1.
Culture of South Africa
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The culture of South Africa is known for its ethnic and cultural diversity. The South African majority still has a number of rural inhabitants who lead largely impoverished lives. It is among people, however, that cultural traditions survive most strongly, as South Africans have become increasingly urbanized and Westernised. Urban South Africans usually speak English or Afrikaans in addition to their native language, there are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoisan languages, not included in the eleven official languages, but are one of the eight other officially recognised languages. Members of the middle class often study and work abroad for greater exposure to the markets of the world, the first Indians arrived on the Truro ship as indentured labourers in Natal to work the Sugar Cane Fields, while the rest arrived as traders. A post-apartheid wave of South Asian immigration has also influenced South African Indian culture, there is a much smaller Chinese South African community, made up of early immigrants, apartheid-era immigrants from Taiwan, and post-apartheid immigrants from mainland China. The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a South African cave, dating from 75,000 years ago, these small drilled snail shells could have no other function than to have been strung on a string as a necklace. South Africa was one of the cradles of the human species, One of the defining characteristics of our species is the making of art. The scattered tribes of Khoisan peoples moving into South Africa from around 10,000 BC had their own fluent art styles seen today in a multitude of cave paintings and they were superseded by Bantu and Nguni peoples with their own vocabularies of art forms. In the 20th century, traditional forms of art were scattered and re-melded by the divisive policies of apartheid. New forms of art evolved in the mines and townships, a dynamic art using everything from plastic strips to bicycle spokes, contemporary South Africa has a stellar art scene, with artists receiving international recognition. Contemporary South African artists whose work has met with international acclaim include Marlene Dumas. The architecture of South Africa mirrors the vast ethnic and cultural diversity of the country, in addition, influences from other distant countries have contributed to the variety of the South African architectural landscape. Herbert Baker, among the countrys most influential architects, designed the Union Buildings in Pretoria, other buildings of note include the Rhodes memorial and St Georges Cathedral in Cape Town, and St Johns College in Johannesburg. Cape Dutch architecture was prominent in the days of the Cape Colony. The style has roots in medieval Holland, Germany, France, the rural landscape of South Africa is populated with traditional and European-influenced African architecture. There are 11 national languages in South Africa, many of the first black South African print authors were missionary-educated, and many thus wrote in either English or Afrikaans. One of the first well known novels written by an author in an African language was Solomon Thekiso Plaatjes Mhudi
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History of South Africa
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The history of South Africa starts more than 100,000 years ago, when the first humans inhabited the region. The discoveries also led to new conflicts culminating in open warfare between the Boer settlers and imperial Britain, fought essentially for control over the nascent South African mining industry. The country became a nation state within the British Empire in 1934 following enactment of the Status of the Union Act. The dominion came to an end on 31 May 1961 in consequence of a 1960 referendum, from 1948 to 1994, South African politics were dominated by Afrikaner nationalism. It was an extension of segregationist legislation enacted in 1960, since then the ANC has dominated the politics of the country in an uneasy alliance with the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions. It was inhabited by Australopithecines since at least 2.5 million years ago, Modern human settlement occurred around 125,000 years ago in the Middle Stone Age, as shown by archaeological discoveries at Klasies River Caves. The first human habitation is associated with a DNA group originating in a area of southern Africa. At the Blombos cave Professor Raymond Dart discovered the skull of a 2.51 million year old Taung Child in 1924, in further research at the Blombos cave in 2002, stones were discovered engraved with grid or cross-hatch patterns, dated to some 70,000 years ago. This has been interpreted as the earliest example ever discovered of abstract art or symbolic art created by Homo sapiens, many more species of early hominid have come to light in recent decades. The oldest is Little Foot, a collection of footbones of an unknown hominid between 2.2 and 3.3 million years old, discovered at Sterkfontein by Ronald J. Clarke. An important recent find was that of 1.9 million year old Australopithecus sediba, in 2015, the discovery near Johannesburg of a previously unknown species of Homo was announced, named Homo naledi. It has been described as one of the most important paleontological discoveries in modern times, the descendants of the Middle Paleolithic populations are thought to be the aboriginal San and Khoikhoi tribes. The San and Khoikhoi are grouped under the term Khoisan, and are distinguished only by their respective occupations. Whereas the San were hunter-gathers, the Khoikhoi were pastoral herders, archaeological discoveries of livestock bones on the Cape Peninsula indicate that the Khoikhoi began to settle there by about 2000 years ago. In the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Portuguese mariners, later, English and Dutch seafarers in the late 16th and 17th centuries exchanged metals for cattle and sheep with the Khoikhoi. The initial origin of the Khoikhoi remains uncertain, the establishment of the staging post by the Dutch East India Company at the Cape in 1652 soon brought the Khoikhoi into conflict with Dutch settlers over land ownership. Cattle rustling and livestock theft ensued, with the Khoikhoi being ultimately expelled from the peninsula by force, the first Khoikhoi-Dutch War broke out in 1659, the second in 1673, and the third 1674–1677. The disease had brought to the Cape by Dutch sailors
3.
