For Information on the individual provinces of South Africa see the Accommodation pages or links below
Overveiw of South Africa
SOUTH AFRICA is the largest country in Southern Africa. Having reached full democracy in 1994, it now has nine provinces each with their own provincial level of government as well as strong central government.
Started by the Dutch at Cape Town as a replenishment station in 1652, this was to herald the start of European settlement in Southern Africa. Development at first was slow but received a fillip with the arrival in 1688 of a group of Huguenot settlers from France who started the wine industry at the Cape. The Dutch controlled the Cape until 1795 when the British took control under an agreement with the Dutch Royal House to protect the Cape during the Napoleonic wars. The peace of Amiens in 1801 saw the eventual restoration of the Cape to Dutch control in 1803. This was short-lived and in 1805 the British once again took control of the Cape and it remained a British colony together with expansion into the area of the now KwaZulu-Natal. This renewed British control together with the release of slaves in 1834 caused dissension amongst the Dutch citizens (Boers) and led to the Great Trek in 1836 with large numbers leaving the Cape Colony to set up independent territories in the Orange Free State and Transvaal regions.
The discovery of diamonds in 1870 in the area of Kimberley (at that time claimed by the Orange Free State) and the discovery of gold in 1886 in Johannesburg led to many foreigners (uitlanders) being drawn to these two mining areas and eventually outnumbering the Boers yet not having any say in the government of the two Boer Republics. They appealed to the British control in the Cape in the guise of mining magnet Cecil John Rhodes (founder of De Beers Diamond Mines and the two "Rhodesias") who at that time was Prime Minister of the Colony. He organised the failed "Jamison raid" on the Transvaal, which led directly to the start of the Anglo Boer War. After losing much ground in the first stages of the war the British adapted to local conditions, changing their uniforms to Khaki colour, and doing away with bands, buglers and flags. At the same time they practised a scorched earth policy rounding up the women and children into concentration camps thereby removing the support mechanism from the Boers and forcing their capitulation. Protracted negotiations led to the founding of the Union of South African 1910 bringing together the two British colonies and former Boer Republics.
As a Union and a member of the British Commonwealth, the South Africans fought on the side of the Allies in both World Wars. This was not always a popular decision at home and led directly to the Nationalist Party wining the 1948 elections. That Party then embarked on a systematic legislation programme to restrict the movement and rights of people of colour, commonly referred to as the Apartheid System. As voting was restricted to the White minority in the country and 66% of that minority clung to the Party because of language affinity it was very difficult for those within the country to change the status quo.
During this time Black freedom movements such as the African National Congress (ANC) (originally formed in 1913) were formalised but banned by the Government from operating openly in the Country. Their actions were considered treason by the Government and many of their leaders, including Nelson Mandela, were charged with treason and imprisoned on Robben Island.
Pressure from outside governments in the form of direct sanctions and the disinvestment of many large corporations finally brought about clearer thinking, particularly amoungst the academics of Stellenbosch University and the Nationalists started to dismantle Apartheid and negotiate with the formerly banned freedom movements such as the ANC.
At this time they also released Nelson Mandela and others from Robben Island and called for the first One-Man-One-Vote elections ever to be held in this Country. These were held on the 27th April 1994 and brought into power a Government of National Unity (forced coalition) despite the fact that the ANC won the overwhelming majority of the votes cast. This Government of National Unity was an interim situation for five years during which time a permanent constitution was enacted bringing with it majority rule as its principle.
The Republic covers an area of approximately 1,25 million km with a coastline of 3000 kilometres. The country is washed by two oceans; the Atlantic in the East and Indian in the West. This coastline is swept by two major ocean current systems, the warm Mozambique Agulhas current which flows southward along the east coast as far as Cape Point and the cold Benguella current which flows north along the west coast as far as Angola.
With the exception of a small area in the Western Cape which has a typical Mediterranean climate, the majority of the country is a summer rainfall region. Only 12 % of the total surface area is arable; this coupled with sever drought, poor soils and unreliable rainfalls means the country is said to be a poor prospect for agriculture, yet it is in good years, one of only 6 nett food exporting lands in the World. Forests cover 1.28 million hectares or just over 1% of the country's total land surface; this is both indigenous and exotic timbers and means that we only import special timbers.
The predominant religion in the country is Protestantism and all major well-known churches are represented in addition to some large sects amongst the Black population. Many of these sects combine the practices of Christianity with African superstitions to make their religion more attractive to the Black people. The largest of these is the Zionist Christian Church, which boasts over 5.5 million members.
Because South Africa is such a melting pot of immigrants from all over the World, together with nine Black tribes, it is impossible to pick out a particular national food or dish and you will experience the cooking skills of many nations in South Africa.
The contrasts between highly sophisticated cities and natural bushlands, teeming with animals, is part of the fascination that is South Africa, truly a "World in One Country".
