F R A N S A L I A N S

Republic of South Africa

 

The southernmost country of continental Africa, is bordered on the north-west by Namibia; on the north by Botswana and Zimbabwe; on the north-east by Mozambique and Swaziland; on the east and south by the Indian Ocean; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. The independent country of Lesotho forms an enclave in the eastern part of the country. The administrative capital of South Africa is Pretoria, the legislative capital is Cape Town, and the judicial capital is Bloemfontein.

 

Portuguese navigators charted the sea-route round the tip of Africa towards the end of the 15th century, but in the end it was the Dutch who pioneered white settlement. In April 1652, Jan van Riebeeck, commander of the Dutch East India Company’s expedition to the Cape, made his landfall at Table Bay to establish a victualling station for Holland’s great trading fleets. The outpost soon grew into a colony, the settlers spreading out into the hinterland – and then eastwards, on a direct collision course with the westward-advancing Xhosa.

 

The Dutch remained in control of the Cape until 1795, when they were displaced by the British, who, apart from a further brief period of Dutch rule (1803-6), were to be the dominant force in southern African affairs until the Act of Union established the modern South African state in 1910. The form of government adopted at Union was to remain virtually unchanged until South Africa became a Republic in 1961. The National Party which formed the government remained in power, virtually unchallenged, for over 40 years.

 

In February 1990 South Africa’s white minority government lifted the ban on anti-apartheid political organizations and freed African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners. The government and the black liberation movement, led primarily by the ANC, then entered into negotiations to dismantle apartheid and open the way to political democracy in South Africa.  In 1993 the two sides agreed to hold the first multiracial elections in South Africa’s history in April 1994.

 

Language

 

The official languages of South Africa are Afrikaans and English, although there are 11 official languages. The former, a variant of the Dutch language, is the first language of almost all Afrikaners and many Coloured people. English is used as the primary language by many whites and is also spoken by many Asians and blacks. To most blacks, however, their own tribal language is their first language. In addition to English, many Asians also speak a language of India.

 

Climate

 

Limited rainfall and infertile soil restrict the areas in South Africa suitable for crop-raising. As a result, about 85 per cent of farmland is devoted to raising livestock, particularly sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, and poultry. Large areas in the commercial arable sector are irrigated, and the country produces almost all the food crops it needs, except in the worst drought years.

 

People of South Africa

 

The estimated total population of South Africa in 2001 was 43,586,097. Rates of population growth slowed in the 1980s and 1990s; in 2001 it was 0.3 percent a year.

 

The overall population density (2001 estimate estimate) is 36 persons per sq km (93 per sq mi), but this varies widely across the country. Rural population densities are highest in the former bantustans and much lower in historically white-populated areas of commercial farming, especially in semiarid western areas. Some 50 percent of the population is urban, including most of the whites, Asians, and Coloured people.

 

The largest cities in South Africa (1995 estimate) include Cape Town (2,727,000), the legislative capital; Durban (1,264,000), the country's leading port; Johannesburg (2,172,000 ), the commercial capital and metropolis of the goldfields; Pretoria (1,314,000), the administrative capital; and Port Elizabeth (1,035,000), an industrial city and major port. Although it is not a city, Soweto, a township outside Johannesburg, is one of the largest communities in South Africa. The 1991 census counted 596,632 residents in Soweto, but estimates have placed the population at as many as 2 million.

 

Christianity in South Africa

 

About 77 percent of South Africans are Christians, 20 percent profess no religious faith, and the remaining 3 percent are Hindus. Hindus are mainly Indian, and Muslims either Indian or Coloured. There has been some growth of Islam among Coloured people in recent years. The Christian churches include over 4,000 African independent churches that collectively claim over 8.5 million adherents.

 

African independent churches originally broke off from various mission churches, but have since developed their own momentum. The majority are now Zionist or Apostolic churches, with some independent branches of the Pentecostal movement. The Zion Christian Church is by far the largest of these churches; biannual gatherings at Zion City, its headquarters in Moria near Pietersburg in Northern Province, usually attract about 1 million members. In rural KwaZulu-Natal there are hundreds of separate churches, and at least 900 churches flourish in Soweto.

 

Most Afrikaners belong to one of the three Dutch Reformed churches whose 4.5 million members also include about half of the Coloured people and a small number of blacks. The Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (Afrikaans for “Dutch Reformed Church”) is the largest of the Dutch Reformed churches with 4 million members including the Coloured and African membership. It was a racially segregated church that supported the state during the apartheid years, but then recanted and moved closer to other churches. Other denominations include Roman Catholics (2.91 million), Methodists (2.25 million), Anglicans (1.46 million), Lutherans (0.96 million), and Presbyterians (0.56 million). The larger churches in this group were prominent in the struggle against apartheid, at least at the leadership level. A number of charismatic churches (an interdenominational Christian movement) have also been established in recent years, including the Rhema Church in Randburg, Gauteng Province.

 

Most people who claim no religious affiliation are African traditionalists. Their religion has a strong cultural base and rituals vary according to ethnic group. They generally recognize a supreme being, but ancestors are much more important, and they believe in manipulation of the power of spirits. Traditionalists have had some contact with Christianity and many are in a transitional position, incorporating aspects of both religions into their beliefs and worship.