South Africa

C

Natural Resources

Underlying the whole plateau of South Africa is a great complex of ancient crystalline rocks formed between the later Carboniferous and later Triassic periods. In the course of time, these rocks were worn down to form an almost level surface and were covered in most places by thick layers of sandstone and shale. These layers are nearly horizontal except in the south-west, where extensive folding has formed irregular hills and mountains. In the Witwatersrand and the Middle Veld the underlying bedrock is exposed.

The grasslands of the central South African plateau have dark-to-black soils, or chernozems, which are similar to those of the North American prairies. In the western, more arid areas, the chernozem soils give way to poorer, chestnut-coloured soils. In the south the soils are thin and often red. The soils in the north-east are reddish and yellowish. Soil erosion is a big problem in much of the country. Soil conservation measures, like water conservation, have long been a government priority.

South Africa is very rich in mineral resources, which provide two thirds of the country’s exports. Gold and diamonds are the best known, and together with coal have traditionally had most economic importance. Gold is mined primarily in the Witwatersrand, the site of the world’s richest goldfield, discovered in 1886. The gold in the Witwatersrand occurs in minute specks, invisible to the naked eye, in pebble beds called bankets, which are mined to depths below 3,000 m (10,000 ft). Vast and easily worked coal seams occur in the north-east between Lesotho and Swaziland.

Most of South Africa’s diamonds come from diamond fields near Kimberley, which were discovered in 1870. Surface workings were soon exhausted, but the diamonds were traced to their source rock and mined by large-scale methods. South Africa also has many other commercial mineral deposits, including copper, nickel, platinum, uranium, asbestos, chromium, fluorite, phosphates, vanadium, tin, titanium, beryllium, and manganese and iron ores. The platinum-group minerals and chromium deposits are located mainly in the Bushveld, north of Pretoria. The largest manganese and iron ore deposits are in the north of the Cape area, while titanium sands exist on the eastern coast. Uranium is extracted commercially in the Witwatersrand.

South Africa has some natural gas offshore of the Cape, but no commercially exploitable oil deposits have been found. During the international sanctions of the apartheid era, oil-from-coal plants were established in Orange Free State and the eastern Transvaal.

D

Plants and Animals

The natural vegetation of South Africa varies from region to region according to the amount of rainfall. Along the eastern coast, where rainfall is heaviest, there is tropical vegetation with many palms. In some of the valleys of the Great Escarpment and along the southern Cape coast are forests, composed chiefly of yellowwood, stinkwood, ironwood, and cedar. The south-western Cape has a distinct vegetation of drought-resistant grasses, shrubs, and trees, and is home to many of South Africa’s 20,000 species of flowering plants. In the Eastern Uplands the land supports a luxuriant growth of grass and some trees.

Most of the plateau is covered with grassland, which on the Highveld resembles a prairie and is often completely treeless. The Bushveld, however, supports savannah vegetation with scattered trees and bushes in a park-like grassland. On the Middle Veld, where rainfall is slight, the grassland is very poor. The vegetation consists almost entirely of coarse desert grasses, which grow in tufts and become green only after rain. The Great Karoo and the Little Karoo are covered with dry scrub.

South Africa has more than 200 species of mammals, including large mammals, such as lion, elephant, zebra, leopard, monkey, baboon, hippopotamus, and many kinds of antelope. South Africa has a long history of wildlife conservation. Population pressures, the expansion of agricultural land and towns, and environmental problems mean that today, such animals are found almost only on wildlife reserves. A particular success of conservation in South Africa has been the preservation of elephant and white rhinoceros populations; around 90 per cent of the world’s white rhinos live in South Africa.

One of the most notable of South Africa’s 30 national parks is Kruger National Park in the north-east along the border with Mozambique. Founded in 1926, it occupies about 19,485 sq km (7,523 sq mi). Nearly every species of wildlife indigenous to the country is found in the park. Other national reserves are Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, in the north-west; Addo Elephant National Park, near Port Elizabeth; and Mountain Zebra (Bergkwagga) National Park, near Cradock.

