South Africa

COUNTRY FLAG	COAT OF ARMS

LOCATION MAP	AREA MAP

INFORMATION

Capital: Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial)Government: Unitary Parliamentary Constitutional Republic Current President: Cyril Ramaphosa Economy: Emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors; a stock exchange that is the 18th largest in the world; and modern infrastructure supporting a relative efficient distribution of goods to major urban centers throughout the region. Population: 55,380,210 (2018) Land Size: 1.22 million sq km (470,693 sq miles) Major Ethnic Groups: African: 80.2% Zulu Xhosa Sotho Tswana Venda Tsonga Coloured: 8.8% White: 8.4% Indian/Asian: 2.5%

Religions: Protestant: 36.6% (Zionist Christian: 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic: 8.2%, Methodist: 6.8%, Dutch Reformed: 6.7%, Anglican: 3.8%) Catholic: 7.1% Muslim: 1.5% Other Christian: 36% Other: 2.3% Indigenous African Religions Hinduism Judaism Unspecified: 1.4% None: 15.1% Language(s): IsiZulu (official): 23.82% IsiXhosa (official): 17.64% Afrikaans (official): 13.35% Sepedi (official): 9.39% English (official): 8.2% Setswana (official): 8.2% Sesotho (official): 7.93% Xitsonga (official): 4.44% siSwati (official): 2.66% Tshivenda (official): 2.28% isiNdebele (official): 1.59% Other: 0.5% Links: CIA World Fact Book: South Africa U.S. Department of State: South Africa BBC News: South Africa South African Embassy in the U.S. Business Day City Press Mail & Guardian  Sowetan The Times

RECENT NEWS

• Thu - Apr 9, 2020: Ramaphosa Extends Coronavirus Lockdown, Slashes Cabinet Ministers' Salaries - AllAfrica News: South Africa
  [allAfrica] Cape Town -South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the country's coronavirus lockdown by another two weeks, effectively closing down free movement and much of the economy until the end of April. He also announced a temporary 33 percent pay cut for himself and members of his Cabinet and appealed to business executives to follow their example.
• Thu - Apr 9, 2020: President Cyril Ramaphosa - Extension of Coronavirus COVID-19 Lockdown to the End of April - AllAfrica News: South Africa
  [Govt of SA] My Fellow South Africans,
• Thu - Apr 9, 2020: Police Record 2,300 Gender-Based Violence Complaints in First Week of Lockdown - Not 87,000 - AllAfrica News: South Africa
  [Africa Check] High rates of gender-based violence are a huge concern for South Africa.
• Thu - Apr 9, 2020: Unions Accuse Employers of Flouting Lockdown Rules - AllAfrica News: South Africa
  [New Frame] The Covid-19 lockdown has been plagued by employers failing to provide workers with suitable protective gear while others have been downright breaking the law, say unions.
• Thu - Apr 9, 2020: Is Gender-Based Violence Not a Serious and Violent Crime, Minister Cele? - AllAfrica News: South Africa
  [Daily Maverick] Minister of Police Bheki Cele proudly announced to the nation on Sunday that he was happy with recent crime stats since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown. He said 'serious and violent crimes numbers were down', a fact he attributed to the ban on alcohol.