COUNTRY: South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA)
CAPITAL: South Africa has three capital cities: executive Pretoria, judicial Bloemfontein and legislative Cape Town.
GDP GROWTH RATE: 0.2%
MAJOR COMMERCIAL CITIES: Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban
MAJOR INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS: South Africa has international airports in four cities: Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Nelspruit. The main international airports are in Johannesburg, and to a lesser extent Cape Town. Nelspruit's international airport mainly serves travelers en route to the Kruger National Park.
MAJOR SEAPORTS: South Africa's major ports and harbours are Cape Town, Durban, EastLondon, MosselBay, Gqeberha, RichardsBay, George and Saldanha Bay. The administration and operation of the country's port facilities are done by two subsidiaries of Transnet, the Transnet National Ports Authority and South African Port Operations (SAPO).
RAIL AND ROADWAYS:
• The Department of Transport is responsible for the regulation of all transportation in South Africa, including public transport, rail transportation, civil aviation, shipping, freight, and motor vehicles.
• The operation of the country's rail systems is accomplished by Transnet subsidiaries Transnet Freight Rail, Shosholoza Meyl, Metrorail, Transnet Engineering, Protekon et al. All major cities are connected by rail, and South Africa's railway system is the most highly developed in Africa. The South African rail industry is publicly owned.
EXPORT GOODS: The country mainly exports platinum (9.3%), motor vehicles (7.5%), iron ores (6.5%), coal and similar solid fuels (5.3%) and gold (5.2%). Chief exports include corn, diamonds, fruits, gold, metals and minerals, sugar, and wool.
EXPORT PARTNERS: China (10.7%), Germany (8.0%), United States (7.0%), United Kingdom (5.2%), Japan (4.8%), India (4.5%), Botswana (4.4%), Mozambique (4.1%), Namibia (4.0%), Netherlands (3.3%)
IMPORT GOODS: The main imports are petroleum oils (15.2%), motor vehicles (4.3%), transmission apparatus for radio-telephony (3.5%), automatic data processing machines and units (2.1%), and medicaments (2%). Machinery and transportation equipment make up more than one-third of the value of the country's imports.
IMPORT PARTNERS: China (18.5%), Germany (9.9%), United States (6.6%), India (4.9%), Saudi Arabia (4.2%), Nigeria (4.1%), United Kingdom (3.3%), Japan (3.2%), Thailand (3.0%), Italy (2.5%)
