1,219,080 sq km (470,689 sq miles).

42,130,500 (1998).

33.8 per sq km.

Pretoria (administrative)., Cape Town (legislative). , Bloemfontein (judicial).

1,080,187 (1991)., 2,350,157 (1991)., 300,150 (1991).

The Republic of South Africa lies at the southern end of the African continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the east and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and is bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland and totally encloses Lesotho. South Africa has three major geographical regions, namely plateau, mountains and the coastal belt. The high plateau has sharp escarpments which rise above the plains, or veld. Despite two major river systems, the Limpopo and the Orange, most of the plateau lacks surface water. Along the coastline are sandy beaches and rocky coves, and the vegetation is shrublike. The mountainous regions which run along the coastline from the Cape of Good Hope to the Limpopo Valley in the northeast of the country are split into the Drakensberg, Nuweveldberg and Stormberg ranges. Following the 1994 elections, South Africa was organised into nine regions. These comprise the Western Cape with its provincial and national capital of Cape Town, the Eastern Cape with its provincial capital of Bisho, the Northern Cape with its provincial capital Kimberley, KwaZulu-Natal with its provincial capital Pietermaritzburg, the Free State with its provincial capital of Bloemfontein, the North West Province with its provincial capital Mmabatho, the Northern Province with its provincial capital Pietersburg, Mpumalanga with its provincial capital of Nelspruit, and Gauteng with its provincial capital of Johannesburg.

Republic. Gained independence from the UK in 1910. Head of State and Government: President Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki since 1999.

The official languages at national level are Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu.

Most inhabitants profess Christianity of some form and belong to either Catholic, Anglican and other protestant denominations, Afrikaner Calvinist churches or African independent churches. There are also significant Hindu, Muslim and Jewish communities, and traditional beliefs are still practiced widely, sometimes in conjunction with Christianity.

GMT + 2.

220/230 volts AC; 250 volts AC (Pretoria), 50Hz. 3-pin round plugs are in use.

Telephone: IDD is available. Country code: 27. Outgoing international code: 09. Fax: Most main hotels have this service. Telegram: Services are available in all towns. Post: Airmail to Europe takes up to seven days. Post office hours: Generally 0800-1630 Monday to Friday, 0800-1200 Saturday. Some transactions may not be carried out after 1530 Monday to Friday or after 1100 Saturday. The smaller post offices close for lunch 1300-1400. Poste Restante services are available throughout the country. Press: The main newspapers are in English and Afrikaans, and include Business Day, Cape Times, The Argus, Mail and Guardian, The Star, Sowetan, Sunday Times, and Natal Mercury.