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8.4% of South African citizens are white

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8.4% of South African citizens are white

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The current President of South Africa is Jacob Zuma

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The current President of South Africa is Jacob Zuma

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South Africa has a dual agricultural economy, with both well-developed commercial farming and more subsistence-based production in the deep rural areas.

Covering 1.2-million square kilometres of land, South Africa is one-eighth the size of the United States and has seven climatic regions, from Mediterranean to subtropical to semi-desert.

This biodiversity, together with a coastline 3 000 kilometres long and served by eight commercial ports, favours the cultivation of a highly diverse range of marine and agricultural products, from deciduous, citrus and subtropical fruit to grain, wool, cut flowers, livestock and game.

While 12% of South Africa's land can be used for crop production, only 22% of this is high-potential arable land. The greatest limitation is the availability of water, with uneven and unreliable rainfall. Around 1.3-million hectares are under irrigation, and around 50% of South Africa's water is used for agriculture.

Agricultural activities range from intensive crop production and mixed farming in winter rainfall and high summer rainfall areas to cattle ranching in the bushveld and sheep farming in the arid regions. Maize is most widely grown, followed by wheat, sugar cane and sunflowers. Citrus and deciduous fruits are exported, as are locally produced wines and flowers.

South Africa is not only self-sufficient in virtually all major agricultural products, but is also a net food exporter. It is also the leading exporter of protea cut flowers, which account for more than half of proteas sold on the world market.

Other important export groups are wine, citrus, maize, grapes, sugar, apples, pears and quinces. Important export products include agroprocessing products, such as undermatured ethyl alcohol and hides and skins.

Agriculture and the economy

Agriculture as a percentage of GDP has decreased over past four decades, currently contributing around 2%. This implies that the economy is maturing, moving towards the secondary and tertiary sectors.

However, farming remains vitally important to the economy with 638 000 people formally employed ( Statistics SA, 2012 Q2) - although it's estimated that around 8,5-million people are directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for their employment and income.

The sector's significance is largely because of its potential to create jobs, and is a key focus of the New Growth Path, a plan by the government to create 5-million new jobs by 2020. Plans include programmes to promote commercially oriented small-scale farming. Support is also available to smallholders on land acquired through land reform.

Agroprocessing

World-class infrastructure, counter-seasonality to Europe, vast biodiversity and marine resources, and competitive input costs make South Africa a major player on the world's markets.

The agroprocessing industry spans the processing of freshwater aquaculture and mariculture, exotic and indigenous meats, nuts, herbs and fruit. It also involves the production and export of deciduous fruit; production of wines for the local and export market; confectionary manufacturing and export; and the processing of natural fibres from cotton, hemp, sisal, kenaf and pineapple.

It contributed R280-million to the GDP in 2011, which is 20% of the total amount generated by the manufacturing sector. It is the third largest contributor to GDP within the sector, after chemicals and metals ( Statistics SA, 2012).

Agroprocessing has particularly strong linkages both up- and downstream: the sector links to agriculture across a wide variety of farming models and products; while downstream the sector's products are marketed across wholesale and retail chains, as well as through restaurants, pubs, shebeens and fast-food franchises.

According to the Industrial Policy Action Plan, the food-processing sector is the largest manufacturing sector in employment terms, with about 171 000 employees. This increases to more than a million jobs if agriculture is included.

The government plans to exploit South Africa's competitive advantages that - if fully exploited - would place South Africa among the top 10 export producers in high-value agricultural products.

Excellent wines, indigenous rooibos and honeybush teas, and certain fruits are highly sought after in export markets.

Aquaculture (fish farming) is regarded as priority sector, largely because of its potential for job creation as it scales up to meet increasing domestic demand. But, in general, greater focus is being paid to processed goods and domestic processing capabilities to help boost the value of exports.

Financing is available from the Industrial Development Corporation to encourage development within the food, beverage and agro industries. There are also various projects in place to boost agroprocessing in rural areas, through providing finance and infrastructure.

SAinfo reporter, incorporating material from the South African Yearbook

Reviewed: 3 December 2012

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South Africa has a dual agricultural economy, with both well-developed commercial farming and more subsistence-based production in the deep rural areas. Covering 1.2-million square kilometres of land, South Africa is one-eighth the size of the United States and has seven climatic regions, from Mediterranean to subtropical to semi-desert.

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South Africa is struggling with high unemployment rates

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South Africa is struggling with high unemployment rates

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South Africa's unemployment rate is relentlessly climbing, a trend that shows no sign of abating. Statistics South Africa, a government agency, said on Nov. 22 that the country's unemployment rate has risen to 27.1% from 26.6% in the second quarter of 2016, the highest it's been in 13 years.

The statistics agency counted 5.873 million South Africans of working age without jobs. Even though the country saw some increase in employment, it was not enough to offset losses in struggling sectors like mining and agriculture. The domestic sector, which includes maids (known in South Africa as domestic workers) and gardeners, saw a quarterly decrease of 15,000 jobs.

That picture becomes even more dire when you break the statistics down by age and gender. Job opportunities for South Africa's young people are way below global average, with kids coming straight out of school the worst affected, facing an unemployment rate of 65.5%. Those statistics include discouraged young job-seekers who have given up trying to find a job.

Women also remain the most vulnerable to the forces of the labor market, especially women of color who mainly hold low-skilled jobs.

While other African states enjoy sustained growth, South Africa's economy has struggled to recover the million jobs lost during the global recession. Economic turbulence and policy uncertainty saw unemployment resume its ascent from the first quarter of 2015. Despite a national plan to eliminate poverty and inequality by 2030, South African policy has yet to have a positive effect on the job market.
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Record unemployment affects these South Africans the most

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South Africa's unemployment rate is relentlessly climbing, a trend that shows no sign of abating. Statistics South Africa, a government agency, said on Nov. 22 that the country's unemployment rate has risen to 27.1% from 26.6% in the second quarter of 2016, the highest it's been in 13 years.

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South Africa has the 2nd largest number of HIV and AIDS patients just behind Eastern Africa

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South Africa has the 2nd largest number of HIV and AIDS patients just behind Eastern Africa

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2018 global HIV statistics

HIV continues to be a major global public health issue. In 2018 an estimated 37.9 million people were living with HIV (including 1.7 million children), with a global HIV prevalence of 0.8% among adults. Around 21% of these same people do not know that they have the virus. 1

Since the start of the epidemic, an estimated 74.9 million people have become infected with HIV and 32 million people have died of AIDS-related illnesses. In 2018, 770,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses. This number has reduced by more than 55% since the peak of 1.7 million in 2004 and 1.4 million in 2010. 2

The vast majority of people living with HIV are located in low- and middle- income countries, with an estimated 68% living in sub-Saharan Africa. Among this group 20.6 million are living in East and Southern Africa which saw 800,000 new HIV infections in 2018. 3

Reaching the 90-90-90 targets

While there has been progress towards UNAIDS' 90-90-90 targets for prevention and treatment, year-on-year reductions this appears to be stalling and at current rates the targets will not be achieved by the 2020 deadline.

The first 90
In 2018, nearly four out of five people living with HIV (79%) knew their status.

The second 90
Among people who knew their status, four out of five (78%) were accessing treatment.

The third 90
And among people accessing treatment, four out of five (86%) were virally suppressed. West and Central Africa, Eastern Europe and Central Asia regions need urgent action if they are to reach the targets.

New infections

There is renewed concern that the annual number of new infections among adults has remained static in recent years. In 2018, there were roughly 1.7 million new HIV infections - an insignificant improvement on 2017 (1.8 million). 4

In the past eight years, global new HIV infections have declined by just 16%, from 2.1million in 2010. Although this is nearly half the number of new infections compared to the peak in 1997 (2.9 million), the decline is not quick enough to reach the target of fewer than 500,000 by 2020.

While new HIV infections among children globally have also declined, from 280,000 in 2010 to 160,000 in 2018 - a 41% reduction - reports indicate that this is far less progress being made than previously thought and there is much more that needs to be done to improve knowledge of HIV and HIV testing among adolescents and young adults.

In 2018, more than half of new HIV infections globally were among key affected populations and their partners. Moreover, they accounted for more than 95% of new HIV infections in Eastern Europe and Central Asia; 95% of new HIV infections in Middle East and North Africa; 88% of new HIV infections in Western and central Europe and North America; 78% of new HIV infections in Asia and the Pacific; 65% of new HIV infections in Latin America; 64% of new HIV infections in Western and central Africa; 47% of new HIV infections in the Caribbean and 25% of new HIV infections in eastern and southern Africa. 5

Young women are especially at risk, with around 6,200 new infections each week among young people aged 15-24 occurring among this group. 6 In sub-Saharan Africa, four in five new infections are among girls aged 15-19 years and young women aged 15-24 years are twice as likely to be living with HIV as men.

