Michael+G.+-+ALD+-+FA10


 * South Africa (Republic of South Africa **


 * President:** Jacob Zuma


 * Geography****:** South Africa is located at the southern tip of the African Continent. The area of South Africa is 1,219,000 sq. km making it the 25 largest county in the world and slightly less than twice the size of Texas. South Africa borders Botswana 1,840 km, Lesotho 909 km, Mozambique 491 km, Namibia 967 km, Swaziland 430 km, Zimbabwe 225 km,  Note that South Africa completely surrounds Lesotho and almost completely surrounds Swaziland. Additionally, South Africa has  a total of coastline of 2798 miles.
 * Economy: ** South Africa's former economic policy was fiscally conservative, focusing on controlling inflation, and attaining a budget surplus. The current government largely follows the same prudent policies, but must contend with the impact of the global crisis and is facing growing pressure from special interest groups to use state-owned enterprises to deliver basic services to low-income areas and to increase job growth. More than one-quarter of South Africa's population currently receives social grants. According to the World Bank. The DGP of South Africa is approximately $276 Billion(2008). Prior the current world wide economic crisis, the GDP in South Africa was increasing at a rate of 3.7%. Thus GDP per capita is $10300. The economy of South Africa is mostly a service economy (65.8%), with a robust industrial economy (31%) and small agricultural economy (3.2%). South Africa has 17 million economically active people.

South Africa is A middle-income emerging market with large abundance of natural resources. However there are very large and daunting social and socioeconomic problems inherited from the apartheid era. Unemployment remains at about 25% receive social grants, the government attempts to combat that poverty and employments by providing low cost enterprises in poor areas of the county.

During the year 2009, South Africa had a budget is 77.68 Billion, and expenditures of 95.57 Billion resulting in a debit of 29.5%. This debit coupled with hi inflation rate of 7.1% does not bode well for the economy of South Africa.

In 1948 The National Party was voted into power and instituted an policy of apartheid – which meant separation of the development of the races, which favored the white minority at the expense of the black majority. The American National Congress (ANC) opposed the apartheid rule resulting in about 40 of the leaders of the ANC being imprisoned including Nelson Mandela and current president Jacob Zuma. Internal turmoil, in addition to boycott by may world nations lead eventually to release of these prisoners, and to multiracial elections in 1994 that lead to the end of apartheid. After apartheid rule, the South Africa was left with great imbalance in infrastructure between the areas where whites lived, and areas where the black lived. The Government continues to struggle to meet the financial demands to bring equality and eradicate poverty where the GDP is fairly limited, and the mines are still in the hands of foreign hands. The current socialist regime under president Zuma still believes the South African economy has the potential to create employment, expanded in infrastructure, mining, agriculture, services, construction and in the new economy areas such as the green economy and knowledge-based sectors.(News) The capital city is Pretoria Majority Rule Republic (1961) Provinces: Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape, North-West, Western Cape 61% on population lives in urban areas. The legal system is based on Roman-Dutch law which consists of a Constitutional Court, Supreme Court of Appeals, High Courts,
 * Population:** The population of South Africa is reported to approximately 49 million people made up of black African (79%), white (9.6%), colored (8.9%), and Indian/Asian (2.5%.) with an average median age of 24.7 years. There are almost as many men as there are women in South Africa which is almost unique in the African continent. Population Growth in South Africa is 0.281%; this number the large number of deaths due to the Aids disease. Average life expectancy in South Africa is almost 49 years. There are 5.7 Million South Africans infected in Aids/HIV, from which 350,000 perish every year. Literacy is 86.4% is South Africa.
 * Social Structure:** South Africa

Jacob Zuma was born April 12, 1942, Inkandla, South Africa. Hebeace a member of the ANC in 1959 and its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation"), in 1962. He was arrested the following year and sentenced to ten years in prison by the apartheid regime. In 1975 he fled the country, and he continued to work for the ANC while based in neighbouring countries; he returned in 1990. In December 1997 he was elected deputy president of the ANC, and in June 1999 he was appointed deputy president of the country. He was dismissed from both positions in 2005 following charges of corruption, which were eventually dropped. He was elected president of the ANC in 2007
 * Jacob Zuma:**

1. President Barack Obama from the United States has commended Jacob Zuma's actions in signing a Nuclear Proliferation treaty. 2. Nelson Mendela, former president of South Africa, has endorsed President Zuma as a man who could unify the divided ANC party of South Africa, and bring meaningful political change to the nation. 3. Jacob Zuma had been chosen as the African President of the year, for his outstanding leadership and diplomatic resolve, as well as his movement towards building a better Africa. Awarded for year 2009.
 * References:**
 * Foundation benchmarks:**


 * - Safety and Rule of Law:** Jacob Zuma, as a leader, has been leading South Africa under laws which have been enforced by the government. Although there has been significant amounts of drug trafficking in and out of South Africa, the number has been slowly decreasing since when President Zuma has taken power. In addition, South Africa has been committing army resources towards the African Union, with the purpose of increasing the safety of all of Africa as a whole.


 * - Participation and Human Rights:** During President Zuma’s time as ruler, South Africa or President Jacob Zuma have been accused of human rights violations. During this time, diplomatic elections have been held within South Africa to increase how the population interacts with the government, allowing the population to have a greater direct say into the inner workings of the government.


 * - Sustainable Economic Opportunity:** Over time, South Africa imports and exports have been growing steadily, however there is still a large gap between the rich and the poor. In addition, President Zuma has refused to nationalize foreign resources within Africa, further increasing integration of Africa economically within the world. Despite these efforts, however, progress is slow.


 * - Human Development:** Since the end of Apartheid, human rights between blacks and whites within South Africa have been evening out. During this time, South Africa has taken a hard stance on the treatment of HIV/AIDS within all of Africa. In addition, individual rights have been growing for the general population. Also going with this wave of change is an 88% literacy rate-one of the highest in Africa, which shows how the country’s education system has made leaps and bounds. Some evidence of how the education system is increasing is some of the newer cutting edge research; research capable of subduing HIV and AIDS in all of Africa.


 * Bibliography:**

 "Africa: South Africa." //CIA World Factbook//. United States: 2010. Web.18 Sep 2010 .

*"Jacob Zumas Speech." //New Zimbabwe// July 5, 2009: n. pag. Web. 20 Sep 2010. "World Bank GDP." //World Bank//. World Bank, 2010. Web. 19 Sep 2010. .