Country Fun Fact (CFF): South Africa

By: Juventus

South Africa is a country located in the southernmost region of Africa. It is well-known for its great natural beauty and cultural diversity, which made the country a favoured destination for travelers since the abolishment of apartheid in 1994. This country is the only country in the world with three capitals, which are Pretoria (executive), Cape Town (legislative), and Bloemfontein (judicial). Johannesburg is the largest urban area and is also a centre of commerce in South Africa. Interestingly, parliament meetings are hosted for six months in Cape Town and six months in Pretoria.

“Rainbow Nation” is the term known for South Africa. It is because of the mix of cultures and people living across the country. The status of being a cultural melting pot is evident from the fact that South Africa has eleven official languages, which are English, Afrikaans, IsiZulu, IsiXhosa, IsiNdebele, Sesotho, Northern Sotho, Setswana, Siswati, Tshivenda, and Xitsonga.

South Africa is currently the only country in the world which has hosted football, cricket, and rugby world cup. Thanks to its beautiful nature and infrastructure, South Africa is one of the most popular tourist destinations. It also serves as a habitat for a number of animals and plants. Over 10% of the world’s bird, fish, and plant species as well as 6% of its mammals and reptiles live in South Africa. Besides that, this country is home to a variety of landscapes and biomes, like deserts, wetlands, bushveld, grasslands, mountains and subtropical forests, which means you can enjoy so many kinds of holidays in one country.

Not just its beautiful nature, South Africa is also extremely rich in ores and minerals, with over 90% of the world’s platinum and 41% of the world’s gold down there! South Africa is also home to the oldest meteor scar in the world, Vredefort Dome, which is located in a town called Parys. This site has become a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Now, let’s talk about South African culture. There is a Xhosa proverb common to all African cultures and languages, “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu” which means a person is a person through people. Through relations with one’s community, an individual becomes a person with volition, whose actions affect the entire group rather than just oneself. The culture of each ethnic group can be found in each group’s art, music, and literature.

South Africa arts are one-of-a-kind. Each region’s art has its own distinct characteristics based on their beliefs and customs, even though in general, the most occuring themes or patterns found in art are women, children, man with tool or weapon, or even combined.

The type of clothing across South Africa differs from one another from south to north. Religious beliefs and traditional customs are the biggest effect. At some places, they wear colourful attires while at others they have less colours and look pale, but they use shiny threads in their dressing with some jewelry to make it more “alive”.

Music in South Africa is as diverse as the people, but in general, they have funky taste and are also influenced by music from the western world. Traditional music in South Africa is usually accompanied with percussion instruments of every variety like drums, thumb piano, xylophones, djembes, and mbira or rattles. Traditional music in South Africa is passed down from generation to generation orally and is not written.

As we can see, there are many nations and cultures across South Africa, but remember that differences are not an obstacle to maintain the rope of humanity. The similarities between us bring us together, but only the differences keep us together.

REFERENCES

20 interesting facts about South Africa. (n.d.). Cross-border Financial and Immigration Solutions | Sable International. https://www.sableinternational.com/blog/20-interesting-facts-about-south-africa

African culture. (n.d.). Victoria Falls Travel Guide. https://www.victoriafalls-guide.net/african-culture.html

Getting to know Africa: 50 interesting facts… (2018, June 22). National Geographic Society Newsroom. https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2013/10/31/getting-to-know-africa-interestingfacts/

South Africa. (n.d.). Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa