South Africa

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Geography and People

South Africa is famous for its wide variety of beautiful landscapes, with winelands and wheat fields, temperate forests and golden beaches along the coast, rugged green mountains, semi-desert scrub and "highveld" areas in the interior. Tourists are able to enjoy the beauty and wildness of Africa complete with vast game reserves, coupled with the available luxuries of a first world economy. The policy of apartheid, however, has ensured that areas which tourists are not so likely to visit are generally overpopulated and impoverished.

Much has been made of the differences between different racial and tribal groups. Besides English and Afrikaan speaking whites, so called "coloureds" and those of Indian origin, there are several main African ethnic groups each with their own language, for example Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele, Sotho, Tswana, Shangaan, and Venda. But, despite apartheid, conflicts between tribal groups do not occur in the same way as in East Africa.

The recently introduced policy of 11 official languages will probably mean that English will become the lingua franca, as it is the main medium of instruction at secondary school level and above.

History and Politics

Cave paintings and other artifacts show that the "bushmen" or San people inhabited the whole of Southern Africa for many centuries. This was before the Khoi people moved into the Western Cape, and the Bantu tribes came down into the north and east of the country, probably reaching the Eastern Cape by the 12th century. The Dutch established the Cape Colony in the middle of the 17th century. After the British gained control of the coastal areas, various conflicts resulted with Xhosa, Zulu and Boer. By the end of the 19th century, competition for mineral resources and political power led to Anglo‑Boer wars which ended in 1902. Truce between the two powers was bound to result in the suppression of black political and economic power. The victory of the Afrikaner‑based National Party in 1948 followed a trend of independence from colonialism, but at odds with the rest of the world in that the rights of the majority of native peoples were suppressed more than ever. The apartheid system, explicitly based on doctrines of white supremacy, was rigorously enforced with callous disregard for human rights.

Changes were forced by economic and political pressures from the outside world, and by the brave work of reform carried out by the government of FW de Clerk. In 1994, the world witnessed the transition to democracy. The African National Congress, for many years a banned organisation, won the election with more than 60% of the vote, and Nelson Mandela was inaugurated President. Until 1999 the country will be run by a government of National Unity. Although the ANC dominates, other parties are represented in Parliament and the Cabinet.

Economy

Unusually abundant deposits of gold, diamonds, coal and other minerals, as well as good conditions for agriculture in many areas, have made South Africa the strongest economy south of the Sahara. Large corporations have flourished as market‑driven capitalism has been encouraged. The infrastructure is excellent and the country has not been plagued by corruption, civil wars and droughts of other nations.

However, the cost of setting up and maintaining apartheid (especially in terms of the military), followed by the effects of economic sanctions, meant that the economy has been in severe decline since the late 1970's. The new government, although socialist, has not so far opted for large‑scale nationalism, in order to attract foreign investment. They hope this will stimulate the economy, and also provide much‑needed funding for the Reconstruction and Development Programme, designed to upgrade the standard of living for the majority of poor black citizens after the effects of apartheid. Unemployment, crime, and low standards of education will continue to be major problems.

Religion

More than 80% of the population calls itself Christian, with the remainder following Traditional Religions. Islam, Judaism, and other minority faiths such as atheism. However, this statistic has to be read in the light of the fact that many churches supported the apartheid system, while many members of other churches practice traditional religions.

The Anglican Church, part of the Province of Southern Africa which also includes Mozambique and Namibia, has a high profile because of its public opposition to apartheid. Theologically it is predominately high‑church and liberal, due mainly to the influence of English missionaries from Anglican religious communities.

Crosslinks has been supporting the evangelical Diocese of St Mark the Evangelist since 1989, through supplying personnel involved in administration, ministry training, and relief and development, and through providing funds for clergy to visit evangelical churches in the UK.