More than one third (35%) of women around the world have experienced physical and/or sexual violence at some time in their lives. In some regions, women who experience violence are one and a half times more likely to become infected with HIV. 7

Yet the tide may be slowly changing for women, as new global HIV infections among young women aged 15-24 years were reduced by 25% between 2010 and 2018. 8

The reduction in new HIV infections has been strongest in the region most affected by HIV, East and Southern Africa, where new HIV infections have been reduced by 28% since 2010. However, in 2017 new HIV infections rose in around 50 countries. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia the annual number of new HIV infections has doubled, and new HIV infections have increased by more than a quarter in the Middle East and North Africa over the past 20 years. 9

We are sounding the alarm. Entire regions are falling behind, the huge gains we made for children are not being sustained, women are still most affected and key populations continue to be ignored. All these elements are halting progress and urgently need to be addressed head on.

- Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS

Treatment

Despite challenges, new global efforts have meant that the number of people receiving HIV treatment has increased dramatically in recent years, particularly in resource-poor countries. In 2018, 62% of all people living with HIV were accessing treatment. Of those, 53% were virally suppressed.

This equates to 23.3 million people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) in 2018 - up from 7.7 million in 2010. However, this level of treatment scale up is still not enough for the world to meet its global target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020. 10

Significant progress has been made in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT). In 2018, 82% of all pregnant women living with HIV had access to treatment to prevent HIV transmission to their babies - an increase of more than 90% from 2010. 11 12
HIV and tuberculosis (TB)
Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of death among people living with HIV, accounting for around one in three AIDS-related deaths. In 2016, 10.4 million people developed TB; of those 1.2 million were living with HIV.
Funding
At the end of 2018, US$ 19billion was available for the AIDS response. This was the first year global resources made available for the AIDS response declined - dropping from 19.9 billion in 2017.

Around 56% of the total resources for HIV in low- and middle-income countries in 2018 were drawn from domestic sources.

UNAIDS estimates that US$ 26.2 billion will be required for the AIDS response in 2020.

While considerable progress has been made, there is a risk that we will lose momentum. If the world is to be on track to end AIDS by 2030, there must be adequate and predictable financing for development. But, for the first time since 2000, the resources available for the AIDS response globally have declined. Ending AIDS is a life-saving investment that pays for itself many times over.
- Gunilla Carlson, Former UNAIDS Interim Executive Director (July, 2019)

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HIV continues to be a major global public health issue. In 2018 an estimated 37.9 million people were living with HIV (including 1.7 million children), with a global HIV prevalence of 0.8% among adults. Around 21% of these same people do not know that they have the virus.

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There have been recent concern of an uprising of racism in South Africa.

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There have been recent concern of an uprising of racism in South Africa.

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One afternoon last year in Johannesburg, Mmusi Maimane, the first black leader of South Africa's largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, got into a minor fender bender. When he stepped out of his car to apologize, the other driver, a white woman who didn't recognize him, launched into a tirade of racial slurs. "I was this sub-human to her," Maimane, 36, tells TIME as he leans forward on the leather sofa of his parliamentary office in Cape Town and runs his hands over his clean-shaven scalp. "I thought 'this is the most demeaning thing to me.' It wasn't like two motorists have an accident, it was like, here is a white person from a place of supremacy speaking down on a black South African."

It's a story Maimane has told many times before, one meant to impart a lesson on the lingering effects of racial discrimination 22 years after the end of white minority rule. But the tale of a white woman who treats South Africa's most important rising political star like an apartheid-era gardener is also meant to remind his audience of what might seem obvious: that he too is a black man in a country still struggling with deep racial inequalities. That despite his position at the head of a historically white party, his white wife, his education-he has two masters' degrees-and his elite accent, he is still Mmusi from the all-black township of Soweto, a black kid who is no stranger to struggle and who has what it takes to become the country's next president.
Read More: This Photo Galvanized the World Against Apartheid. Here's the Story Behind It
On August 3, South Africans will go to the polls for municipal elections that could, if Maimane's DA dominates, pave the way for a presidential upset in 2019. The ruling African National Congress has held power without interruption since the end of apartheid in 1994, but a recent spate of corruption scandals, accusations of government mismanagement and economic decline have dimmed its appeal. The storied party of Nelson Mandela is now at risk of losing control of the capital, Pretoria, and Johannesburg, South Africa's financial hub. Meanwhile the DA, which controls the economically thriving Western Cape province, of which Cape Town is the capital, has increased its share of the national vote in every election, and now holds 22% of the seats in parliament.