South African cuisine
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The cuisine of South Africa can be generalised as, Cookery practised by indigenous people of Africa such as the Sotho- and Nguni-speaking people. The pre-colonial diet consisted primarily of cooked grains, especially sorghum, fermented milk, people also kept sheep and goats, and communities often organised vast hunts for the abundant game, but beef was considered the absolutely most important and high status meat. The ribs of any cattle that were slaughtered in many communities were so prized that they were offered to the chief of the village, in many ways, the daily food of South African families can be traced to the indigenous foods that their ancestors ate. A typical meal in a South African family household that is Bantu-speaking is a stiff, traditional rural families often ferment their pap for a few days – especially if it is sorghum instead of maize – which gives it a tangy flavor. The Sotho-Tswana call this fermented pap, ting, the vegetable is often some sort of pumpkin, varieties of which are indigenous to South Africa, although now many people eat pumpkins that originated in other countries. Rice and beans are very popular even though they are not indigenous. Another common vegetable dish, which arrived in South Africa with its many Irish immigrants, for many South Africans meat is the centre of any meal. The Khoisan ate roasted meat, and they also dried meat for later use, the influence of their diet is reflected in the common Southern African love of barbecue and biltong. As in the past, when men kept cattle as their possession in the rural areas. Today, South Africans enjoy not only beef, but mutton, goat, chicken, on weekends, many South African families have a braai, and the meal usually consists of pap and vleis, which is maize meal and grilled meat. Eating meat even has a significance in both traditional and modern South African culture. Participants often say that spilling the blood of the animal on the ground pleases the ancestors who invisibly gather around the carcass. On holiday weekends, entrepreneurs will set up pens of animals along the main roads of townships—mostly sheep and goats—for families to purchase, slaughter, cook. Beef being the most prized meat, for weddings, affluent families often purchase a live steer for slaughter at home, vegetarianism is generally met with puzzlement among Black South Africans, although most meals are served with vegetables such as pumpkin, beans and cabbage. During the pioneering days of the 17th century, new foods such as biltong, droëwors, a very distinctive regional style of South African cooking is often referred to as Cape Dutch. This cuisine is characterised by the use of such as nutmeg, allspice. The Cape Malay influence has brought spicy curries, sambals, pickled fish, Bobotie is a South African dish that has Cape Malay origins. It consists of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping, of the many dishes common to South Africa, bobotie is perhaps closest to being the national dish, because it isnt commonly found in any other country
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Religion in South Africa
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South Africa is a secular state. Its constitution guarantees freedom of religion, many religions are represented in the ethnic and regional diversity of the population, with Christianity overall being dominant. The African Traditional Religion of the Khoisan and Bantu speakers during apartheid were succeeded in predominance by Christianity introduced by the Dutch, during apartheid there was sustained persecution of African Traditional Religion and forced conversions during that era. In 1930 the majority of Afrikaners were Calvinists and they assisted Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama who first sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and 1497 respectively. However, Jewish settlers only began to arrive in numbers from the 1820s, the Baháí Faith was introduced in 1911. The Baháí community decided to limit membership in its national assembly to black adherents when an assembly was prohibited under Apartheid. The Census 2001 provided the most recent national statistics for religious denominations, the Census 2011 form did not include any questions about religion due to low priority. A2015 study estimated some 6,500 believers in Christ from a Muslim background residing in the country, Christianity is the dominant religion in South Africa, with almost 80% of the population in 2001 professing to be Christian. No single denomination predominates, with mainstream Protestant churches, Pentecostal churches, African initiated churches, importantly, there is significant and sustained syncretism with African Traditional Religion among most of the self-professed Christians in South Africa. Of the total population of 44.8 million,35.8 million or 79. 8% identified as members of a Christian denomination. The history of Protestantism in South Africa dates back to the initial European settlement on the Cape of Good Hope in 1652, since then, Protestantism has been the predominant religion of the European settlers and today, of South Africa as a whole. The largest Protestant denomination in the country is Pentecostalism, followed by Methodism, Dutch Reformed, the Zion Christian Church is the largest African initiated church in Southern Africa. The churchs headquarters are at Zion City Moria in Limpopo Province, according to the 1996 South African Census, the church numbered 3.87 million members. By the 2001 South African Census, its membership had increased to 4.97 million members and it is made up of 26 dioceses and archdioceses plus an apostolic vicariate. In 1996, there were approximately 3.3 million Catholics in South Africa making up 6% of the total South African population, currently, there are 3.8 million Catholics. 2.7 million are of various black African ethnic groups, such as Zulu, Xhosa, coloured and white South Africans each account for roughly 300,000. Most white Catholics are English speaking, and the majority are descended from Irish immigrants, many others are Portuguese settlers who left Angola and Mozambique after they became independent in the 1970s, or their children. The proportion of Catholics among the predominantly Calvinist white Afrikaans speakers, islam in South Africa is a minority religion, practiced by less than 1. 5% of the total population, according to estimates
5.
