unitex@rubbs.fidonet.org (unitex) (09/21/89)
South Africa; Glossary of two societies in black and white
Posting Date: 09/18/89 Source: UNITEX Network, Hoboken, NJ, USA
Host: (201) 795-0733 ISSN: 1043-7932
(WorldPaper, September, 1989 836 words, BYLINE: Brad Durham)
HIGHLIGHT:
South Africa's legislative election in September is expected to
confirm as president F. W. de Klerk who took over after the
surprise resignation of P. W. Botha last month and whose remarks
about negotiating with the black majority have raised hopes of
solving that country's bitter racial struggle. The South
African writers and artists in this WorldPaper will have no vote
under apartheid. They are black. But in this issue they are
free to tell their tales.
BODY:
Area: 1,272,037 sq. kilometers, about twice the size of Texas in
the
US.
Population: 35.6 million; black, 68 percent, about 26 million;
white,18 percent, about 5 million; colored, 10 percent; Asian, 3
percent.
Population density: 75 per square mile. About 80 percent of the
land belongs to whites.
Ratio of cattle to whites: In South Africa, 2.5 to 1.
Life expectancy at birth: whites, 70 years; Africans, 59.
Infant mortality per 1,000 births: whites 14.9, Africans, 94.
Per capita income: 1985, US $ 4,000. Whites, $ 8,000; blacks, $
2300.
Per capita GNP: 1987, $ 1,870; 1980, $ 2,160.
Literacy rate: whites, 99 percent; Africans, 50 percent.
Black unemployment: 40 percent; 30 years ago it was 25 percent.
========================================
Nonwhites
make up about 75 percent of the work force. White unemployment
is 2 percent.
Languages: South Africa's official languages are Afrikaans and
English.
More languages: Black South Africas fall into 10 main groups,
based on their first language and in descending order of
population; Zulu, Xhosa, Tswana, Sepedior or North Sotho,
Seshoeshoe or South Sotho, Swazi, Venda, South Ndebele and North
Ndebele. More divisions: The whites call black South Africans
"Bantus", meaning "people". People of mixed white-black African
or white-Malayan blood are called "Coloureds".
Black homelands: Legislation in 1951, 1959 and 1971 set aside 14
percent of South Africa's land for black Africans in what the
whites said would become, ultimately independent territories or
"Bantustans". Ten "homelands" now exist. The rest of South
Africa is reserved for the whites, 18 percent of the people
inhabiting 80 percent of the land. "Coloreds" and Asians live
within segregated areas within "white South Africa."
History: The first whites from the Netherlands settled in
Southern Africa, establishing the Dutch East India Company
supply base at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652. The Bushmen and
Hottentots, nomadic African peoples, were the first black
settlers in Southern Africa, Sotho and Swazi occupied parts of
Southern Africa before the 17th century. The Dutch were beaten
by the British in the Boer War, in 1902. An independent state,
the Union of South Africa, was established May 30, 1910. It was
changed to the Republic of South Africa for referendum in 1961.
Afrikaners: The Dutch settlers of South Africa.
Trek: An Afrikaans term originally meaning a journey by ox
wagon, especially by farmers. The best-known trek was The Great
Trek (1835-36) in which Boer farmers left the Cape of Good Hope
to escape British domination, founding Natal, Transvaal, and The
Orange Free State.
Boer: The Dutch word meaning "farmer." An inhabitant of South
Africa of Dutch or French Huguenot descent. Boers and South
Africans of British descent get along begrudgingly.
Apartheid: A policy of racial separation which was implemented in
1948. The word is taken from the Dutch word meaning
"apartness."
One-party: The National Party has ruled South Africa for 41
uninterrupted years.
Two groups, four parties: In the early 70s, the National Party
was divided on race relations into two separate groups, the
verligte (meaning "enlightened" in Dutch), and verkramte,
("narrow-minded"). The verligte comprised the National Party
until very recently when the more progressive Democratic Party
was formed. In the early 80s the verkramte also split into two
parties, the increasingly influential Conservative Party and the
right wing fringe group, the Herstigte ("reformed") Nasionale
Party.
Three capitals: South Africa has three capitals: Pretoria, for
its administrative government; Cape Town, for the legislature,
Bloemfontein, for the judiciary. The largest city is Cape Town
with 1.9 million people. Second largest is Johannesburg, 1.6
million people and also the commercial center for South Africa's
diamond and gold industries. South Africa produces about 70
percent of the world's gold and is the world's fifth largest
producer of diamonds.
Mandatory embargo: The only mandatory United Nations resolution
restricting dealings with South Africa is Resolution No. 418, and
arms embargo, adopted in 1977. Countries cited in the US State
Department in violation of this resolution: France, Italy,
* Origin: UNITEX --> Toward a United Species (1:107/501)
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