But to change South Africa's established order, Maimane will have to demonstrate that the DA, which was founded in 1959 as the anti-apartheid Progressive Party, has transcended its roots as the party of white liberals in order to earn the trust of an older generation of black South Africans habituated to the ANC. The DA has a way to go-in a country that is 80 percent black, it only received six percent of the black vote in 2014 elections.

Maimane's oratorical skills have earned him comparisons to President Barack Obama Gavin Kleinschmidt

Maimane will also have to capture the allegiance of the 'Born Frees'-black South Africans born after the end of apartheid who are growing increasingly frustrated by 1994's unfulfilled promises. While young South Africans appreciate the new political freedoms ushered in by apartheid's end, they complain, with justification, that blacks have largely failed to profit economically. South Africa's income inequality is among the world's worst, and it largely breaks along racial lines: nine out of ten South Africans living in poverty are black, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations. Black South Africans, who make up four-fifths of the population, have an unemployment rate of 29 percent, compared to six percent for whites. And whites earn on average six times more salary. "During the anti-apartheid struggle a lot of us activists made peace with inequality because we knew that one day we would be free," "Young people today are saying, 'we still live in townships, we still have pit latrines, the electricity is non existent, and most my friends are unemployed,'" says Jonathan Jansen, president of the Institute of Race Relations. "So the expectations that things would be different hasn't been met, and that puts a lot of pressure on social cohesion."

Maimane's juggling act is further complicated by the widespread belief that simply being in the DA means he is not black enough to deserve the country's vote. Political rivals have called him a "sellout," a "coconut," and a black "puppet" for white masters. Julius Malema, head of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)-a rising party that radical redistribution of the country's white-owned wealth-suggested recently that Maimane is a rent-a-black figurehead for the DA, "a party of white racists who are refusing to accept the black rule." Which is why Maimane frequently refers to his blackness in a way that few other politicians must. "Simply by virtue of his being part of the DA, which used to be considered the party of the madams and the masters, there is the compulsion to assert what is obvious, that Maimane is black," says Jansen.
Read More: The 13-Year-Old Survived a Horrific War Crime. But He May Never Be Safe Enough to Testify
Yet Maimane believes the extreme focus on race allows the ANC to dodge the real issues affecting South Africa today. He says he frequently meets voters who like the DA's governance record, but reject the party on the basis of bad experiences with white employers who are likely supporters. "I understand that it's political pragmatism to say 'look, if you are black you must be in this political party, if you are white you must be in that political party,'" says Maimane. "But understand that it polarizes society; it doesn't build it. The ANC is trying to create a society in which you can split people along racial lines."

More than anything, though, Maimane laments the decline of a party that was once the pride of Africa, and which has now become its laughingstock. In December, President Jacob Zuma went through three finance ministers in a week, precipitating a dive in the already hurting South African rand. Once the biggest economy in Africa, South Africa slipped to third place behind Nigeria and Egypt. In February, Zuma's colleagues accused him of allowing a wealthy Indian family to influence cabinet appointments in exchange for business concessions. In April, the Constitutional Court ruled that Zuma had broken state law by ignoring an order to repay some $16 million in taxpayer monies he spent on refurbishing his private residence. Despite Zuma's call for government austerity measures to cope with the weak economy, a security official revealed in May that the President had spent more than half a million dollars of government funds to buy official vehicles for his four wives. "The ANC is no longer the party of Mandela," says Maimane. "This is a party that's changed fundamentally in its core, in its fight for human rights, in its advancement of black South Africans' lives, in building an equal society. The more I see, the more I realize that the ANC governs as though black lives don't matter."

That doesn't mean that the ANC will give up without a fight. Zuma's antics may be abhorrent to most middle class voters, regardless of race, but he is enormously popular in rural areas. Jansen likens Zuma's appeal to that of U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump among white American men without college degrees. "To the rural South African, Zuma is one of them. His use of language, his attire, his marital situation, his struggles with the elites-these are things they relate to. He says, 'I am one of you, I will fight for you, and I will stand up for you.' That has enormous appeal, and it won't be easy for Maimane to overcome."
Read More: The Secret War Crime
The oldest of four children, Maimane grew up during the final days of apartheid, when black on black violence, instigated by the white government in an attempt to derail democracy, turned the streets of Soweto into a blood bath. His parents kept him safe by enrolling him in a private Catholic school, setting him on the upward educational trajectory that separates him from most of his peers. Maimane has a Master's degree in theology and still preaches on occasion. His stirring oratorical skills and cerebral aloofness have earned him mocking comparisons to U.S. President Barack Obama. From the moment he entered politics, first as the DA's mayoral candidate for Johannesburg in 2011, then as leader of the parliamentary opposition when he lost, he proved an electrifying speaker. In May 2015 he was elected leader of the DA, with 90 percent of party members' support. He refuses to cast himself as Mandela's heir- "too grandiose," he says- but vows to fight to fulfill Mandela's vision of a "rainbow nation." "It's upon all of us as South Africans to fight for that ideal of non-racialism," he says.