Sport in South Africa
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South Africans have a passionate following, although they remain largely divided along ethnic lines. Soccer, Cricket and Rugby are the most popular sports, Rugby Union has traditionally been the most popular sport in South Africa amongst White South Africans. The national rugby team is nicknamed The Springboks, South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the first one hosted in Africa. Cricket is traditionally the popular sport among the white British diaspora and Indian South African communities, the national cricket team is nicknamed The Proteas. Soccer has historically been popular amongst persons of African descent and is South Africas most popular sport. The South Africa national soccer team, Bafana Bafana, has not enjoyed considerable success since the early 20th Century, other popular sports include, boxing, hockey, tennis, golf, surfing, netball, running and also obstacle course racing. South Africa was absent from international sport for most of the apartheid era due to sanctions, South Africa hosts the Saddle Seat World Cup every four years, which includes the American Saddlebred, Morgan horse, and South African Boerperd horse breeds. It is the highest level of competition for Saddle seat Equitation riders, South Africa was banned from the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo due to the apartheid policies. This ban effectively lasted until 1992, during this time, some sports people left for other countries in order to compete internationally. Some athletes continued their sports careers in South Africa in isolation, some sports teams toured South Africa as Rebel Tours and played the Springbok rugby and Proteas cricket teams in South Africa during the isolation period. Sport in South Africa is still seen as the domain of men. In 1997, one writer described massive gender inequalities in the structures of the country. South Africa went on to win a medal in the finals with the team of Victor, Mogawane, de Beer. In 2012 Caster Semenya won a medal in the womens 800m of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Also in 2012, Oscar Pistorius became the first double amputee sprinter to compete at the Olympic Games, but did not win a medal. Pistorius won a medal and a bronze medal in the T44 class at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. He also won two medals at the 2012 Paralympic Games and remained the T43 world record holder for the 200 and 400 metres events. The South African team of Pistorius, Arnu Fourie, Zivan Smith and Samkelo Radebe won a gold medal, Fourie also set a world record in the heats of the T44 200m event and won a bronze medal in the 100m event
6.
National symbols of South Africa
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1910 coat of arms – granted by King George V in 1910, and used until 2000. 2000 coat of arms – introduced by the Mbeki administration in 2000, Great Seal of the Union – authorised by King George V in 1910, and used until 1937 on state documents signed by the Governor-General. Royal Signet of the Union – authorised by the Royal Executive Functions and Seals Act 1934, governor-Generals Great Seal – authorised by King George VI in 1937, and used until 1961 on state documents signed by the Governor-General. Seal of the Republic – authorised by the Republic of South Africa Constitution Act 1961, the use of the seal has not been a constitutional requirement since 1997, but its use continues nevertheless. National Flag of the Union – authorised by the Union Flags and Nationality Act 1927, renamed the National Flag of the Republic in 1961, it was used until 1994. National Flag – the current flag, introduced in 1994, red Ensign defaced with the shield of the coat of arms – authorised by the Admiralty in 1910, for use on South African-registered merchant ships, and also used as an unofficial national flag. From 1912, the shield was placed on a white disc, the ensign was discontinued in 1960. Since 1960, the flag has been used as the merchant ensign. Blue Ensign defaced with the shield of the coat of arms – authorised by the Admiralty in 1910, superseded by the National Flag of the Union. Union Jack defaced with the coat of arms surrounded by acacia leaves. Governor-Generals flag – blue, displaying the royal crest between two bearing the name of the country. State Presidents flag – blue, displaying the coat of arms below the letters SP. State Presidents flag – orange, white, and blue triangles, god Save the King – used from 1910 to 1957. Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika – used from 1994 to 1997 as joint anthem with Die Stem, National Anthem of South Africa – shortened versions of Nkosi sikelel iAfrika and Die Stem, with altered words, combined into a single anthem, and used since 1997. Coat of arms of South Africa Flag of South Africa List of South African flags National anthem of South Africa National flower of South Africa Brownell, F. G
7.
