Images from South Africa’s nine provinces. An Nguni cow on a beach on the Wild Coast of the Eastern Cape. The Brandwag rock in the eastern Free State. Street art in the Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The Durban harbour in KwaZulu-Natal. Entabeni game reserve in Limpopo. Traditional Ndebele domestic artwork in Mpumalanga. Quiver trees in the Northern Cape. Mining in North West. A view of Lion’s Head from the suburb of Bo-Kaap in Cape Town, Western Cape.

South Africa’s nine provinces are the Eastern Cape, the Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, the Northern Cape, North West and the Western Cape.

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History

Before 1996, South Africa had four provinces: the Transvaal and Orange Free State – previously Boer republics – and Natal and the Cape, once British colonies.

In 1910 these four states were united into a single country, the Union of South Africa, under British rule. This became the Republic of South Africa in 1960, under apartheid rule.

In the 1970s and eighties, under the apartheid doctrine of “separate development”, the map of South Africa was gradually spattered with the odd outlines of the “homelands”.

These unsustainable states were set up on disjointed parcels of land with no economic value. Laws were passed to make black South Africans citizens of these barren regions, denying black people’s citizenship of South Africa as a whole.

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In 1996, under South Africa’s new democratic constitution, the homelands were dismantled, citizenship restored and South Africa consolidated into today’s nine provinces.

Land area of the provinces

There are vast differences in the size of the provinces, from the small and crowded city region of Gauteng to the vast and empty Northern Cape.

Data source: Statistics South Africa Census 2022

The land area of South Africa’s nine provinces, from smallest to largest:

• Gauteng: 18,178 square kilometres (1.5% of total)
• Mpumalanga: 76,495 square kilometres (6.3%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: 94,361 square kilometres (7.7%)
• North West: 104,882 square kilometres (8.6%)
• Limpopo: 125,755 square kilometres (10.3%)
• Western Cape: 129,462 square kilometres (10.6%)
• Free State: 129,825 square kilometres (10.6%)
• Eastern Cape: 168,966 square kilometres (13.8%)
• Northern Cape: 372,889 square kilometres (30.5%)
• South Africa: 1,220,813 square kilometres (100%)

READ MORE: How big is South Africa?

Population of the provinces

The population of the provinces also varies considerably. Gauteng, the smallest province, has the largest number of people living there – over a quarter of South Africa’s population. The Northern Cape, which takes up nearly a third of the country’s land area, has the smallest population: just over 2.2% of the national total.

In 2024 South Africa’s provincial populations, and their share of the total, were:

• Eastern Cape: 7,176,230 (11.4%)
• Free State: 3,044,050 (4.8%)
• Gauteng: 15,931,824 (25.3%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: 12,312,712 (19.5%)
• Limpopo: 6,402,594 (10.2%)
• Mpumalanga: 5,057,662 (8.%)
• Northern Cape: 1,372,943 (2.2%)
• North West: 4,155,303 (6.6%)
• Western Cape: 7,562,588 (12.%)

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

CENSUS COUNTS OF PROVINCIAL POPULATIONS

South Africa has held three censuses in its recent democratic history: in 1996, 2001 and 2011. Over those 15 years, the population of the provinces shifted.

Data: Statistics South Africa

Gauteng’s population grew dramatically, overtaking that of KwaZulu-Natal – which saw significant growth of its own. Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape also had notable increases in population. By contrast, the populations of the Eastern Cape, Free State and Northern Cape remained fairly static, as people migrated to other provinces.

READ MORE: Infographic: Census counts of South Africa’s population

Population density in the provinces

The variation in land area and population among South Africa’s population translates into huge differences in population density, according to 2017 data. Gauteng has an average of 785 people per square kilometre, while the Northern Cape has only three people for each square kilometre.

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Population density in South Africa’s nine provinces in 2017, from smallest to largest:

• Northern Cape: 3 people per square kilometre
• Free State: 22 people per square kilometre
• North West: 37 people per square kilometre
• Eastern Cape: 38 people per square kilometre
• Limpopo: 46 people per square kilometre
• Western Cape: 50 people per square kilometre
• Mpumalanga: 58 people per square kilometre
• KwaZulu-Natal: 117 people per square kilometre
• Gauteng: 785 people per square kilometre

Map of population density in South Africa’s nine provinces.

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

Provincial migration

South Africans migrate away from poverty to where the jobs are, moving from poorer provinces to the richer ones.

Gauteng is South Africa’s wealthiest province, mostly a city region and the centre of the country’s economy. It has the largest population, constantly swelled by migration. The province’s net migration rate (the number of people moving in minus people moving out) was nearly a million between 2011 and 2016.

Click animation to view from the start. Data: Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2017

The Eastern Cape is the poorest province. Between 2011 and 2016 nearly half a million of its people migrated to other provinces, while only 170 000 or so moved into the province.

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

Province and population group

There is also a wide variation in the racial composition of the different provinces’ populations.

Census 2011 figures reveal that black people were the majority population group in seven of the nine provinces, comprising from 75% to 97% of the provincial total. Yet they made up less than a third of the population in the Western Cape (26.7%) and under a half in the Northern Cape (46.5%).

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The distribution of a population group can reflect that people’s history in the country.

In 2011, coloured people were found mainly in the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape (respectively 61.1%, 12% and 10.7% of South Africa’s total coloured population). People of this group are largely descended from a mixture of slaves brought to what was then the Cape Colony, white immigrants to the colony, and indigenous Africans, particularly the Khoisan.

The majority (71.6%) of Indian/Asian people lived in KwaZulu-Natal in 2011. Many members of this group descend from indentured labourers brought to colonial Natal in the early 20th century to work on sugarcane plantations. Only 0.3% of Indians lived in the Free State (0.1% of the total Free State population), as they were forbidden by law to enter what was then the Orange Free State during the apartheid era.

Provincial distribution also reflects a group’s socioeconomic position. White people, the beneficiaries of the apartheid system, were largely found in the more developed and urbanised provinces of Gauteng (in 2011, 40.4% of the total white population, and 18.9% of the total Gauteng population) and the Western Cape (19.4% of the total white population, and 18.4% of the Western Cape population).

READ MORE: South Africa’s population

Languages of the provinces

There’s considerable variation in home languages between the provinces, according to Census 2011.

Click image to find out more.

IsiXhosa, for instance, is spoken by almost 80% of people in the Eastern Cape, while around 78% of those in KwaZulu-Natal speak isiZulu. IsiZulu is also the most common home language in Gauteng, but at a much smaller percentage. In the Western Cape and Northern Cape, Afrikaans comes into its own.

READ MORE: The languages of South Africa

The main languages in each province, according to Census 2011:

• Eastern Cape: isiXhosa 78.8%, Afrikaans 10.6%
• Free State: Sesotho 64.2%, Afrikaans 12.7%
• Gauteng: isiZulu 19.8%, English 13.3%, Afrikaans 12.4%, Sesotho 11.6%
• KwaZulu-Natal: isiZulu 77.8%, English 13.2%
• Limpopo: Sesotho 52.9%, Xitsonga 17%, Tshivenda 16.7%
• Mpumalanga: siSwati 27.7%, isiZulu 24.1%, Xitsonga 10.4%, isiNdebele 10.1%
• Northern Cape: Afrikaans 53.8%, Setswana 33.1%
• North West: Setswana 63.4%, Afrikaans 9%
• Western Cape: Afrikaans 49.7%, isiXhosa 24.7%, English 20.3%

Click image to learn more.

Economy of the provinces

Gauteng dominates almost all industries in South Africa, except agriculture and mining.

Click animation to see a static version, and to learn more.

In 2016 the main industries in each province were:

• Eastern Cape: government services 21%, trade, catering and accommodation 18%, finance 16%
• Free State: government services 15%, finance 14%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%
• Gauteng: finance 23%, government services 19%, manufacturing 14%
• KwaZulu-Natal: manufacturing 16%, finance 15%, government services 15%
• Limpopo: mining 25%, government services 18%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%
• Mpumalanga: mining 20%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%, manufacturing 13%
• Northern Cape: mining 19%, government services 15%, finance 12%
• North West: mining 30%, government services 12%, finance 12%
• Western Cape: finance 23%, trade, catering and accommodation 15%, manufacturing 14%

THE PROVINCE’S SHARE OF SOUTH AFRICA’S ECONOMY

Population size correlates with each province’s contribution to the national economy, with Gauteng having the biggest.

The tiny province punches way above its weight, making up 33.8% of South Africa’s gross domestic product in 2016 and around 5% of the GDP of Africa as a whole. Next is KwaZulu-Natal with 16%, followed by the Western Cape with 13.7%. These three provinces together contribute nearly two-thirds to total economy of South Africa.

In 2016 the value of each province’s economy, and its share of the total GDP of South Africa, was:

• Northern Cape: R91 billion (2.1% of South Africa’s GDP)
• Free State: R218 billion (5%)
• North West: R280 billion (6.4%)
• Limpopo: R312 billion (7.2%)
• Mpumalanga: R324 billion (7.4%)
• Eastern Cape: R331 billion (7.6%)
• Western Cape: R596 billion (13.7%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: R692 billion (15.9%)
• Gauteng: R1.5 trillion (34.6%)

Government of the provinces

The eye-catching architecture of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature in Galeshewe, Kimberley. Click image for a larger view. (Graeme Williams, MediaClub)

South Africa’s provinces are governed, in different ways, on a national, provincial and local level.

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

On the national level, South Africa has two houses of parliament: the National Assembly, and the National Council of Provinces. The second exists to ensure that the interests of each province are protected in the laws passed by the National Assembly.

Each one of South Africa’s nine provinces sends 10 representatives to the National Council of Provinces. Six of these are permanent members of the council, and four are special delegates.

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

Each province has its own provincial government.

The provincial legislature has the power to pass laws in certain limited areas. The legislature has between 30 and 80 members depending on the province’s portion of the national voters’ roll.

The premier – the head of government in the province – governs the province together with other “members of the executive council”, known as MECs. Each MEC has a specific responsibility, such as health, education, tourism and transport.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The nine provinces are each further divided into municipalities. Metropolitan municipalities are densely populated urban areas with major cities – such as Johannesburg or Durban – at their core. District municipalities are larger, less urban regions centred on one or more town or small city. District municipalities are further divided into local municipalities.

The cities of the provinces

Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu-Natal. A contemporary statue of Mahatma Ghandi, an icon of resistance to colonial rule, stands against the heavily ornate facade of the Pietermaritzburg city hall, a building constructed during the era of the British Natal Colony. (E, CC BY-NC 2.0)

Each of the nine provinces has a provincial capital, the seat of provincial government. These are usually the largest city in the province – Johannesburg in Gauteng, for example, or Mahikeng in North West.

The exceptions are the Eastern Cape (Bhisho) and KwaZulu-Natal (Pietermaritzburg), which have smaller cities as their capitals for reasons of history. Cape Town in the Western Cape and Bloemfontein in the Free State also stand out for being both provincial capitals and two of the three capital cities of South Africa.

The provincial capitals and major cities of South Africa’s nine provinces are:

• Eastern Cape: Bhisho (capital) and Port Elizabeth (major city)
• Free State: Bloemfontein (capital and major city)
• Gauteng: Johannesburg (capital and major city)
• KwaZulu-Natal: Pietermaritzburg (capital) and Durban (major city)
• Limpopo: Polokwane (capital and major city)
• Mpumalanga: Mbombela (capital and major city) – also known as Nelspruit
• North West: Mahikeng (capital and major city) – formerly known as Mafeking, then as Mafikeng
• Northern Cape: Kimberley (capital and major city)
• Western Cape: Cape Town (capital and major city)

Data: Statistics South Africa Census 2011

Sources

• Census South Africa public database
• Statistics South Africa Census 2022
• Statistics South Africa Census 2011
• Statistics South Africa Community Survey 2016
• Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2017
• Statistics South Africa gross domestic product, fourth quarter 2017
• United Nations Statistics Division World Statistics Pocketbook 2017
• World Bank Open Data
• MediaClub

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated July 2025.
Comments? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com

The post The nine provinces of South Africa appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Mary Alexander • 7 August 2025

“This is Durban, South Africa,” begins the caption of a video posted on the X account of US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on 20 July 2025.

“This is what removing ‘White Oppression’ and replacing it with Soros NGO systems looks like,” it continues. “A glimpse into the future of ALL Western countries if changes are not made fast as already seen in the SH!T HOLE blue city’s across America.”

The post has been viewed more than 1.6 million times so far, and has spread widely on X (here and here), Facebook (here, here and here) and elsewhere (here, here and here).

The footage shows mounds of trash strewn over an otherwise almost empty street lined with closed-up shopfronts. Taken from TikTok, it’s overlaid with the text: “This is the situation in Durban town right now.” It’s also been reposted with captions such as “This is Durban, South Africa, in neighborhoods where there are no white people.”

Durban is a port city in South Africa’s eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, on the Indian Ocean coast.

Alex Jones, Donald Trump and ‘white oppression’

The founder of the InfoWars disinformation platform, Alex Jones has built his fortune on fake news and false conspiracies. For his relentless claim that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting – where 20 children aged six and seven were killed – was a hoax staged by “crisis actors”, US courts have ordered him to pay US$1.5 billion to the victims’ parents.

In the X post, what Jones means by “White Oppression” is presumably South Africa’s universally condemned racist system of apartheid, which ended with the country’s first democratic elections in 1994.

By “Soros” he refers to the billionaire US philanthropist George Soros, founder of the pro-democracy Open Society Foundations and a favourite target of conspiracy theorists.

Jones is a strident supporter of US president Donald Trump, a Republican.

Since retaking office in November 2024, Trump has made false claims about land restitution and white genocide in South Africa. He has also criticised its genocide case against Israel, cut US aid to the country and slapped a 30% tariff – the highest in sub-Saharan Africa – on South African imports.

Trump has in the past referred to African nations as “shithole countries”. Jones’s “SH!T HOLE blue city’s [sic] across America” is his description of cities governed by the US Democratic Party.

Nine days of violence in 2021

The video does show Durban, but during a historic upheaval more than four years ago.

We took a screengrab of its first frame and ran it through a Google image search. This led us to a Reddit thread on the clip, where one user had this to say:

The video was originally uploaded July 13, 2021 by TikTok user Afu Afu (@af__ptl) and shows Durban, South Africa during the July 2021 riots. The TikTok account is private now but it can be seen in tweets from the time.

The user links to two X posts with the same video, one from 15 July 2021 and the other posted three days later.

From 8 to 17 July 2021 violence exploded across South Africa after former president Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to testify at a commission probing corruption during his presidency. The “Zuma riots” were largely confined to KwaZulu-Natal – Zuma’s home province – and the urban province of Gauteng.

The looting that followed was largely opportunistic, as people took advantage of the chaos to raid shops. More than 300 people were killed over the nine days. It remains the worst violence South Africa has seen since the end of apartheid.

At the time, the world was still gripped by Covid. Analysts ascribed the violence not only to longstanding poverty and inequality, intractable problems with roots deep in the apartheid past, but also the social and economic turmoil of the pandemic.

The video does not show a typical day in Durban. It was shot from 440 West Street in Durban Central, heading east. A Google Street View of the same route snapped in November 2024 shows a very different scene.

Taken in its entirety, Jones’s claim is false. The footage is from a moment four years ago, when the country faced the unprecedented crisis of the arrest of a former president. And it could be said that the July 2021 riots were ultimately caused by the “White Oppression” of apartheid, not by its removal.

The post Trump ally uses four-year-old footage of South Africa’s Zuma riots to justify ‘white oppression’ appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

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The land area of South Africa’s nine provinces, in order of size:

• Gauteng: 18,178 square kilometres (1.5% of total)
• Mpumalanga: 76,495 square kilometres (6.3%)
• KwaZulu-Natal: 94,361 square kilometres (7.7%)
• North West: 104,882 square kilometres (8.6%)
• Limpopo: 125,755 square kilometres (10.3%)
• Western Cape: 129,462 square kilometres (10.6%)
• Free State: 129,825 square kilometres (10.6%)
• Eastern Cape: 168,966 square kilometres (13.8%)
• Northern Cape: 372,889 square kilometres (30.5%)
• South Africa: 1,220,813 square kilometres (100%)

