General

Form of government
Parliamentary republic (the Commonwealth) since 1961. New constitution in 1997. Bicameral Parliament: National Assembly with 400 members and the National Council with 90 members. Independence since 1910 (former British colony).

Geography
The Republic of South Africa lies at the southern tip of the African continent. The country is bordered to the east by the Indian Ocean to the west by the Atlantic Ocean and the north of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho is surrounded by South Africa. Three geographical regions dominate South Africa's landscapes: the inland highlands, the mountains and the coastal region. The inland plateau is characterized by a largely constant altitude and is rocky slopes (the Great Escarpment), peaking beyond the levels (veld) of the high plateaus and various high and steep, are distinguished from other landforms. Despite two major river systems, the Limpopo and the Orange, the surface of the plateau water content. On the coast there are sandy beaches and rocky coves, and the land is overgrown with bushes. The mountainous region that extends from the Cape of Good Hope along the coast to the Limpopo Valley in the northeast of the country, consists of the Drakensberg, and Stormberg Stromberg chains.
After the 1994 elections, South Africa was divided into nine provinces: they include the Western Cape (Provincial Capital: Cape Town), the Eastern Cape (Bisho), the Northern Cape (Kimberley), KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg), Free State (Bloemfontein), North West Province (Mmabatho), Limpopo Province (formerly Northern Province) (Polokwane (formerly Pietersburg)), Mpumalanga (Nelspruit) and Gauteng (Johannesburg).

Language
Official languages ​​are Zulu, Xhosa, Pedi, Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Tswana, Swati, Tsonga, Venda.

Religion
Christianity (68%), including African Church, Reformed Dutch Church, Anglican, Methodist and Catholic. Minorities of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and animists.

Time
GMT + 1
No daylight saving in South Africa.
Of Central Europe in winter is +1 hour in summer and 0 hours

Mains voltage
250 V Pretoria (Tshwane), 220/230 V (other parts of the country), 50 Hz, three-pin adapter is recommended.

Climatological Cape Town