(REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA)
(WIPO code: ZA) (latest review March 2024)
by SPOOR & FISHER, Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys, Pretoria
South Africa
General Information
Area
1,219,090 sq. km.
Population
58 million (estimated 2023).
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.