively poor performance in Safety & Security. The Ibrahim Index is a comprehensive measure of African governance, based on a number of different variables which reflect the success with which governments deliver essential political goods to its citizens, according to Wikipedia.

Language

South Africa has eleven official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. In this regard it is third only to Bolivia and India in number. While all the languages are formally equal, some languages are spoken more than others. According to the 2001 National Census, the three most spoken first home languages are Zulu (23.8%), Xhosa (17.6%) and Afrikaans (13.3%).[86] Despite the fact that English is recognized as the language of commerce and science, it was spoken by only 8.2% of South Africans at home in 2001, an even lower percentage than in 1996 (8.6%).

(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

The country also recognizes several unofficial languages, including Fanagalo, Khoe, Lobedu, Nama, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi, San and South African Sign Language. These unofficial languages may be used in certain official uses in limited areas where it has been determined that these languages are prevalent. Nevertheless, their populations are not such that they require nationwide recognition.

Many of the "unofficial languages" of the San and Khoikhoi people contain regional dialects stretching northwards into Namibia and Botswana, and elsewhere. These people, who are a physically distinct population from other Africans, have their own cultural identity based on their hunter-gatherer societies. They have been marginalized to a great extent, and many of their languages are in danger of becoming extinct.

Many white South Africans also speak other European languages, such as Portuguese (also spoken by black Angolans and Mozambicans), German, and Greek, while some Asians and Indians in South Africa speak South Asian languages, such as Tamil, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu and Telugu. French is still widely spoken by French South Africans especially in places like Franschhoek, where many South Africans are of French origin. South African French is spoken by fewer than 10,000 individuals. Congolese French is also spoken in South Africa by migrants.

(Courtesy of Wikipedia of South Africa)

Religion

According to the 2001 national census, Christians accounted for 79.7% of the population. This includes Zion Christian (11.1%), Pentecostal (Charismatic) (8.2%), Roman Catholic (7.1%), Methodist (6.8%), Dutch Reformed (6.7%), Anglican (3.8%); members of other Christian churches accounted for another 36% of the population. Muslims accounted for 1.5% of the population, Hindus about 1.3%, and Judaism 0.2%. 15.1% had no religious affiliation, 2.3% were other and 1.4% were unspecified.

African Indigenous Churches were the largest of the Christian groups. It was believed that many of these persons who claimed no affiliation with any organized religion adhered to traditional indigenous religions. Many people have syncretic religious practices combining Christian and indigenous influences.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Islam in South Africa constitute mostly of those are described as Coloureds and those who are described as Indians. They have been joined by black or white South African converts as well as others from other parts of Africa. South African Muslims claim that their faith is the fastest-growing religion of conversion in the country, with the number of black Muslims growing sixfold, from 12,000 in 1991 to 74,700 in 2004.

The Hindu population was primarily established during British colonial period, but later waves of immigration from India have also contributed to it. Most Hindus are ethnically South Asian but there are many who come from mixed racial stock, and some are converts with the efforts of Hindu missionaries such as ISKCON.

Other minority religions in South Africa are Sikhism, Jainism and Bahá'í Faith.

(Courtesy of Wikipedia of South Africa)

Physical Geography

Natural Landscape

Figure 1 Map of South Africa (Courtesy of CIA World Factbook)

South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world. South Africa is located at the southernmost region of Africa, with a long coastline that stretches more than 2,500 km (1,553 mi) and along two oceans (the South Atlantic and the Indian), according to Wikipedia. The four original provinces of South Africa - Cape of Good Hope, Orange Free State, Transvaal, and Natal - were reorganized in 1994 into nine new provinces: Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, North-West, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo (formerly called Northern Province), and KwaZulu-Natal, according to Encyclopedia of Earth (Water Profile of South Africa).

A plateau that covers the largest part of the country dominates the topography. It is separated from the surrounding areas of generally lower elevation by the Great Escarpment. The plateau consists almost entirely of very old rock of the Karoo System, which formed from the Late Carboniferous Epoch (320 to 286 million years ago) to the Late Triassic Epoch (230 to 208 million years ago). The plateau is generally highest in the east, dropping from elevations of 2,400 meters (m) in the basaltic Lesotho region to 600 meters in the sandy Kalahari in the west. The central part of the plateau comprises the Highveld, which is between 1,200 and 1,800 m in elevation. South of the Orange River lies the Great Karoo region, according to Encyclopedia of Earth (Water Profile of South Africa).

