III.

People

The land now known as South Africa was originally populated by San hunter-gatherers. About 2,000 years ago people in some of these communities, the Khoikhoi, began raising livestock when they acquired animals from Bantu-speaking peoples moving southward across the Limpopo. These Bantu peoples today account for three-quarters of the total population. White settlement began in 1652 with the arrival of the Dutch, who gradually spread into the interior as farmers. They lived isolated lives, developed their own language, called Afrikaans, and increasingly segregated themselves from indigenous Bantu peoples, whom they encountered in the interior. French Huguenot and German settlers were later absorbed into this group, known as Afrikaners.

British settlers arrived beginning in the early 1800s, and Indians came in the late 19th and early 20th century. The majority of Indians were brought as indentured laborers to work on the sugar plantations of Natal. A substantial Portuguese minority developed in the late 20th century. The offspring of whites and slaves imported by the Dutch from Southeast Asia and other parts of Africa, and later the offspring of whites and Bantu peoples, created a sizable Coloured, or mixed-race, population.

Under South Africa’s 20th-century policies of racial segregation, known as apartheid, the black majority population was forced to live in particular areas, called bantustans. In order to work in urban areas, some blacks were permitted to live in townships on the fringes of cities. Bantustans and townships became greatly overpopulated, and were neglected by the white government. With the end of apartheid in the 1990s, such exclusionary policies ended and bantustans and townships have been incorporated into provincial and civic administrations.

A.

Demographics

The estimated total population of South Africa in 2007 was 43,997,828. The overall population density (2007 estimate) is 36 persons per sq km (93 per sq mi), but this varies widely across the country. Rural population densities are highest in the former bantustans and much lower in historically white-populated areas of commercial farming, especially in semiarid western areas. Some 58 percent of the population is urban, including most of the whites, Asians, and Coloureds.

The largest cities in South Africa include Johannesburg (3,225,812, 2001), the commercial capital and metropolis of the goldfields; Durban (3,090,122), the country’s leading port; Cape Town (2,893,247), the legislative capital; Pretoria (1,985,983), the administrative capital; Port Elizabeth (1,005,779), an industrial city and major port; and Soweto (858,649), a former township outside Johannesburg.

B.

Ethnic Groups

South Africa has a multiracial and multiethnic population. Blacks constitute 79 percent of the population. The main black ethnic groups are Zulu, Xhosa, North Sotho, Tswana, South Sotho, and Tsonga. Whites account for 10 percent of the population: More than half are Afrikaners, and most of the rest are of British descent. Coloured people account for 9 percent of the population, and Asians (mainly Indians) 2 percent.

The white, Asian, and Coloured populations are highly urbanized. The largest concentrations of Asians and Coloured people are found in KwaZulu-Natal and the three Cape provinces, but lesser numbers of both groups live in Gauteng. English-speaking whites and Afrikaners live in all cities, but Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, and Pietermaritzburg have more English speakers, whereas Afrikaners are predominant in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and many of the industrial and mining towns on the Witwatersrand.

More than half of the blacks are urbanized, mostly living in formal, low-income townships or informal, rapidly growing settlements. Millions of blacks still live in rural communities in the ten former bantustans. The black population of Johannesburg and the rest of Gauteng Province is ethnically mixed, but in other cities one group tends to be dominant: Zulu in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, Sotho in Bloemfontein, and Xhosa in Port Elizabeth, East London, and Cape Town.

C.

Language

Until apartheid ended in 1994 only Afrikaans and English were official languages, although they represent the home languages of only a fraction of the total population. Afrikaans is spoken not only by Afrikaners but also by many Coloured people. English is the primary language of many whites, but also is spoken by most Asians. The 1994 constitution added nine African languages to the list of recognized, official languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Sesotho sa Leboa (Northern Sotho or Pedi), Tswana, Sesotho (Southern Sotho), Tsonga, Venda, Ndebele, and siSwati. Some of these African languages are mutually understood and many blacks can speak two or more of them, in addition to English and Afrikaans. Together these 11 languages are the primary languages of 98 percent of South Africans. Many Indians also speak Hindi, Tamil, Telegu, Gujarati, and Urdu.

In practice English and, to a lesser extent, Afrikaans retain a dominant position, with English as the main medium of instruction in schools and most universities. Afrikaners attach great value to their language, however, and struggle to keep it as a medium of instruction and to resist any threat to undermine its status.

D.

Religion

About 92 percent of South Africans are Christians, 2 percent are Hindus, and 2 percent are Muslims. Hindus are mainly Indian, and Muslims either Indian or Coloured. There has been some growth of Islam among Coloured people in recent years. The Christian churches include over 4,000 African independent churches that collectively claim several million adherents.

African independent churches originally broke off from various mission churches, but have since developed their own momentum. The majority are now Zionist or Apostolic churches, with some independent branches of the Pentecostal movement. The Zion Christian Church is by far the largest of these churches; biannual gatherings at Zion City, its headquarters in Moria near Pietersburg in Limpopo Province, usually attract at least 1 million members. In rural KwaZulu-Natal there are hundreds of separate churches, and at least 900 churches flourish in Soweto.

Most Afrikaners belong to one of the three Dutch Reformed churches, whose members also include about half of the Coloured people and a small number of blacks. The Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk (Afrikaans for “Dutch Reformed Church”) is the largest of the Dutch Reformed churches. It was a racially segregated church that supported the state during the apartheid years, but then recanted and moved closer to other churches. Other Christian denominations include Roman Catholics, Methodists, Anglicans, Lutherans, and Presbyterians. The larger churches in this group were prominent in the struggle against apartheid, at least at the leadership level. A number of charismatic churches (an interdenominational Christian movement) have also been established since the late 20th century, including the Rhema Church in Randburg, Gauteng Province.

