Editing Republic of South Africa

{{Infobox country|name=Republic of South Africa|image_flag=Flag_of_South_Africa.svg|image_coat=South Africa COA.svg|image_map=South_Africa_Map.svg|map_width=290|largest_city=Johannesburg|official_languages=Afrikaans<br>English<br>Ndebele<br>Sepedi<br>Sesotho<br>Setswana<br>Swazi<br>Tshivenda<br>Xhosa<br>Xitsonga<br>Zulu|mode_of_production=[[Capitalism]]|area_km2=1,221,037|population_estimate=60,142,978|population_estimate_year=2021}}

'''South Africa''', officially the '''Republic of South Africa''', is the southernmost country in [[Africa]]. Bordered by, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique.

== History ==

=== British colonization ===
The [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British Empire]] defeated the Boer [[Settler colonialism|settlers]] but let them create their own state and racially segregate Africans.<ref>{{Citation|author=[[Domenico Losurdo]]|year=2011|title=Liberalism: A Counter-History|chapter=The West and the Barbarians|page=221–222|publisher=Verso|isbn=9781844676934|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=5BB3406BC2E64972831A1C00D5D4BFE4|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacebhsj2yxuoudkhkjp6lzgr5jvgyhu76zxe4gw3d65gpg32a6nded4?filename=Domenico%20Losurdo%2C%20Gregory%20Elliott%20-%20Liberalism_%20A%20Counter-History-Verso%20%282011%29.pdf}}</ref> African dockworkers first [[Strike action|struck]] in 1874.<ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Tricontinental]]|title=The 1973 Durban Strikes: Building Popular Democratic Power in South Africa|date=2023-01-24|url=https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-1973-durban-strikes/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124145200/https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-1973-durban-strikes/|archive-date=2023-01-24|retrieved=2023-02-10}}</ref> At the 1885 [[Berlin Conference]], European powers divided and colonized Africa, and the British took control of what is now South Africa.<ref name=":3">{{News citation|title=South Africa and the continental struggle for socialism|date=2014-01-26|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/south-africa-and-the-struggle-for-socialism-html/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714090508/https://www.liberationnews.org/south-africa-and-the-struggle-for-socialism-html/|archive-date=2019-07-14|retrieved=2022-07-02|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]}}</ref> They fought against the Boers again from 1899 to 1902.<ref name=":4">{{Web citation|date=2023-03-31|title=Josie Mpama|url=https://thetricontinental.org/studies-feminisms-5-josie-mpama-of-struggle-women-in-struggle/|newspaper=[[Tricontinental]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230412070443/https://thetricontinental.org/studies-feminisms-5-josie-mpama-of-struggle-women-in-struggle/|archive-date=2023-04-12|retrieved=2023-04-16|author=Josie Mpama}}</ref> Africans rebelled again in 1906 under the leadership of [[Bambatha kaMancinza]] following a poll tax.<ref name=":3" /> In 1910, the UK united various Boer settlements and British colonies into a single state.<ref name=":4" />

=== Apartheid era ===
The [[Afrikaner Nationalist Party]] took power in 1948 and had direct connections to [[National Socialism|German fascism]].<ref name=":4" />

During the apartheid era, many Black Africans were confined to puppet states called [[Bantustan|Bantustans]] that were nominally independent. Bantustans made up 13% of the country's area and were on poor land far from urban areas. Africans who left the Bantustans without identification documents could be arrested and deported to the nearest Bantustan.<ref name=":0">{{News citation|author=Lewis Barnes|newspaper=[[Liberation News]]|title=South Africa: Major developments in the long struggle for land reform|date=2018-05-05|url=https://www.liberationnews.org/south-africa-major-developments-in-the-long-struggle-for-land-reform/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190714114629/https://www.liberationnews.org/south-africa-major-developments-in-the-long-struggle-for-land-reform/|archive-date=2019-07-14|retrieved=2022-07-02}}</ref>

In 1960, [[White supremacy|white supremacist]] forces killed members of the [[Pan-Africanist Congress]] who were protesting against apartheid in the [[Sharpeville massacre]]. Dockworkers in Durban struck in 1969 and again in 1972. [[Inkatha Freedom Party|Inkatha]], a [[reactionary]] [[Zulu]] [[Nationalism|nationalist]] organization, opposed the strikes.<ref name=":2" />

The [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] suppressed the anti-apartheid movement from the 1960s to 1980s and provided information about [[African National Congress|ANC]] members and activities. In 1981, they sent the South African military into [[People's Republic of Mozambique (1975–1990)|Mozambique]] to assassinate ANC members in exile. The CIA was responsible for the arrest of [[Nelson Mandela]] and violated a [[United Nations|UN]] policy by sending weapons to South Africa.<ref>{{Citation|author=William Blum|year=2002|title=Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower|chapter=A Concise History of United States Global Interventions,
1945 to the Present|isbn=9781842772201|publisher=Zed Books Ltd|lg=https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=29EED3C6906FF165E08303B9EAF66B4F|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacedas5bwprytpzcih6tof3ipede5uzmcvt47tfzwp4cptdau6vmjpy?filename=William%20Blum%20-%20Rogue%20State_%20A%20Guide%20to%20the%20World%27s%20Only%20Superpower-Zed%20Books%20Ltd%20%282002%29.pdf|page=122–123}}</ref>

In the 1980s, the [[United States of America|United States]] provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to South African media to promote Western [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] ideals and counter [[Marxism]].<ref>{{Web citation|author=Ajit Singh, Roscoe Palm|newspaper=[[Monthly Review]]|title=Manufacturing consent: How the United States has penetrated South African media|date=2022-08-08|url=https://mronline.org/2022/08/08/manufacturing-consent-how-the-united-states-has-penetrated-south-african-media/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220808182146/https://mronline.org/2022/08/08/manufacturing-consent-how-the-united-states-has-penetrated-south-african-media/|archive-date=2022-08-08|retrieved=2022-08-09}}</ref>

=== Post-apartheid ===
In the 2024 election, the alliance of the ANC, [[South African Communist Party|SACP]], and the [[Congress of South African Trade Unions]] won a combined 40.18% compared to 59.50% in 2019. The [[MK Party|MK]] and [[Economic Freedom Fighters|EFF]] parties, which previously broke away from the ANC, won 64.28%.<ref>{{Web citation|author=Vijay Prashad|newspaper=The Tricontinental|title=Democracy Will Not Come through Compromise and Fear: The Twenty-Fourth Newsletter (2024)|date=2024-06-13|url=https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/year-of-elections/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613110144/https://thetricontinental.org/newsletterissue/year-of-elections/|archive-date=2024-06-13}}</ref>

== Current racial inequality ==
White settlers own over 70% of South Africa's farmland despite only being 8% of the population,<ref>{{News citation|author=Francis Njubi Nesbitt|newspaper=[[MintPress News]]|title=In South Africa, Trump Embraces a Global Neo-Nazi Myth|date=2018-08-27|url=https://www.mintpressnews.com/south-africa-white-genocide/248288/|retrieved=2022-07-02}}</ref> whereas Africans only own 4% of the farmland.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Tricontinental]]|title=This Land Is the Land of Our Ancestors|date=2022-06-22|url=https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-farmworkers-south-africa/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905041651/https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-farmworkers-south-africa/|archive-date=2022-09-05|retrieved=2022-11-12}}</ref> The average income for settlers is five times higher than for Black Africans.<ref name=":0" />

== References ==
[[Category:Countries]]
[[Category:Global south]]
[[Category:African countries]]
[[Category:Settler-colonial states]]