South Africa
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South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is the southernmost country in Africa. South Africa is the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and it is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, the remaining population consists of Africas largest communities of European, Asian, and multiracial ancestry. South Africa is a multiethnic society encompassing a variety of cultures, languages. Its pluralistic makeup is reflected in the recognition of 11 official languages. The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup détat, however, the vast majority of black South Africans were not enfranchised until 1994. During the 20th century, the black majority sought to recover its rights from the dominant white minority, with this struggle playing a role in the countrys recent history. The National Party imposed apartheid in 1948, institutionalising previous racial segregation, since 1994, all ethnic and linguistic groups have held political representation in the countrys democracy, which comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces. South Africa is often referred to as the Rainbow Nation to describe the multicultural diversity. The World Bank classifies South Africa as an economy. Its economy is the second-largest in Africa, and the 34th-largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, South Africa has the seventh-highest per capita income in Africa. However, poverty and inequality remain widespread, with about a quarter of the population unemployed, nevertheless, South Africa has been identified as a middle power in international affairs, and maintains significant regional influence. The name South Africa is derived from the geographic location at the southern tip of Africa. Upon formation the country was named the Union of South Africa in English, since 1961 the long form name in English has been the Republic of South Africa. In Dutch the country was named Republiek van Zuid-Afrika, replaced in 1983 by the Afrikaans Republiek van Suid-Afrika, since 1994 the Republic has had an official name in each of its 11 official languages. Mzansi, derived from the Xhosa noun umzantsi meaning south, is a name for South Africa. South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological and human fossil sites in the world, extensive fossil remains have been recovered from a series of caves in Gauteng Province. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has termed the Cradle of Humankind
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Multilingualism
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Multilingualism is the use of two or more languages, either by an individual speaker or by a community of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the worlds population, more than half of all Europeans claim to speak at least one other language in addition to their mother tongue. Multilingualism is becoming a social phenomenon governed by the needs of globalization, people who speak several languages are also called polyglots. Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the first language is acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed. Children acquiring two languages in this way are called simultaneous bilinguals, even in the case of simultaneous bilinguals, one language usually dominates the other. People who know more than one language have been reported to be adept at language learning compared to monolinguals. Multilingualism in computing can be considered part of a continuum between internationalization and localization, the definition of multilingualism is a subject of debate in the very same way as the definition of language fluency. On one end of a sort of continuum, one may define multilingualism as complete competence. The speaker would presumably have complete knowledge and control over the language so as to sound native, on the opposite end of the spectrum would be people who know enough phrases to get around as a tourist using the alternate language. Since 1992, Vivian Cook has argued that most multilingual speakers fall somewhere between minimal and maximal definitions, in addition, there is no consistent definition of what constitutes a distinct language. For instance, scholars disagree whether Scots is a language in its own right or a dialect of English. Many small independent nations schoolchildren are today compelled to learn multiple languages because of international interactions, for example, in, all children are required to learn at least two foreign languages, the other national language and one alien language. Many Finnish schoolchildren also select further languages, such as German or Russian, in some large nations with multiple languages, such as India, school children may routinely learn multiple languages based on where they reside in the country. In major metropolitan areas of Central, South and East India, thus a child of Telugu parents living in Bangalore will end up speaking his or her mother tongue at home and the state language, Hindi and English in school and his or her surroundings. Many myths and much prejudice has grown around the notions of bi- and these are all harmful convictions which have long been debunked, yet still persist among many parents. A multilingual person is someone who can communicate in more than one language, more specifically, the terms bilingual and trilingual are used to describe comparable situations in which two or three languages are involved. A multilingual person is referred to as a polyglot. Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the first language is acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed
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Afrikaans
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Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and, to a lesser extent, Botswana and Zimbabwe. Hence, it is a language of Dutch, and was previously referred to as Cape Dutch or kitchen Dutch. Although, it is described as a creole, a partially creolised language the least. The term is derived from Dutch Afrikaans-Hollands meaning African Dutch. It is the first language of most of the Afrikaner and Coloured people of Southern Africa, therefore, differences with Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and a spelling that expresses Afrikaans pronunciation rather than standard Dutch. There is a degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages—especially in written form. With about 7 million native speakers in South Africa, or 13. 5% of the population and it has the widest geographical and racial distribution of all the eleven official languages of South Africa, and is widely spoken and understood as a second or third language. About 1. 5% of black South Africans speak it as their first language, large numbers of speakers of Bantu languages and English-speaking South Africans also speak it as their second language. It is taught in schools, with about 10.3 million second-language students and it, along with German, was among the official languages of Namibia until the country became independent in 1990, 25% of the population of Windhoek spoke Afrikaans at home. Both Afrikaans and German survive as recognised regional languages in the country, estimates of the total number of Afrikaans speakers range between 15 and 23 million. The Afrikaans language arose in the Dutch Cape Colony, through a gradual divergence from European Dutch dialects, there is a degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, particularly in written form. Nevertheless, Dutch speakers are confronted with fewer non-cognates when listening to Afrikaans than the way round. Mutual intelligibility thus tends to be asymmetrical, as it is easier for Dutch speakers to understand Afrikaans than for Afrikaans speakers to understand Dutch, in general, mutual intelligibility between Dutch and Afrikaans is better than between Dutch and Frisian or between Danish and Swedish. The workers and slaves who contributed to the development of Afrikaans were Asians and Malagasys, as well as the Khoi, San, and Bantu peoples who also lived in the area. African creole people in the early 18th century — documented on the cases of Hendrik Bibault, Only much later in the second half of the 19th century did the Boers adopt this attribution, too. The Khoi and mixed-race groups became collectively referred to as Coloureds, beginning in about 1815, Afrikaans started to replace Malay as the language of instruction in Muslim schools in South Africa, written with the Arabic alphabet, see Arabic Afrikaans. Later, Afrikaans, now written with the Latin alphabet, started to appear in newspapers and political, in 1925, Afrikaans was recognised by the South African government as a real language, rather than simply a slang version of Dutch proper. Before the Boer Wars, and indeed for some time afterwards, rather, Afrikaans was described derogatorily as ‘a kitchen language’ or as ‘a bastard jargon, suitable for communication mainly between the Boers and their servants
10.
Flag of South Africa
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The flag of South Africa was adopted on 27 April 1994, at the beginning of South Africas 1994 general election, to replace the flag that had been used since 1928. The new national flag, designed by the then State Herald of South Africa Frederick Brownell, was chosen to represent the new democracy after the end of Apartheid. The flag has horizontal bands of red and blue, of width, separated by a central green band which splits into a horizontal Y shape. The Y embraces a black isosceles triangle from which the arms are separated by yellow bands. The stripes at the fly end are in the 5,1,3,1,5 ratio, at the time of its adoption, the South African flag was the only national flag in the world to comprise six colours in its primary design. The other three – red, white and blue – are displayed on the Dutch tricolour and the British Union flag and are said represent the white population. The green pall is commonly interpreted to mean the unification of the ethnic groups. The design therefore represents a converging of paths, the merging of both the past and the present, the Anglo-Boer War between 1899 and 1902 ended with the Treaty of Vereeniging on 31 May 1902 and resulted in what is now South Africa falling under the British Union Flag. The former Boer Republics of the Orange Free State and the Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek became British colonies along with the existing Cape, each was also entitled to a colonial flag following in the British tradition. On 31 May 1910 these four colonies came together to form the Union of South Africa, once again, as a British dominion the British Union Flag was to continue as the national flag and the standard British ensign pattern was used as a basis for distinctive South African flags. These ensigns were not intended to be used as the Unions national flag, although these ensigns were primarily intended for maritime use, they were also flown on land. These flags never enjoyed popular support due to the animosities lingering after the Anglo-Boer War. This provoked often violent controversy that lasted for three years based on whether the British Union Flag should be included in the new design or not. The Natal Province even threatened to secede from the Union should it be decided to remove it, finally, a compromise was reached that resulted in the adoption of a separate flag for the Union in late 1927 and the design was first hoisted on 31 May 1928. The design was based on the so-called Van Riebeeck flag or Prinsenvlag that was originally the Dutch flag, it consisted of orange, white, a version of this flag had been used as the flag of the Dutch East India Company at the Cape from 1652 until 1795. The South African addition to the design was the inclusion of three smaller flags centred in the white stripe, the miniature flags were the British Union Flag towards the hoist, the flag of the Orange Free State hanging vertically in the middle and the Transvaal Vierkleur towards the fly. The position of each of the flags is such that each has equal status. That the Orange Free State flag, since it hangs vertically, is higher than the two, is a plus factor
11.