Most people who claim no religious affiliation are African traditionalists. Their religion has a strong cultural base and rituals vary according to ethnic group. They generally recognize a supreme being, but ancestors are much more important, and they believe in manipulation of the power of spirits. Traditionalists have had some contact with Christianity and many are in a transitional position, incorporating aspects of both religions into their beliefs and worship.

E.

Education

Under apartheid the education system was racially structured with separate national departments for whites, Coloureds, Asians, and blacks. Although government spending on black education increased greatly in the late 1980s, at the end of the apartheid era in 1994 per capita expenditures for white pupils were still four times higher than expenditures for blacks. Black schools had fewer classrooms than white schools, shortages of textbooks were common, and few schools had science laboratories of any kind. As a result, only about 40 percent of black candidates passed matriculation (the qualification for completing secondary school, a minimum requirement for entrance to a university) in the early 1990s. At the same time, at least 1.5 million school-age blacks were not in school.

The challenge of restructuring education in post-apartheid society was immense. The post-apartheid government merged 14 education departments into a unified education system with no racial distinctions. School attendance is now compulsory for children ages 7 through 15. The number of private schools, attended largely by whites, increased dramatically in the mid-1990s as public schools were integrated. South Africa’s literacy rate grew from 82 percent in 1995 to 87 percent in 2005.

South Africa has a well-developed higher education system, which was also racially segregated until after apartheid. Numbers of blacks in historically white universities grew rapidly after 1994, even in Afrikaans-language universities. Most black students, however, attend historically black universities, including the University of Fort Hare (founded in 1916) in Alice, North-West University (1980) in Mmabatho, and the University of Zululand (1960) near Empangeni. Some blacks take correspondence courses through the University of South Africa in Pretoria (1873). The University of the Western Cape (1960) in Bellville was historically Coloured, and Durban-Westville (1961) in Durban was historically Indian. Traditionally white universities include the English-speaking University of Cape Town (founded as the South African College in 1829; attained university status in 1918) in Cape Town, the University of the Witwatersrand (1922) in Johannesburg, the University of Natal (1910) in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, and Rhodes University (1904) in Grahamstown. Afrikaans-speaking universities include the University of the Orange Free State (1855) in Bloemfontein, the University of Pretoria (1930; founded in 1908 as Transvaal University College), and the University of Stellenbosch (1918). The University of Port Elizabeth (1964) in Port Elizabeth uses both English and Afrikaans. In 2002 the government announced a restructuring of higher education in South Africa. The restructuring involved a series of mergers that reduced the number of institutions in the country. For example, the merger of Rand Afrikaans University, Technikon Witwatersrand, and two campuses of Vista University formed the new University of Johannesburg (opened in 2005).

F.

Way of Life

The apartheid system left a profound imprint on South African society. Most whites enjoy a standard of living and way of life comparable to people in the world’s most developed countries. Distinctive features of this lifestyle include an emphasis on sports and open-air living, which reflect South Africa’s pleasant climate. Sports play a major role in schools. Rugby is particularly popular among Afrikaners. Cricket is popular among Afrikaners, English speakers, and increasingly among other groups as opportunities and facilities gradually improve. Swimming and water sports, tennis, and golf are all popular in the white community.

Affluent whites typically live in detached single-story homes with large gardens, often with swimming pools and sometimes tennis courts. The braaivleis (barbecue) is a popular way of entertaining. Food is essentially English, with a few distinctive Afrikaans dishes and some North American influences. The white South African lifestyle traditionally depended on servants to take care of the home, look after children, and tend the garden; many servants lived in small rooms on the employers’ property. This became less common after the end of apartheid as white incomes decreased, proportionately, and servants’ wages increased.

Wealthy Asians, Coloured people, and a small but growing minority of blacks have lifestyles similar to whites. For the great majority of South Africans, however, life is vastly different. Housing in the townships consists of mostly single-story dwellings, but houses are much closer together than in predominantly white suburbs. Barracklike hostels house single black men and migrant workers. An increasing number of urban blacks live in shantytowns around major cities with minimal facilities and long distances to travel to work and shops.

Recreational facilities are minimal in both townships and rural areas, but people play soccer wherever there is open ground. There are many churches, even in informal settlements, and they play an important role in social life. Township shebeens (unofficial drinking houses) take the place of pubs. Incomes restrict most blacks to a staple diet of mealies, or maize, which is made into a porridge, cheaper cuts of meat, some fruit, and vegetables. People commonly drink tea; beer, which is often home-brewed, especially in rural areas, is the main alcoholic drink.

Women are still more disadvantaged in South African society than in Europe or North America. The post-apartheid government is anxious to promote gender equality, but traditional attitudes are slow to change. Women from all ethnic and racial groups are involved in the labor market, although this often reflects economic necessity rather than preference.

G.

Social Issues

The apartheid heritage has left a strong connection between race and socioeconomic class. Under apartheid, from 1948 to 1994, a person’s race influenced occupation, income level, place of residence, education, choice of partner, freedom of movement, and use of facilities and amenities. This legacy may take decades to erase.

During most of the 20th century, race was the central issue in South African politics, but since the end of apartheid attention has focused on other problems in South African society as well. The most prominent of these issues are unemployment, lack of housing, poverty, and crime. Women, especially black women, are disproportionately the victims of violent crime. These social issues are closely related to one another, and to some degree they are also the legacy of apartheid.