(REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA)

(WIPO code: ZA) (latest review February 2023)

by SPOOR & FISHER, Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys, Pretoria

General Information

Area

1,219,090 sq. km.

Population

57.5 million (estimated 2022).

Capitals

Legislative: Cape Town; administrative: Pretoria; judicial: Bloemfontein.

Main commercial and industrial center

Johannesburg.

Official languages

11 official languages, including Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu (English is generally the language of official governmental business).

Currency

Rand (ZAR).

Imports

Machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments, foodstuffs.

Exports

Gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment.

General Remarks

South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial, legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors. The 1990s brought an end to apartheid politically and ushered in black majority rule as of April 27, 1994. South Africa has since struggled to address apartheid-era imbalances in decent housing, education, health care and the increase in crime and corruption.