South African Economics

South Africa is a country with a huge income disparity.  The income disparity is greatest between Black and Whites.  On average the average white household earns six times more than the average black household.  Income inequality among South Africans ranks in the top 10 in the world.  Although South Africa has taken measures to promote employment among Blacks, little has changed in the overall status of these people.  There are several restrictive government laws that impede progress and entrepreneurial advancement.  During the past few years South Africa has seen economic gains, inflation has lowered, the country has stabilized, and employment has increased.  However, there is still a lot of room for improvement.  South Africa has incredible wildlife, beautiful scenery, and magnificent beaches; therefore, tourism is one of the top industries.  Unfortunately, many South Africans are not yet able to enjoy the prosperity that others enjoy and in fact about one half of South Africans are living in poverty.  Much of this poverty and income inequality can be attributed to the apartheid past that still haunts South Africa. Economic growth, poverty reduction, and job creation remain key economic goals of South Africa. The GDP of South Africa in 2010 was 364 billion. This ranks 28th in the world and is only growing at 1.4 percent. South Africa hopes that this rate improves and would hopefully grow at 4 percent. South Africa also relies much on their exports. Gold is still a huge export for South Africa. They are also the leading producers of platinum, chrome, manganese, and vanadium.

                                                             http://focusgold.com/

"Background Note: South Africa." U.S. Department of State. U.S. Department of State. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2898.htm>.

"South Africa: Economy Overview." - SouthAfrica.info. Web. 26 Feb. 2012. <http://www.southafrica.info/business/economy/econoverview.htm>.

South African Government

    The South African government is actually very similar to the American government in that they have the same three branches of government; the legislative, executive, and judiciary. The legislative branch is controlled by a parliament that correlates with our house of representatives and senate. The power in the executive branch is held by the president, just as our American government is. Unlike the United States, the president serves 5 year terms. The president today is Jacob Zuma. The judiciary branch is an independent combination of the legislative and executive powers.  Just like that of our legislative branch, the legislative parliament of South Africa is bicameral, meaning a two-house system; the two houses consist of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, the lower and upper houses, respectively. The National Assembly has in the range of 350-400 people in it that serve 5 year terms also. The Council of provinces has 54 permanent members, 36 delegates and elects a chairman.
    Race was a major issue for a long time with the South African government. It had been present since way back in the colonial day when the British first entered the country. It became an official policy when The National Party created an apartheid from 1948 to 1994, which gave the major rights to the white race and segregated against the blacks. Many laws were conducted against black, including only being able to have specific jobs along with others. In 1970 they were officially stripped of all of their rights of citizenship and were treated to an inferior way to rights and basically banished tribal villages. Blacks who rose up against these laws were imprisoned. Most famous for this is Nelson Mandela who spent a large sum of his life in prison. He later then became president in 1994 and signaled the end of apartheid officially but in reality even though Mandela was president and a great man the affects of Apartheid still exist today.
                                         

                                                                 Nelson Mandela

http://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nelson-mandela-59.php




Sources

"The History of Apartheid in South Africa." Student Information. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. <http://www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/apartheid.hist.html>.

"Government in South Africa - SouthAfrica.info." South Africa's Official Gateway - Investment, Travel, Country Information - SouthAfrica.info. Web. 18 Feb. 2012. <http://www.southafrica.info/about/government/gov.htm>.

South Africa

          Believe it or not, the reason I chose South Africa is because of the professional golfer Ernie Els. I did not know much about South Africa but found it odd that Els was white and came from Africa. So I thought South Africa would be a good country to learn more about in general and the diaspora of Africa.

         South Africa is made up of a wide variety of ethnicities. They range from European and Asian decent. Although with Ernie Els being white, the country is still mostly black, making up 79.5 percent of their population. In 1652 South Africa was discovered for the first by European man named Jan van Riebeeck. He was a Dutch man and established a colony in Present day Cape Town. This would be set up as a slave trade station. Here many slaves were both brought into South Africa but also shipped out of South Africa. This was a cause for much of the diaspora across the country.

        Another reason for the diverse culture in South Africa was because of the finding of diamonds. Diamonds become a very popular resource that many countries want to have. Many different countries came to South Africa and set up settlements. Eventually the Anglo-Boar War broke out with Britain coming out on top and setting up another colony in present day Cape Town. They would expand through the country upsetting many of the natives and causing them to flee to other countries in Europe and also South Africa.

          Today Britain contains the most people of a South African decent. Many people are also still leaving the country because of unemployment of the unsafe conditions of South Africa. It was very nice to learn briefly about the history of South Africa and its diaspora. I will enjoy blogging about it over the next few weeks.

http://www.thecommonwealth.org/YearbookHomeInternal/139444/

Citations:
Jones, Jim. "AFRICAN HISTORY TIMELINE: Europeans in 19th Century South Africa." West Chester University's - On-line Web Courses. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://courses.wcupa.edu/jones/his311/timeline/t-19saf.htm>.


"South Africa: Fast Facts - SouthAfrica.info." South Africa's Official Gateway - Investment, Travel, Country Information - SouthAfrica.info. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.southafrica.info/about/facts.htm>.

"A Short History of South Africa - SouthAfrica.info." South Africa's Official Gateway - Investment, Travel, Country Information - SouthAfrica.info. Web. 15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.southafrica.info/about/history/history.htm>.

First Post

This is my first post. Many more to come about South Africa.