World Country Guide

Population
45,454,211 (official estimate 2002).

Population Density
36.8 per sq km.

Capital
Pretoria (administrative). Population: 1,985,983 (2001). Cape Town (legislative). Population: 2,893,247 (2001). Bloemfontein (judicial). Population: 119,698 (2001).

Geography
The Republic of South Africa lies at the southern end of the African continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and is bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland and totally encloses Lesotho. South Africa has three major geographical regions, namely plateau, mountains and the coastal belt. The high plateau has sharp escarpments which rise above the plains, or veld. Despite two major river systems, the Limpopo and the Orange, most of the plateau lacks surface water. Along the coastline are sandy beaches and rocky coves, and the vegetation is shrublike. The mountainous regions which run along the coastline from the Cape of Good Hope to the Limpopo Valley in the northeast of the country are split into the Drakensberg, Nuweveldberg and Stormberg ranges.
Following the 1994 elections, South Africa was organised into nine regions. These comprise the Western Cape with its provincial and national capital of Cape Town, the Eastern Cape with its provincial capital of Bisho, the Northern Cape with its provincial capital of Kimberley, KwaZulu-Natal with its provincial capital of Pietermaritzburg, the Free State with its provincial capital of Bloemfontein, the North West Province with its provincial capital of Mmabatho, Limpopo (formerly called the Northern Province) with its provincial capital of Polokwane (formerly called Pietersburg), Mpumalanga with its provincial capital of Nelspruit, and Gauteng with its provincial capital of Johannesburg.

Government
Republic. Gained independence from the UK in 1910. Head of State and Government: President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki since 1999.

Language
The official languages are Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Siswati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.

Religion
Most inhabitants profess Christianity of some form and belong to either Catholic, Anglican and other protestant denominations, Afrikaner Calvinist churches or African independent churches. There are also significant Hindu, Muslim and Jewish communities, and traditional beliefs are still practised widely, sometimes in conjunction with Christianity.

Time
GMT + 2.

Electricity
220/230 volts AC; 250 volts AC (Pretoria), 50Hz. Three-pin round plugs are in use.

Communications

Telephone
IDD is available. Country code: 27. Outgoing international code: 09.

Mobile telephone
GSM 900/1800 networks. Operators include Cell C Ltd (website: www.cellc.net), MTN (website: www.mtn.co.za) and Vodacom (website: www.vodacom.co.za). Coverage extends to most urban areas.

Fax
Most main hotels have this service.

Internet
ISPs include I-Africa (website: www.iafrica.com), M-Web (website: www.mweb.co.za) and Sangonet (website: http://sn.apc.org). Visitors can access their e-mail from Internet cafes around the country.

Telegram
Services are available in all towns.

Post
Airmail to Europe takes up to seven days. Post office hours: Generally Mon-Fri 0830-1630, Sat 0800-1130. Some transactions may not be carried out Mon-Fri after 1530 or Sat after 1100. The smaller post offices close for lunch 1300-1400. Poste Restante services are available throughout the country.

Press
The main newspapers are in English and Afrikaans, and include Cape Argus, The Citizen, Daily Dispatch, Mercury, The Star and Sowetan.

Radio
BBC World Service (website: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice) and Voice of America (website: www.voa.gov) can be received. From time to time the frequencies change and the most up-to-date can be found online.