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SOUTH AFRICA

10th June, 2024

SOUTH AFRICA

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Picture Courtesy: https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-global/south-africa-unity-government-9379939/

Context: South Africa's recent election results marked a departure from the norm, with the African National Congress (ANC) losing its majority in the National Assembly for the first time since it began contesting elections in 1994.

Details

About South Africa

  • South Africa is the southernmost country in Africa, bordered by Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Eswatini, and Lesotho.
  • Pretoria is the administrative capital, Cape Town is the legislative capital, Bloemfontein is the judicial capital, and the Constitutional Court is located in Johannesburg.
  • The country is a multiethnic society with 12 official languages, the fourth-highest number in the world.
  • It is the only African nation to legislate same-sex marriage.
  • The country has the largest and most industrialised, technologically advanced economy in Africa.
  • South Africa has the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Africa.
  • The Great Escarpment, whose eastern stretch is known as the Drakensberg, is the highest peak in the country.
  • The interior of South Africa consists of a large, almost flat plateau with an altitude of between 1,000 m and 2,100 m. The plateau is surrounded by the Great Karoo, a sparsely populated shrubland, the Bushmanland, the Kalahari Desert, the Highveld, and the Limpopo River lowlands or Lowveld.
  • The Cape Peninsula forms the southernmost tip of the coastal strip which borders the Atlantic Ocean and terminates at the country's border with Namibia at the Orange River.
  • South Africa has a temperate climate due to its proximity to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, mild Southern Hemisphere, and rising elevation.

Source:

Indian Express

Britannica

Wikipedia

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. Consider the  location of the following countries:

1. Namibia

2. Botswana

3. Zimbabwe

4. Mozambique

How many of the above countries share borders with South Africa?

A) Only one

B) Only two

C) Only three

D) All four

Answer: D