Republic of South Africa

Republic of South Africa
Flag Coat of arms
Largest city	Johannesburg
Official languages	Afrikaans English Ndebele Sepedi Sesotho Setswana Swazi Tshivenda Xhosa Xitsonga Zulu
Dominant mode of production	Capitalism
Area
• Total	1,221,037 km²
Population
• 2021 estimate	60,142,978

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. It shares borders with Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique.

History

British colonization

The British Empire defeated the Boer settlers but let them create their own state and racially segregate Africans. African dockworkers first struck in 1874. At the 1885 Berlin Conference, European powers divided and colonized Africa, and the British took control of what is now South Africa. They fought against the Boers again from 1899 to 1902. Africans rebelled again in 1906 under the leadership of Bambatha kaMancinza following a poll tax. In 1910, the UK united various Boer settlements and British colonies into a single state.

Apartheid era

The Afrikaner Nationalist Party took power in 1948 and had direct connections to German fascism.

During the apartheid era, many Black Africans were confined to puppet states called 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.

In 1960, 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, a reactionary Zulu nationalist organization, opposed the strikes.

The CIA suppressed the anti-apartheid movement from the 1960s to 1980s and provided information about ANC members and activities. In 1981, they sent the South African military into Mozambique to assassinate ANC members in exile. The CIA was responsible for the arrest of Nelson Mandela and violated a UN policy by sending weapons to South Africa.

In the 1980s, the United States provided hundreds of thousands of dollars to South African media to promote Western bourgeois ideals and counter Marxism.

Post-apartheid

In the 2024 election, the alliance of the ANC, SACP, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions won a combined 40.18% compared to 59.50% in 2019. The MK and EFF parties, which previously broke away from the ANC, won 64.28%.

Current racial inequality

White settlers own over 70% of South Africa's farmland despite only being 8% of the population, whereas Africans only own 4% of the farmland. The average income for settlers is five times higher than for Black Africans.