The Naval War College’s Naval Staff Course requires that its students prepare a country presentation. Every Monday at 1200 two countries present. Presentations are 20 minutes each with 10 minutes Q&A. On completion, all guests (approximately 100) proceed to the wardroom where food is served. We have to prepare dishes representative of our countries’ cuisines. So this weekend while I was banging away at my presentation Vicky was cooking for a hundred people! 1
First up was Hector Cortes from Mexico. Here he’s answering a tough question. 2
Getting Nervous? 3
Capt Turner introducing me to the audience. 4
Joules was there too 5
Sanibonani, Molweni, Goeie Middag, Hallo, Dumela, Avuxeni, Ndaa, Lotjhani, [sign language] I am Hendrik from South Africa and I am here to tell you about my country - South Africa. This is my wife Vicky who prepared all the food for today – take a bow. And this is Joules from Reunion. 6
I will cover 4 topics: A short history of the rainbow nation South Africa today Our flora and fauna And our food 7
Where is South Africa? It is on the continent of Africa. 8
TIA - This Is Africa. And here is South Africa, the southern most country in Africa 9
South Africa is a perforated state and completely surrounds Lesotho. South Africa has 7 bordering countries: Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and … 10
France. These are the South African Prince Edward Islands – pretty much uninhabited other than by birds and scientists; and these are the French Southern and Antarctic Lands with which we share a sea border. 11
South Africa is know as the Rainbow Nation. 12
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But where did the Rainbow Nation come from? 14
Khoi-khoi and San, better known by their unifying name Khoisan, are the indigenous people of Southern Africa. They lived in this very general area. During the time period indicated, Bantu expansion in central, western and eastern Africa was occurring. [ADDITIONAL INFO] "Khoisan" (/ˈkɔɪsɑːn /; also spelled Khoesaan, Khoesan or Khoe – San) is a unifying name for two groups of peoples of Southern Africa, who share physical and putative linguistic characteristics distinct from the Bantu majority of the region. Culturally, the Khoisan are divided into the foraging San, or Bushmen, and the pastoral Khoi, or more specifically Khoikhoi, previously known as Hottentots. The San include the indigenous inhabitants of Southern Africa before the southward Bantu migrations from Central and East Africa reached their region, which led to Bantu farmers replacing the Khoi and San as the predominant population. The distinct origin of the Khoi is debated. Over time, some Khoi abandoned pastoralism and adopted the hunter-gatherer economy of the San, probably due to a drying climate, and are now considered San. Similarly, the Bantu Damara people who migrated south later abandoned agriculture and adopted the Khoi economy. Large Khoisan populations remain in several arid areas in the region, notably in the Kalahari Desert. 15
The Bantu expansion led to the settlement of Southern Africa by Bantu tribes by 1,000 Common Era [ADDITIONAL INFO] Bantu peoples is used as a general label for the 300 – 600 ethnic groups in Africa who speak Bantu languages.[1] They inhabit a geographical area stretching east and southward from Central Africa across the African Great Lakes region down to Southern Africa.[1] Bantu is a major branch of the Niger-Congo language family spoken by most populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are about 650 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility,[2] though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages. 16
During the 1400s Spain and Portugal lead the Age of Exploration. In 1492 Columbus, funded by Spain, landed in America. In 1497 Vasco da Gama, funded by Portugal, circumnavigated the southern tip of Africa, landing in St Helena Bay close to Cape Town, Mossel Bay and Durban Bluff. One of the Portuguese explorers was Joao da Nova, a Spaniard funded by Portugal, who discovered Ascension and St Helena Islands in 1501 and established several trading posts along the southern coast of Africa from 1501 - 1509. I am a direct descendant of Joao da Nova so my family was one of the first European families in Southern Africa. It would however take my Dutch forbearers another 150 years to reach South Africa and settle. 17
So Vicky said that my presentation was getting a little drab and boring here and needed colour, so she took over a bit here. 18
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In my country we have tiny shopping carts 20
Back to business The Dutch under Jan van Riebeeck landed in the vicinity of what is now Cape Town on 17 Des 1652 to set up a half way station to India for the Dutch East India Company. French Protestant Huguenots under François Villion (or Viljoen) landed in Cape Town iot escape religious persecution in France. Together with the Dutch East India Company they established a rich wine industry. British soldiers under Francis Farewell landed in the vicinity of that is now Durban in 1824 to establish a British settlement. 21
Many Indians settled in Durban and Malaysians in the Cape during the 1800s and contributed greatly to our cuisine and languages. I’ll talk a bit about this later. 22
So that is how the rainbow nation came to be. 23
South Africa today. So I learnt quite a bit about my country when I put these next few slides together. South Africa has 51.8 million people, 51% of whom are women. Black Africans make up 79%, Coloured or Mixed Race 9%, White 9%, Indian and Asian 2.5% and other (including Khoisan) 0.5% South Africa is primarily a Christian country. [All information here is based on the 2011 census] 24
We have 11 official languages. In order of 1st language speakers: Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Northern Sotho, Tswana, Sotho, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda and Ndebele Some cool phrases that I like Walala Wasala, which is Zulu for “you snooze, you loose” Ndizokupoqa wena eyowala eChina Town which is Xhosa for “I will take you down to China Town” Xe ecara Xe which is South Africa’s motto and means “ Diverse People Unite ” in the /Xam language of the Khoisan. 25
Thanks to the fact that Afrikaans allows for grammatical compounding – or the rule that 1 idea equals 1 word – Afrikaans has the 4th longest word in the world: Tweedehandse motorverkoopsmanne vakbondstakings vergadering sameroepers toespraakskrywers persverklaring uitreikings mediakonferensie aankondiging Which of course means: issuable media conference's announcement at a press release regarding the convener's speech at a secondhand car dealership union's strike meeting. 26
These are our national symbols: The secretary bird which is also depicted on our emblem, the springbok which means jumping gazelle and the king protea. The protea is my favourite flower. This is South Africa’s emblem. Our moto is in the /Xam language of the Khoisan. We felt that latin is the language of ancient Europe and to be more representative of Africa we have a motto in the ancient language of Southern Africa. 27
This is our flag. 28
Officially we are called the Republic of South Africa. We area a unitary constitutional parliamentary republic. Our 3, yes 3, capitols represent the 3 arms of government: executive, judicial and legislative. Our election this year concluded with the African National Congress taking 62% of the votes and the opposition Democratic Alliance 22%. This is Jacob Zuma, our president. He has 4 wives: Gertrude Sizakele Khumalo, Nompumelelo Ntuli, Thobeka Mabhija and Gloria Bongekile Ngema Gertrude Sizakele Khumalo (1973 – present) Kate Zuma (1976 – 2000) Nkosazana Dlamini (1982 – 1998) Nompumelelo Ntuli (2008 – present) Thobeka Mabhija (2010 – present) Gloria Bongekile Ngema (2012 – present) 29
South Africa’s main export goods are gold, diamonds, platinum, other metals and minerals, machinery and equipment. Our main export partners are China, the US, Japan, Germany, India and the UK. 30
We import machinery and equipment, chemicals, petroleum products, scientific instruments and foodstuffs from China, Germany, the US, Saudi Arabia, India and Japan. 31
The SANDF, safeguarding South Africa’s borders and participating in Africa with the United Nations and the African Union. 32
These are South African built armament and ships. The Oliphant main battle tank The Rooivalk attack helicopter, jip, that’s flying upside down SAS JOB MASEGO. This is an Israeli designed Sa’ar 4 that was built in Durban. 33
Also South African built are The G-6 Howitzer with a maximum range of 50 km (31 mi). The Cheetah fighter aircraft, developed from the French Dassault Mirage III. And the SAS DRAKENSBERG, the SAN’s replenishment and auxiliary oiler. She was commissioned on 11 Nov 1987, so we just celebrated her birthday 6 days ago. 34
The SANDF participates in UN and AU mission in Africa. Here are SAA engineers clearing mines in CAR. This is my and Capt Nkomonde’s ship, SAS ISANDLWANA, performing anti-piracy missions in the Mozambique Channel. 35
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