South Africa

South Africa

English long form: Republic of South Africa

Afrikaans long form: Republiek van Suid-Afrika

Former name: Union of South Africa

Cultural Note

Trade unions remain a strong force in South Africa. During the country’s most repressive years, when political freedoms were suppressed, trade unions were the only way most people could express their displeasure with the way things were.

●3 What’s Your Cultural IQ?

1.True or False: The number 46664 has special significance to South Africans.

ANSWER: True. This was the identification number assigned to Nelson Mandela during his years of imprisonment. Today, Mandela uses it as the name of his social improvement organization, the 46664 Campaign. This organization has addressed many social problems; in 2005, it focused its efforts on preventing the spread of AIDS among women.

2.South Africa has three official capitals, each with its own branch of government. Match the city with the appropriate description:

a.	Bloemfontein	1.	Legislative branch
b.	Cape Town	2.	Executive branch
c.	Pretoria/Tshwane	3.	Judicial branch

ANSWER: a. 3; b. 1; c. 2. When a single city must be named as the capital of South Africa, Pretoria is usually given. This name may be changed to Tshwane in the future.

3. Match the following South African musicians with their primary form of music:

a.	Drakensberg Boys Choir	1.	Jazz
b.	Hugh Masekela	2.	Fusion of Western and African music
c.	Johnny Clegg and Savuka	3.	Sacred and gospel

ANSWERS: a. 3; b. 1; c. 2

●3 Tips on Doing Business in South Africa

●White South Africans usually begin talking about business after a very brief exchange of small talk, whether in the office or at a restaurant. South Africans of other races may spend more time chatting. African tradition requires long inquiries about your health and your family.

●South Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere, so the seasons are reversed from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Summer vacation is centered around Christmas and New Year. Most businesspeople take a month-long vacation around that time; in fact, most of

448South Africa seems to shut down from mid-December to mid-January!

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	South Africa is one of the most beautiful countries on Earth, and its inhabitants take full
●			South

	advantage of their environs. Outdoor activities are common, and work does not intrude.
	Few South Africans work weekends; they are reserved for leisure.
●	While executives are respected in South Africa, they are not expected to be cutthroat. Busi-
	nesspeople who gloat over crushing their competitors are not appreciated. The ideal business
	deal (to white South Africans) is a “win-win situation.” Both parties should gain from the
	deal. On the other hand, Indian and Chinese populations came to South Africa as merchants;
	they have generations of trading experience and are considered shrewd businesspeople.

●3 Country Background

History

There is evidence of human habitation in South Africa dating back some 100,000 years. The oldest remaining group in South Africa are the San (also called “Bushmen”) and the Khoikhoi (also known as “Hottentot”). These two interrelated peoples have lived in southern Africa for 40,000 years.

The first Europeans to encounter South Africa were Portuguese sailors searching for a new route to Asia. Bartholomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1487. The Dutch were the first to establish a permanent outpost, when a Dutch East India Company expedition arrived on April 6, 1652. This is the date celebrated in South Africa as “Founders’ Day.” Chafing under the rule of the Dutch East India Company, some farmers migrated to areas beyond company rule. This is the origin of the Boers. They took self-sufficiency to an

extreme, carving out homesteads in lands already occupied by Africans.

The racial group known in South Africa as “coloured” also originated at this time. Coloureds are a mixed-race group, the offspring of Boers, Khoikhoi, and Asians (primarily Malay) imported by the Dutch. Like the Boers, they speak Afrikaans.

The Napoleonic Wars had a great influence on South Africa. After the French captured the Netherlands, the British took control of the South African colony in 1795. South Africa was not formerly ceded to Great Britain until 1914.

South Africa might have remained an agricultural country were it not for the discovery of diamonds in 1869 and gold in 1886. The gold was in the Transvaal, which doomed the Boer’s independence. Thousands of miners poured into the Witwatersrand gold fields from all over the world. Britain decided to annex the Transvaal. After decades of small incidents, full-fledged warfare broke out between the British and the Boer in 1899.

After the war, the British ruled South Africa, but accommodation had to be made with the Boers. The Union of South Africa was formally established on May 31, 1910. The Boers, defeated in battle, became politically powerful in the new Parliament. At Boer insistence, only whites were allowed to serve in Parliament. The process of disenfranchising the nonwhite population had begun. Blacks were prohibited from owning land (in 1913), intermarrying

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with other races (in 1949), and even from living in areas designated for whites (in 1950). The separation of the races, apartheid, had begun.

Internal opposition to apartheid built, yet the restrictions grew ever stronger. In 1960, after fifty years of nonviolent struggle, the African National Congress was outlawed. Only then did the ANC embrace violent revolution. The international community also began to impose sanctions on South Africa, to punish it for apartheid.

Finally, the combination of international condemnation, constant rioting in the black townships, and the collapse of international Communism convinced South Africa’s leaders it was time to change. Faced with an ungovernable nation, President F. W. de Klerk finally made some real reforms in 1990. He freed ANC president Nelson Mandela, and began to dismantle apartheid.

South Africa’s first one-person, one-vote election took place on April 27, 1994. The black majority was finally allowed to vote. The transitional government, with Nelson Mandela as president, took office on December 7, 1994.

Type of Government

The Republic of South Africa is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. The president is both chief of state and head of the government. There are two legislative houses, a National Assembly (whose members are elected by popular vote) and a National Council of Provinces. Each of South Africa’s nine provincial legislatures elects members to the National Council. The National Council has special powers to protect cultural and linguistic traditions among ethnic minorities For current government data, check with the Embassy of the South Africa at www.saembassy.org.

Language

There are eleven languages designated as “national” or “official.” They are Afrikaans, Ndebele, Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Swati, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Xhosa, Zulu, and English.

Ethnologue.com has identified thirty-one languages in South Africa, twenty-five of them in current use. Of the remainder, three are now extinct and three have no speakers who use it as a mother tongue.

Almost 25 percent of South Africans speak Zulu as a first language. Fortunately for foreign visitors, over 57 percent of South Africans speak some English. South African English follows the British spelling pattern.

Cultural Note

Afrikaans is the most widely spoken language of European origin in South Africa. It is the mother tongue of over 6 million people; another 4 million use it as a second language. Afrikaans is derived from the Dutch spoken by seventeenth-century colonists, with borrowings from Malay, Bantu languages, Khoisan languages, Portuguese, and others. In addition to the Afrikaaners themselves, it is also the mother tongue of 150,000 Cape Malays people, the descendants of laborers brought over from Java almost 300 years ago. However, Afrikaans is seen by many Africans as the language of the oppressor, while English is seen as an international language.

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The South Africa View

There is no official religion in South Africa. The country’s diverse population follows many religious beliefs. Historically, the most powerful church in South Africa was the Dutch Reformed Church. The Calvinist tradition has had a strong influence on South Africa’s development. For example, blue laws long restricted shopping to weekdays and Saturday mornings. Consequently, workers had to do all their shopping between 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on Saturdays. (Thankfully, shopping hours have since been extended.) Most other religions are represented in South Africa.

In 2004, South Africa held its third national election since the end of white rule. The ruling African National Congress (ANC) won 70 percent of the vote, insuring its continued dominance. South Africa seems on track to becoming a one-party state, and one-party states are inherently undemocratic. Outside observers attribute much of South Africa’s governmental corruption and inefficiency to the lack of a viable challenger to the ANC.

Ever since the discovery of mineral wealth, most immigrants have considered South Africa as a place to become rich. Consequently, South Africa is a place where drive and ambition are considered positive traits. In this respect, white South Africans are unlike their relatives in Britain or the Netherlands. As in the United States, South Africans love a good rags-to-riches story.

By virtue of its leadership, its democratic government, and its military superiority, South Africa views itself as the leading state in sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa often leads peace negotiations in other African countries, especially in Central Africa. Despite its efforts, it has been unable to bring a lasting end to the civil warfare in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (In some ways, this is the mirror image of apartheid-era South Africa, which used to send its armed forcers to pursue black Nationalist guerrillas into other African nations.)

The literacy rate varies widely. Because Afrikaans and English were the tongues of the privileged elite, white speakers of these languages have literacy rates approaching 99 percent. The literacy rate for South African Asians is 69 percent; for mixed-race “coloureds” it is 62 percent. The government gives an average literacy rate for all races of 86 percent.

*Know Before You Go

■

Hazards in South Africa depend on where you go. There are many townships (the usual term for poor black areas) and urban areas where violence is common. In wilderness areas, the hazards come from the wildlife. International business visitors who stay in well-patrolled areas face relatively few dangers. Sunburn is probably the greatest danger that most pale-skinned visitors will face.

In addition to rare but well-publicized violent crimes like home invasions and carjacking, there is also a substantial amount of petty crime, such as theft and pickpocketing.

In the bush, be sure to obey warnings about the wildlife. This includes not just large animals like elephants and hippos and feline predators, but smaller creatures. Baboons, for example, have lost their fear of humans and may approach you or sit on your parked car. They are far stronger than humans and can deliver a wicked bite. South Africa also has its share of poisonous snakes and insects (mosquitoes, ticks, and biting flies) that transmit disease.

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●3 Cultural Orientation

There have been four distinct educational systems for the four classes of people in South Africa: whites, “coloureds,” Asians, and blacks. Those who have gone on to higher education in any of these groups will be abstractive in their thinking because all of the educational systems are patterned after the European system. The less educated will generally be associative. Unless otherwise noted, this following information pertains primarily to the dominant business culture, which (at this time) is overwhelmingly white.

Cognitive Styles: How South Africans Organize and Process Information

Historically, the South African ruling class was closed to outside information—of necessity, since apartheid drew the condemnation of the entire outside world. Today, successful South African businesspeople tend to be moderately open to information and are generally more analytic than associative. Nevertheless, they may place more value on relationships than obedience to abstract rules of behavior.

Negotiation Strategies: What South Africans Accept as Evidence

While most South Africans find truth through a mixture of subjective feelings and objective facts, businesspeople generally make decisions based on facts.

Value Systems: The Basis for Behavior

The following three sections identify the Value Systems in the predominant culture—their methods of dividing right from wrong, good from evil, and so forth.

Locus of Decision-Making

The responsibility for decision-making rests on the shoulders of the individual. Individualism has always been encouraged, and individual achievement is more important than family in determining status. Hospitality is considered a virtue in most of South Africa’s cultures. Many South Africans entertain a wide circle of friends, but these tend to be from one’s own ethnic group.

Sources of Anxiety Reduction

Most South Africans feel considerable anxiety for the future. Many white South Africans feel that their quality of life (especially in matters of security) has declined since the advent of majority rule. Many whites have considered the advisability of leaving the country. The Asian population is also unsure of their future, although “moving back to India” (or Malaysia, or wherever) is not an enviable solution, especially since many Asians have lived in South Africa for more than four or five generations. The “flight option” may be a choice of last resort, but this option serves to reduce anxiety.

Only the African and coloured populations usually lack the prospect of emigration to an ancestral country. Even if they can trace their roots to another part of Africa, there is no

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where else on the continent that offers South Africa’s possibilities of quality of life. Although many are disappointed that majority rule has not yet brought them a better life, they still have hope for the future.

Religion and family also provide an important source of anxiety reduction for South Africans of every racial group. So do various organizations, from the African National Congress to the labor unions, which have long protected workers.

Issues of Equality/Inequality

South Africa is a hierarchical country. Under apartheid, the racial aspect of the social hierarchy was encoded into law. Today, things are less formal but the hierarchy still exists. Hierarchical structures are also found in government, business, and other organizations.

South Africa is also a paternalistic country. In most ethnic groups, the husband remains the titular head of the home; many husbands still refuse to do anything they perceive as “women’s work.” Although women have legal equality with men, the treatment of women varies widely between racial groups. In general, women have the most opportunity for business advancement among English-speaking whites. Many women’s organizations seek improvement in women’s lives.

Homosexuals are widely discriminated against in much of Africa but are relatively free in South Africa. The coastal city of Durban is considered a mecca for African homosexuals.

South Africa

Cultural Note

Currently, South Africa has one of the highest percentages of HIV-infection in the world. Over 1 million people have died of AIDS, and at least 5 million more are infected with HIV. Obviously, this creates anxiety for South Africans.

●3 Business Practices

Punctuality, Appointments, and Local Time

●Punctuality is important; be on time for all business engagements.

●Punctuality is not enforced for social events, but do not be more than a half-hour late.

●In South Africa, as in most other countries, the day is written first, then the month, then the year (e.g. December 3, 2010, is written 3.12.10 or 3/12/10).

●Prior appointments are necessary in business.

●As white South Africans frequently entertain at their homes, some will offer blanket invitations to stop by “anytime.” However, it is wise to phone first.

●Due to the hot temperatures, the South African morning is often the most comfortable part of the day. As a result, most South Africans are early risers. It is not unusual for businesspeople to be in their offices by 8:00 a.m.

●A convenience store in South Africa is called a “café” and will stock almost anything except alcohol. They are open long hours, seven days a week.

Africa	454		Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands
		The national holiday is Freedom Day (since 1994), celebrated on April 27.
South	●

●	South Africa is two hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (G.M.T. +2), or eight hours
	ahead of U.S. Eastern Standard Time (E.S.T. +8).
●	South Africa does not use any sort of daylight-saving time.

Negotiating

●White South Africans usually begin talking about business after a very brief social exchange of data.

●South Africans of other races may spend more time on small talk. They will take more time getting to know you.

●White South Africans may be very concerned that foreigners might try to take advantage of them.

●High pressure and strong emotions have little place in dealings with white South Africans. Most would rather let a deal fall through than be rushed.

●In general, foreign businesspeople find South Africans of English heritage to be somewhat more open than Afrikaners.

●White South African’s ancestors probably started as miners or farmers. On the other hand, many Indians and Chinese came as merchants. Some have generations of trading experience and are shrewd businesspeople. Their negotiations may be more aggressive and assured than those of white South Africans.

Business Entertaining

●Although South African executives usually arise early enough to attend a breakfast meeting, business breakfasts are relatively uncommon. However, they might discuss business at an early-morning tee time on the golf course.

●Business meetings can be held over lunch or dinner.

●Business may be discussed in a restaurant, but generally not over a meal at home.

●Invitations to white South African homes are not unusual. In good weather, these will often be barbecues, or braais, out by the pool.

●Feel free to ask your host what you can bring. Even if your host says you don’t need to bring anything, at least bring a bottle of wine, or a dessert.

●Alcohol can be purchased only at very limited times.

●Large amounts of alcohol are often consumed at a braai. On a weekend, a lunchtime braai can last all afternoon and into the evening.

●Even though business is rarely discussed at braais, they are important for successful business relationships. A white South African must like and trust you to work with you.

●Invitations to the homes of the nonwhite business community are rare. Most business entertaining will be done in restaurants.

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●3 Protocol

Greetings

●Each of the many cultures of South Africa has its own traditions. However, the majority of businesspeople in South Africa will be from either the English or the Afrikaans ethnic groups.

●Among most black ethnic groups, men precede women when entering or exiting. Only a highly westernized black man will hold open a door for a woman and allow her to enter first.

●Although South Africa has a small Muslim population, the Muslim preference for the right hand is common among South Africans of many ethnic groups. When you give anything to a South African, hold it in your right hand, not your left.

●The years of foreign boycott made South Africans quite sensitive about foreigners interfering in their affairs. Avoid discussing South African politics. If pressed for your opinion, be sure you can offer a knowledgeable evaluation.

●Good topics of conversation are sports, outdoor recreation, travel, food, and music.

●Rugby is the most popular team sport among white South Africans. Be sure not to say anything derogatory about the sport. After rugby, the most popular sports are football (soccer), squash, tennis, and golf. Jogging and bicycling are also very popular; as is swimming. Afrikaners have an indigenous sport called jukskei, which is analogous to throwing horseshoes.

●At a dinner in a white South African home, do not compliment your host on the cooking unless you know she prepared the meal herself, because blacks still do most of the manual labor (including cooking) in white South African homes.

●The prevalence of black manual labor has numerous effects on South African society. For example, television commercials for beer never depict beer as refreshment after hard work. White South Africans may play hard, but they rarely do hard manual labor.

●Most (but not all) businesspeople have business cards. There is no formality involved in exchanging cards.

●Your card will not be refused, but you might not be given one in exchange. Don’t be offended by this.

South Africa

Titles/Forms of Address

●Among the English and Afrikaans-speaking South Africans, the order of names is the same as in most countries: first name followed by a surname.

●Traditionally, only family members and close friends address each other by their first names.

●It is important to use professional titles.

Cultural Note

South Africa remains a male-dominated society. While foreign businesswoman are usually accepted, they may be referred to as “girls” and individually addressed as “my dear girl.” This can happen to any woman, regardless of age or job title.

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Gestures

●South Africa is still a puritanical country. Although brief hugs or a kiss on the cheek is acceptable between friends, extended public contact between the sexes is frowned upon.

●Among both Muslims and Hindus, the left hand is considered unclean. Favor your right hand over your left. Where possible, do not touch anything or anyone with your left hand if you can use your right hand instead. It is permissible to accept gifts and hold cash with either the right hand or both hands—but never the left hand alone.

●The foot is also considered unclean by many South Africans. Do not move anything with your feet, and do not touch anything with your feet.

●Do not show the soles of your feet (or shoes). This restriction determines how one sits: you can cross your legs at the knee but not with one ankle on your knee. Also, do not prop your feet on anything not intended for feet, such as a desk.

●Bantu porters (at the airport and elsewhere) may approach you with their hands together, palms out, and fingers slightly curled. These are a traditional gesture of respect to you.

●The raised right fist known in North America as the “Black Power salute” has been adopted by the Bantu in South Africa. Even Nelson Mandela has been photographed in this position.

●As in much of the world, to beckon someone you hold your hand out, palm downward, and make a scooping motion with the fingers.

Gifts

●Gifts are given between friends. Do not give a gift to anyone before you have established a personal relationship with them. Otherwise, the gift may have the appearance of a bribe.

●Always bring something when invited to a house. Wine, candy, or flowers are the traditional choices. Small electronics are becoming more common.

●Some South African ethnic groups (such as the Chinese) traditionally decline a gift three times before accepting; this prevents them from appearing greedy. Continue to insist.

●For further guidelines on gift giving, visit www.kissboworshakehands.com.

Dress

●Dress in South Africa is fairly casual, although it varies from city to city. In general, Johannesburg is the most formal. Cape Town is only formal in the business district. Seaside resorts like Durban are the most casual.

●In general, businessmen in South Africa are expected to wear a coat and a tie. Follow the lead of your South African colleagues.

●Depending upon the formality of the office, businesswomen may wear anything from business suits to light-colored long-sleeved blouses and skirts.

●South Africans love the outdoors, and much entertaining is done outside. Jeans or shorts are accepted casualwear for both sexes. Women may wear short-sleeved shirts or even halter tops. Many people wear sandals all summer long.

●The sun in South Africa is very intense. Protect your skin, either with clothing or sunblock.