There are also many smaller reserves, marine sanctuaries, and botanical gardens in South Africa. South Africa’s bird life is also abundant and includes, among the larger birds, ostrich, francolin, quail, guinea fowl, and grouse. Snakes are fairly common throughout the country. Large numbers of fish inhabit South Africa’s coastal waters.

E

Environmental Concerns

The biological and ecological diversity of South Africa is considerable, with many endemic species and unique biomes. Coastal estuaries, swamps, floodplains, coral reefs, and islands serve as breeding grounds for seals and sea birds. Some important South African biomes are threatened, such as the Northern Karoo grasslands, the Karoo semi-desert with its many succulents, and especially the fynbos—a shrub land of extraordinary species richness in the winter-rainfall zone of the south. Concern for the environment has grown since the country's emergence from apartheid, and efforts are under way to save a number of endangered species, including the black rhinoceros, the pangolin, and the humpback dolphin. About 13 per cent (1997) of the land is cultivated, and only about 2 per cent is covered with patchy natural forests. Extensive areas have been reforested to conserve soil. South Africa's extensive system of protected areas includes several national parks as well as hundreds of nature reserves and a number of private game reserves. Together, these areas protect about 5.4 per cent (1997) of the land. The government has actively encouraged the voluntary participation of private landowners in the protected area system, which represents an important source of income for the country. In some cases the government has chosen to raise funds by selling off some of its parks to private developers.

The most serious environmental threats are uncontrolled livestock grazing, rampant urban development, and surface disturbance and pollution associated with mining. Farming on marginal agricultural land has resulted in heavy soil loss, and desertification continues, especially in the Karoo region. Acid rain is a problem in the High Veld region because of power plant pollution.

South Africa has ratified the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and is party to international environmental agreements concerning Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, and the Antarctic Treaty, as well as agreements on biodiversity, endangered species, hazardous wastes, marine dumping, marine life, nuclear test ban, ozone layer, ship pollution, and whaling. Regionally, South Africa cooperates with Botswana and Lesotho on the management of protected areas on adjoining borders.

III

Population

South Africa has a population of 43,786,115 (2008 estimate), which gives a population density of 36 persons per sq km (93 per sq mi). South Africa has a multiracial and multi-ethnic population. Of the nearly 44 million inhabitants, approximately 75 per cent of the population is black African, 13 per cent is white, 9 per cent is Coloured (mixed ethnic background), and 3 per cent is Asian.

The blacks belong to nine ethnic groups: Zulu, Xhosa, Batswana, Venda, Sotho, Ndebele, Tsonga, Swazi, and Pedi. The Zulu are the largest of these groups, making up about 22 per cent of the total population. Whites are descended for the most part from British, Dutch, German, and French Huguenot (Protestant) settlers. The people of Dutch ancestry, who often have German and French heritage as well, are known as Afrikaners or Boers and form about 60 per cent of the white population. The Coloured population, which lives chiefly in the Cape provinces, is of mixed racial origin, mainly black and Afrikaner. The Asians are mainly of Indian ancestry and are most numerous in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. A small number of people of Malay origin are also included in the Asian population. They reside mostly in the Cape provinces. In 2005, 58 per cent of the population was classified as urban.

A

Racial Segregation

Racial segregation and white monopoly of power characterized South Africa from before the founding of the Union of South Africa in 1910. This formalized white control of the political structure, but it was only in the 1940s that the concept of racial segregation, known as apartheid, began to be elaborated into a total state policy reinforced by laws and permeating all aspects of social, economic, and political relations between people. This state policy was designed to guarantee the future political and social domination by the country’s white minority over the non-white population.

Ever since the first white settlement was founded in South Africa in 1652, racial segregation had been part of the country’s social and economic pattern. The causes for this segregation were varied, and included contemporary ideas about race and culture that Europeans brought with them. In the early 20th century, racial segregation started to become an explicitly formulated programme in South Africa. The Native Lands Act of 1913, which demarcated rural areas for European and non-European residence and ownership, was one of the first steps taken to establish racial segregation. This act and subsequent legislation—the Development Land and Trust Act 1936—restricted blacks, who at that time, as now, made up over 75 per cent of the population, to ownership of only about 14 per cent of the land.