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South Africa is located at the southernmost tip of the African continent.
South Africa is bordered to the north by the countries of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland. To the east
and south it is bordered by the Indian Ocean and South Africa's border to the west is the Atlantic Ocean.
Languages:
There are 11 official languages spoken within South Africa. The languages
are: Afrikaans, English, Zulu, Xhosa, Swazi, Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, and Venda.
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Recent History:
South Africa's history has been characterized
by deep divisions, conflict and high levels of inequalities amoung it's citizens.
After World War II, by the National Party's takeover in 1948, the white
minority were able to maintain their power by implementing the policies that are known as apartheid, which are a series of
harsh racist laws segregating the country along racial lines. In 1990 the National Party government took the first step towards
negotiating itself out of power when it lifted the ban on the African National Congress and other left-wing political organizations,
and released Nelson Mandela from prison after 27 years. Apartheid legislation was removed, and the first multi-racial elections
were held in 1994. The African National Congress won by an overwhelming majority, and has been in power ever since.
The South African Gender Commission:
In 1996 the South African Gender Commission was developed. The commission
was established to end gender discrimination and to deal with sexual harrassment cases for the public.
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Some Features of the
South African Constitution:
The constitution of
1961 represented a decisive break from South Africa's racist traditions. Article 1 identified South Africa as "a state of
all its citizens," and the following seven articles recognized the full civil and political rights of all South Africans,
granted the Standard Azanian language official status, and constrained provincial and local governments to enforce the Constitution
in its entirety. Moreover, Articles 9 through 13 constrained the South African government, at all levels, to work to ensure
the eventual equalization of conditions for all South Africans by any and all constitutional means, including quotas in public
and private employment.
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