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The nine provinces of South Africa
South Africa has nine provinces, each with its own legislature, premier and executive council - and distinctive landscape, population, economy and climate. They are:
- The Eastern Cape
- The Free State
- Gauteng
- KwaZulu-Natal
- Limpopo
- Mpumalanga
- The Northern Cape
- North West
- The Western Cape
Before 1994, South Africa had four provinces: the Transvaal and Orange Free State, previously Boer republics, and Natal and the Cape, once British colonies. Scattered about were also the grand apartheid "homelands", spurious states to which black South Africans were forced to have citizenship.
A map of South Africa before 1994, showing the original four provinces of the Cape, Orange Free State, Natal and Transvaal, as well as the grand apartheid "homelands" (Image: South African History Online)
Under South Africa's new democratic constitution the four provinces were broken up into the current nine, and the "homelands" blinked out of existence. The Cape became the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Eastern Cape and the western half of North West, while the Transvaal became Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the eastern half of North West.
Natal was renamed KwaZulu-Natal, incorporating the "homeland" of KwaZulu, and the Orange Free State became simply the Free State.
Land area
There are vast differences in the size of the provinces, from tiny and crowded Gauteng to the vast, arid and empty Northern Cape. Mpumalanga is the second-smallest province after Gauteng, with the rest all taking between 8% and 14% of South Africa's total land area:
- Eastern Cape - 168 966 square kilometres
- Free State - 129 825 square kilometres
- Gauteng - 16 548 square kilometres
- KwaZulu-Natal - 94 361 square kilometres
- Limpopo - 125 755 square kilometres
- Mpumalanga - 76 495 square kilometres
- Northern Cape - 372 889 square kilometres
- North West - 106 512 square kilometres
- Western Cape - 129 462 square kilometres
Land area by province
 (Data source: Statistics South Africa)
Population
The number of people living in the provinces also varies considerably. KwaZulu-Natal, the third-smallest province, has the largest population, and tiny Gauteng the second-largest. By contrast the Northern Cape, which takes up nearly a third of South Africa's land area, has by far the smallest population.
The mid-2006 population estimates for all nine provinces were:
- Eastern Cape - 6.9-million
- Free State - 2.9-million
- Gauteng - 9.5-million
- KwaZulu-Natal - 9.9-million
- Limpopo - 5.6-million
- Mpumalanga - 3.5-million
- Northern Cape - 1-million
- North West - 3.4-million
- Western Cape - 4.7-million
Population by province
Population density by province
(Number of people per square kilometre)
 (Data source: Statistics South Africa)
Languages
Although English is the lingua franca of South Africa, there's considerable variation in home languages between the provinces. IsiXhosa, for instance, is spoken by more than 80% of people in the Eastern Cape, while almost 80% of those in KwaZulu-Natal speak isiZulu. IsiZulu is also the most common home language in Gauteng, but at a much smaller percentage. In Cape Town and its surrounds, Afrikaans comes into its own.
Predominant languages by province (2001 figures, rounded off) are:
- Eastern Cape - isiXhosa (83%), Afrikaans (9%)
- Free State - Sesotho (64%), Afrikaans (12%)
- Gauteng - isiZulu (21%), Afrikaans (14%), Sesotho (13%), English (12%)
- KwaZulu-Natal - isiZulu (81%), English (13%)
- Limpopo - Sepedi (52%), Xitsonga (22%), Tshivenda (16%)
- Mpumalanga - siSwati (31%), isiZulu (26%), isiNdebele (12%)
- Northern Cape - Afrikaans (68%), Setswana (21%)
- North West - Setswana (65%), Afrikaans (7%)
- Western Cape - Afrikaans (55%), English (19%), isiXhosa (23%)
Government
Each province has its own provincial government, with legislative power vested in a provincial legislature and executive power vested in a provincial premier and exercised together with the other members of a provincial executive council.
The legislature has between 30 and 80 members elected for a five-year term based on the province’s portion of the national voters' roll. The legislature is empowered to pass legislation within its functional areas.
The premier is elected by the legislature and, as with the President at national level, is limited to two five-year terms in office. The premier appoints the other members of the executive council (MECs), which functions as a cabinet at provincial level. The members of the executive council are accountable individually and collectively to the legislature.
Economy
Population density correlates with the provinces' slice of South Africa's economy, with Gauteng having the biggest. The tiny province punches way above its weight, contributing 33.3% to the national gross domestic product and a phenomenal 10% to the GDP of Africa as a whole. Next is KwaZulu-Natal with 16.7%, followed by the Western Cape with 14.4%.
Provincial contribution to national GDP
 (Data source: Statistics South Africa)
Find out more about South Africa's nine provinces:
SAinfo reporter
Climate
The climate of Africa varies vastly from north to south.
Whilst the north is normally hot and dry, the north coast receives the effect of the Mediterranean sea with its
cooling breezes and winter rains. South of the Sahara desert the climate changes to tropical and receives most
Further south the climate moderates to sub-tropical and again receives
most of its rain in the summer over Angola, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and South
Africa. The southern most tip of South Africa has a Mediterranean climate with winter rains and warm dry
For detailed weather forecasts
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