The People
South Africa has many ethnic groups. From 1948 to 1991, when the government maintained a policy of apartheid (apartness), all persons were designated as members of one of four official ethnic groups and each group was segregated from the others. These groups were the whites (also called Europeans), blacks (also called Natives, Bantus, or Africans), coloreds (of mixed races), and Asians (also called Indians). These designations are still used unofficially.
The whites form about 14 per cent of the population. Some three-fifths of them are Afrikaners, or Boers, descendants of the early, predominantly Dutch settlers. The remainder are largely of British ancestry.
Blacks account for more than 70 per cent of the population. The largest black groups are the Zulus, Xhosas, Tswana, Sepedi, and Seshoeshoe. The Xhosas and Zulus, together with the Swazis, form a larger linguistic, cultural groupthe Ngunis.
About a third of the blacks work in the cities; others work in mines, in outlying industrial plants, and on farms. In urban areas most live in separate communities called townships.
The coloreds, who make up about 9 per cent of the population, are descendants of the residents of the early settlement at the Cape of Good Hopethe Khoi (traditionally called Hottentots), Europeans, and Southeast Asian and African slaves. Descendants of Southeast Asian slaves who maintain a Malayan identity are called Cape Malays.
The Asians are descendants of laborers brought from India. They make up less than 3 per cent of the population. There is a small community of Chinese.
There are 11 official languagesAfrikaans (which developed from Dutch), English, Ndebele, Zulu, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, and Xhosa.
Most of the whites and coloreds, a large percentage of the blacks, and some of the Asians are Christian. The principal Christian churches are the Dutch Reformed, Anglican, and Roman Catholic. The majority of the Asians are Hindus. There are small groups of Muslims and Jews.
Each province decides educational policy at the primary and secondary levels. Church groups operate many schools in areas not served by public schools. For many yearsuntil 1991, when apartheid endedit was South Africa's policy to have separate schools for each race. The literacy rate is 93 per cent for white people, 70 per cent for Asians, 60 per cent for coloreds, and 30 per cent for blacks. Principal institutions of higher learning include the University of Cape Town (founded 1829); University of the Orange Free State (1855), in Bloemfontein; University of South Africa (1873), in Pretoria; and University of Pretoria (1908).
Cultural activities have unusual variety because of the diversity of the population. Authors publishing in English who have gained worldwide readership include Alan Paton, Stuart Cloete, Nadine Gordimer, and Laurens van der Post. Afrikaans writing has been especially notable for poetry. The performing arts are subsidized by the provincial governments.
In black culture, music and dancing are prominent. A black singer, Miriam Makeba, became an international favorite in the 1960's and the choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo won fame in the 1980's. Black painters and sculptors often are influenced by traditional African art, such as the rock paintings and engravings done in ancient times by prehistoric peoples and more recently by the San (traditionally called Bushmen).
Rugby, soccer, tennis, and golf are popular sports. Because of foreign objections to its racial practices, South Africa was banned from the Olympic Games from 1964 to 1988.
