The Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a 2,798 kilometres coastline

on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an independent country wholly surrounded by South African territory.

Position in the world

South Africa has eleven official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern South, 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%). Despite the fact that English is recognised 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%).

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 less than 10,000 individuals. Congolese French is also spoken in South Africa by migrants.

Languages

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). At 1,219,912 km2 ,South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world and is comparable in size to Colombia. Njesuthi in the Drakensberg at 3,408 m is the highest peak in South Africa.

The interior of South Africa is a vast, flat, and sparsely populated scrubland, the Karoo, which is drier towards the northwest along the Namib desert. In contrast, the eastern coastline is lush and well-watered, which produces a climate similar to the tropics.

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.

Geography

Satellite picture of South Africa

The Drakensberg mountains, the

highest mountain range in South Africa

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.

Government and politics

The Union Buildings in Pretoria are the home of the South African executive

Code Rank City Population ProvinceAnnual Growth Rate

JHB 1 Johannesburg 8,837,000 Gauteng 2.47%

CPT 2 Cape Town 3,653,000 Western Cape 1.43%

ETH 3 Durban 3,192,000 Kwazulu-Natal 1.36%

EKU 4 Germiston 2,724,229 Gauteng 1.36%

TSH 5 Pretoria 2,450,000 Gauteng 1.41%

NMA 6 Port Elizabeth 1,572,000 Eastern Cape 0.41%

JHB 7 Vereeniging 1,074,000 Gauteng 0.41%

EC125 8 East London 958,000 Eastern Cape 0.32%

FS172 9 Bloemfontein 752,906 Free State 0.21%

GT421 10 Vanderbijlpark 650,867 Gauteng 0.13%

Largest Metropolitan areas in South Africa