To the north of Johannesburg, the altitude drops beyond the escarpment of the Highveld, and turns into the lower lying Bushveld, an area of mixed dry forest and an abundance of wildlife. East of the Highveld, beyond the eastern escarpment, the Lowveld stretches towards the Indian Ocean. It has particularly high temperatures, and is also the location of extended subtropical agriculture, according to Wikipedia.

Weather and Climate

In South Africa, summer is from October to March with temperatures from 15 °C at night to 30 °C at noon. Winter is from April to September with temperatures from 0 °C at night to 18 °C at noon. Winter temperatures in the interior often drop below zero and frost is common. South Africa ranks very high as far as sunshine days are concerned, according to Encyclopedia of Earth (Water Profile of South Africa).

South Africa has a generally temperate climate, due in part to being surrounded by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans on three sides, by its location in the climatically milder southern hemisphere and due to the average elevation rising steadily towards the north (towards the equator) and further inland. Due to this varied topography and oceanic influence, a great variety of climatic zones exist, according to Wikipiedia.

The extreme southwest has a climate remarkably similar to that of the Mediterranean with wet winters and hot, dry summers, hosting the famous Fynbos Biome of grassland and thicket. This area also produces much of the wine in South Africa. This region is also particularly known for its wind, which blows intermittently almost all year, according to Wikipedia.

The Best Time for Traveling? (According to South Africa Tourism)

The flowers are obviously best in August and September. The best time for game viewing is late spring (September and October). The southern right whales hang around off our coasts from about mid-June to the end of October.

Figure 2 Surfing in SA Beach (Courtesy of South Africa Tourism)

The "shoulder" seasons - spring and autumn - are best for hiking, as summer can be hot over most of the country.

River rafting is better in the Cape at the end of winter, and in KwaZulu-Natal in the height of summer (late November to mid-February).

Of course, if you want to lounge around on the beaches, mid-summer is the best time - though everyone else will be there too. And - big bonus - the beaches of northern KwaZulu-Natal are warm and sunny even in midwinter.

Water Sources (according to Encyclopedia of Earth (Water Profile of South Africa)

River flows reflect the rainfall pattern. Rivers that have their origin on the eastern great escarpment and in the Fold Mountains of Western Cape normally have perennial flows. Rivers that originate in the immediate adjoining areas have periodic flows, whereas rivers that originate on the western great plateau have highly episodic flows.

 Approximately 48 percent of the country (606 000 km2) is drained to the Atlantic Ocean by the Orange River, which rises in the Lesotho Highlands, and its tributaries. Chief among these are the Caledon and the Vaal Rivers. Total mean annual runoff is 11.1 cubic kilometers (km3).

 North of the Witwatersrand ridge, the plateau is drained to the Indian Ocean by the Limpopo system, with major tributaries such as the Crocodile and the Elephants River. This basin has a mean annual runoff of 5.1 km3 draining approximately 14 percent of the country.

Figure 3 Shoreline of Cape of Good Hope (Courtesy of CIA World Factbook)

All other rivers draining into the Indian Ocean, the largest of which is the Tugela River, cover approximately 29 percent of the country with a mean annual runoff of 28 km3.

 Rivers draining the Fold Mountains of the south-western Cape into the Atlantic and Indian Oceans cover approximately 9 percent of the total area, with a mean annual runoff of 5 km3. The most important rivers in this area are the Olifants and the Breede Rivers.

The average annual rainfall is 495 mm, ranging from less than 100 mm/year in the western deserts to about 1,200 mm/year in the eastern part of the country. Only 35 percent of the country has a precipitation of 500 mm or more, while 44 percent has a precipitation of 200-500 mm and 21 percent has a precipitation of less than 200 mm. Therefore, 65 percent of the country does not receive enough rainfall for successful rainfed crop production and is used as grazing land. Crops grown in this area are grown under irrigation. Mild to severe frost occurs regularly on the great plateau limiting the choice of crops and resulting in strong seasonal patterns for most crops grown.

Current Environmental Issues related to Climate and Water Sources:

South Africa lacks of important arterial rivers or lakes requires extensive water conservation and control measures. It has the growth in water usage outpacing supply. In addition, South Africans are facing the pollution of rivers from agricultural runoff and urban discharge. The air pollution also results in acid rain, soil erosion and desertification, according to CIA World Factbook.