Coat of arms of South Africa
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The present coat of arms of South Africa was introduced on Freedom Day 27 April 2000. It replaced the national arms, which had been in use since 1910. The motto ǃke e, ǀxarra ǁke is written in the Khoisan language of the ǀXam people, the previous motto, in Latin, was Ex Unitate Vires, translated as From unity, strength. The design process was initiated when, in 1999, the Department of Arts, Culture, Science, a brief was then prepared based on the ideas received, along with input from the Cabinet. The Government Communication and Information System then approached Design South Africa to brief ten of the top designers, three designers were chosen to present their concepts to the Cabinet. The new arms were introduced on Freedom Day,27 April 2000, the change reflected governments aim to highlight the democratic change in South Africa and a new sense of patriotism. The coat of arms is a series of elements organised in distinct symmetric egg-like or oval shapes placed on top of one another, the completed structure of the coat of arms combines the lower and higher oval shape in a symbol of infinity. In the symbolic sense, this is the rebirth of the spirit of the great. The coat of arms is also a part of the Seal of the Republic. Absolute authority is given to every document with an impression of the Seal of the Republic on it, since 1997, however, the use of the Seal of the Republic has not actually been required by the Constitution, but it continues to be used. One commentator on heraldry has criticized the coat of arms for being more the work of a studio than real heraldry. Above the head of the bird an arc of seven rays facetted Or and Orange. Upon a riband Vert, the motto. KE E, /XARRA //KE in letters Argent, the first element is the motto, in a green semicircle. Completing the semicircle are two symmetrically placed pairs of elephant tusks pointing upwards, within the oval shape formed by the tusks are two symmetrical ears of wheat, that in turn frame a centrally placed gold shield. The shape of the shield makes reference to the drum, the figures are depicted facing one another in greeting and in unity. Above the shield are a spear and a knobkierie, crossed in a single unit and these elements are arranged harmoniously to give focus to the shield and complete the lower oval shape of foundation. The motto The motto is. ke e, /xarra //ke, written in the Khoisan language of the /Xam people and it addresses each individual effort to harness the unity between thought and action. On a collective scale it calls for the nation to unite in a sense of belonging
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Cinema of South Africa
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The cinema of South Africa, often metonymously referred to as Joziwood, refers to the films and film industry of the nation of South Africa. Although few local productions are known outside South Africa itself, many films have been produced about South Africa. One exception was the film The Gods Must Be Crazy in 1980 and this is about how life in a traditional community of Bushmen is changed when a Coke bottle, thrown out of an aeroplane, suddenly lands from the sky. Leon Schusters You Must Be Joking, Films are in the same genre, and hugely popular among South Africans. Arguably, the most high-profile film portraying South Africa in recent years was District 9, the film was a critical and commercial success worldwide, and was nominated for Best Picture at the 82nd Academy Awards. The first film studio in South Africa, Killarney Film Studios, was established in 1915 in Johannesburg, during the 1910s and 1920s, many South African films were made in or around Durban. These films often use of the dramatic scenery available in rural KwaZulu-Natal. KwaZulu-Natal also served as the location for historical films such as De Voortrekkers. American filmmaker Lorimer Johnston directed several films in the area in the late 1910s which starred American actresses Edna Flugrath, despite the participation of Johnson, Flugrath and Cooke, these were South African productions featuring local actors and stories. Sarie Marais, the first Afrikaans-language sound film, was released in 1931, subsequent sound releases such as Die Wildsboudjie, a 1949 Sarie Marais remake, and Daar doer in die bosveld continued to cater primarily to white, Afrikaans-speaking audiences. The 1950s saw a use of South African locations and talent by international filmmakers. British co-productions like Coast of Skeletons and American co-productions like The Cape Town Affair reflected the a growing trend of shooting in real locations, listed alongside each distributor are the studios they represent, Nu Metro, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. New Line Cinema, Bollywood Films, Miramax Films, Universal Pictures, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks Animation SKG
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