The problem, says Sisonke Msimang, a columnist and activist who frequently writes about race issues, is that most black South Africans have lost faith in the 1994 social compact that called for blacks to forgive and whites to be repentant. "Twenty-two years on, the language of reconciliation is tired and fails to address the anxieties and inequities across the racial divide," she says. To her, Maimane's pursuit of a post-racial South Africa, fails to recognize the very real economic struggles of a generation seeking returns from their parents' sacrifices. So while Maimane campaigns as a black man, he has failed to convince the majority of the black population that he can solve the systemic inequalities that remain long after reconciliation. "These are the middle class blacks that the DA should be attracting," says Msimang. "They are fed up with the ANC and hungry for real leadership. But the minute the DA starts talking about race, they realize that the party is trapped in the old 'rainbow nation' language that does nothing to dismantle the structural racism that is keeping blacks in poverty."

Nor has Maimane done enough to address the perception that the DA is still a white party that just happens to have a black leader. While party leaders say that the DA's membership is majority black, the party as a rule does not release membership figures, or even a breakdown by race. The party is fielding black candidates for most of August's mayoral races, but only five of the DA's nine provincial leaders are black, and two of its three deputy chairmen are white.

Though Maimane has promised to change the complexion of the party so that it reflects the diversity of South African society, without resorting to "dehumanizing quotas that reduce human beings to statistics," he is widely ridiculed for affecting a 'black' accent when addressing certain crowds-something Obama is accused of as well. And white DA members themselves are too often caught making racial gaffes, says Msimang. "It's hard to convince the young, black middle class that he is working on racism when members of his own party are letting him down by making these mistakes."

DA's widely touted local governing successes could risk backfiring. The party campaigns on a platform of small but effective government, and regularly cites its record in the Western Cape, where health care, education and social services are better than the national average. But violence in Cape Town's townships mean the city has the 9th-highest murder rate in the world, and in a city still largely segregated by race and class, much of the black population doesn't have access to the very things that make Cape Town stand out as a shining example of DA leadership. Maimane admits that he's not satisfied with where Cape Town is now, but largely blames the national, ANC-led government for failing to provide appropriate financial and policing resources. And he argues that while there are massive backlogs in service delivery for the poorer, and by default blacker, areas of Cape Town, the DA does better than the ANC in areas it controls. "We've got to ensure that we govern nationally so we can change some of the regulatory burdens that hinder the fight" to improve all lives, he says.

Maimane has pledged to address the country's entrenched inequalities through economic growth, but in a country with 40% youth unemployment, many fear that the emphasis on leaner government means an end to the social subsidies that are a lifeline for most families. "Poor black people don't believe that the DA has their interests in heart, because when they talk about government efficiency, it is seen as code for less benefits, as in 'get out and go work,' and people are saying 'how can we work there are no jobs?'" says Msimang.

Still, she has hopes that Maimane, and the DA, will eventually grow into a national role. The DA is likely do well in August's municipal elections, gaining control of key metropolitan areas that will set it up for parliamentary gains in the next national elections. Conventional wisdom has it that the DA won't take the presidency by 2019, but by dint of incremental progress and the ANC's continued decline, it could win the next round, in 2024. Yet to Maimane, waiting is a gamble of its own. He cites neighbor Zimbabwe-where Robert Mugabe's ZanuPF party has ruled for 36 years, and which is currently facing economic meltdown-as an example of what happens when one party gets too entrenched. "If you don't succeed sooner rather than later, later may never come around." If that's the case, the question is whether or not Maimane can overcome his, and his party's, limitations fast enough.

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Meet the South African Politician Who's Been Compared to Barack Obama-But Prefers Bill Clinton

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One afternoon last year in Johannesburg, Mmusi Maimane, the first black leader of South Africa's largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, got into a minor fender bender. When he stepped out of his car to apologize, the other driver, a white woman who didn't recognize him, launched into a tirade of racial slurs.

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Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu