COUNTRY PROFILE

Diversity is a key feature of South Africa, where 11 languages are recognized as official, where community leaders include rabbis and a rain queen, rugby players and returned exiles, where traditional healers ply their trade around the corner from stockbrokers and where housing ranges from mud huts to palatial homes with swimming pools. South Africa is the richest and most industrialized country in Africa, and the world's biggest exporter of non-petroleum minerals. Government overspending on defense, drought and worldwide opposition to the past racial policies has stunted growth. There is freedom of religion with over 70 percent of the population professing to be Christian. The church is experiencing much growth of interracial and interdenominational prayer movements since the apartheid ended.

OVERVIEW

The Union of South Africa was formed in 1910. A white minority parliamentary republic was created in 1961 with the 1984 constitution extending a limited sharing of power to the Colored and Asian minorities, but excluding the Blacks from national politics. Thus, the diverse communities have not had much representation for long. Until 1994 South Africa was ruled by a white minority, which considered itself superior, and was so determined to hang onto power that it took activists most of last century before they succeeded in their fight to get rid of apartheid and extend democracy to the rest of the population. The white governments had grand social engineering schemes, which separated the races and involved the forced resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people. They poisoned and bombed opponents and encouraged trouble in neighboring countries to help prove their contention that black rule meant chaos. The apartheid government eventually negotiated itself out of power, and the new leadership encouraged reconciliation. But the cost of the years of conflict will be paid for a long time yet, not least in terms of lawlessness, social disruption and lost education. South Africa faces major problems, but having held two successful national elections as well as local polls since the end of white rule, a democratic culture appears to be taking hold, allowing people at least some say in the search for solutions. 

FACTS

Population: 44 million 
Capital: Pretoria
Major languages: 11 official languages including: English, Afrikaans, Sesotho, Setswana, Xhosa and Zulu 
Major religion: Christianity, Islam, indigenous beliefs 
Form of government: Multiparty republic 
Monetary unit: 1 Rand = 100 cents 
Main exports: Gold, diamonds, metals and minerals, machinery 
Internet domain:.za 
Time zone: GMT+2 
International dialing code: +27 

LEADERS

 
President:
Thabo Mbeki

Mbeki took over as president when Nelson Mandela stepped down in mid-1999, but he is considered to have in fact ruled the country almost since the ANC became South Africa's first democratically elected government in April 1994. He was born in 1942 into one of the leading families of black politics and has been close to the heart of the struggle against apartheid all his life. His father, Govan, is a leading thinker in the South African Communist Party. 

Mbeki played a central role both in planning the armed insurrection that caused the first cracks in the edifice of white rule and in the talks that led to its end. He has been criticized for questioning the link between HIV and Aids and for failing to condemn the land invasions in Zimbabwe. Deputy President: Jacob Zuma; Foreign Minister: Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma; Defense Minister: Patrick Lekota; Home Affairs Minister: Mangosuthu Buthelezi; Finance Minister: Trevor Manuel. 

MEDIA

The constitution provides for freedom of the press, and this is generally respected in practice. Laws, regulation and political control of media content are considered to be moderate and there is little evidence of repressive measures against journalists. Newspapers and magazines publish reports critical of the government, and several independent radio stations are on air. The state-owned South African Broadcasting Corporation is far more independent now than during the apartheid era. 

     The Press 
     The Star - Johannesburg daily 

     Television
     SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) 
     e-TV (independent) 

     Radio
     SABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) 
     702 Talk radio 

     News Agency
     South African Press Association (SAPA) 

OBSTACLES TO MINISTRY

• Government still taking steps to move forward
• President Mbeki who has been criticized in the past 

SPIRITUAL POWER POINTS

• Urban areas present a challenge with many "squatter areas" springing up almost overnight
• Followers of Islam moving in strong with the building of many mosques

Special thanks to Patrick Johnstone's, "Operation World" publisher, ISBN# 0-310-40031-7; and country profiles by BBC