(Source: Statistics South Africa Community Survey 2016)

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Find out more about South Africa’s provinces

• The nine provinces of South Africa
• Infographic: The population of South Africa’s provinces
• Infographic: Population density in South Africa’s provinces
• Animation: The economies of South Africa’s provinces
• Moving to the city: Provincial migration
• Animation: What languages are spoken in South Africa’s provinces?
• South Africa’s provinces and ‘homelands’ before 1996

Written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 7 April 2018.
Comments? Email southafrica.gateway@gmail.com

More infographics

The graphics on this page are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

The post Infographic: The land area of South Africa’s nine provinces appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

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KwaZulu-Natal has 11 major municipalities.

One is the metropolitan municipality of eThekwini, the urban region around the city of Durban.

The other 10 – larger, more rural regions – are district municipalities.

The province also has 43 local municipalities, each falling under one of the 10 district municipalities.

KwaZulu-Natal: Metropolitan and district municipalities

READ MORE ABOUT LOCAL GOVERNMENT:

• Local government in the Eastern Cape
• Local government in the Free State
• Local government in Gauteng
• Local government in KwaZulu-Natal
• Local government in Limpopo
• Local government in Mpumalanga
• Local government in the Northern Cape
• Local government in North West
• Local government in the Western Cape

READ MORE ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA’S PROVINCES:

• The nine provinces of South Africa
• The population of South Africa’s provinces
• The land area of South Africa’s provinces
• Gallery: The Eastern Cape
• Gallery: The Free State
• Infographic: The economies of South Africa’s nine provinces
• Infographic: Population density in South Africa’s provinces
• Infographic: What languages are spoken in South Africa’s provinces?
• The provinces and ‘homelands’ of South Africa before 1996

Data source: Statistics South Africa’s 2016 Community Survey
Thanks and credit to Htonl, who makes public-funded data available to the public and creates maps of South Africa you can’t find anywhere else.

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 10 March 2025.

The post Infographic: Local government in KwaZulu-Natal appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

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The old provinces were the Cape and Natal, former British colonies, and the Transvaal and Orange Free State, once Boer (or Afrikaner) republics.

At the end of the Second Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 (more accurately known as the South African War because all groups were, in one way or another,  involved in the conflict), Britain controlled all four territories. These were combined into the Union of South Africa, a dominion of the British Empire, in 1910. In 1961, following a whites-only referendum, the country left the British Commonwealth and became the Republic of South Africa.

Click image for more information.

In 1996, following the country’s first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa’s new constitution dismantled the “homelands” and established nine new provinces in place of the old four.

• READ MORE: The nine provinces of South Africa

Natal and the Orange Free State remained the same territories, but were renamed KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.

The Cape and Transvaal were broken up into smaller provinces:

• The Cape became the Northern Cape, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and the western part of North West.
• The Transvaal became Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the eastern part of North West.

The ‘homelands’

The African “homelands” – also known as Bantustans – were established as part of the grand apartheid strategy of “separate development”. The idea was to establish states to which black South Africans were forced to have citizenship, thereby denying them citizenship of – and rights in – South Africa as a whole.

These spurious states were not recognised by the rest of the world. They were set up on scattered parcels of uneconomic land, often with tracts of “South Africa” between them. This meant that cheap black migrant labour would always be available to profit the white economy, as the jobs were only in the areas set aside for white people.

There were 10 homelands, each established for a specific “tribe” or ethic group. The notion of this ethnicity, these “tribes”, was the apartheid government’s racist simplification of complex linguistic and cultural groups.

Tribalism was used to argue that apartheid was simply filling the needs of nationalism – KwaZulu for the Zulu nation, Transkei for the Xhosa nation, Bophutatswana for the Tswana nation and so on, while the rest of South Africa was for the white nation (whatever that is).

The ethnicity designated for each homeland was:

• Bophuthatswana – Tswana
• Ciskei and Transkei – Xhosa
• Gazankulu – Shangaan and Tsonga
• KwaZulu – Zulu
• Lebowa – Pedi and Northern Ndebele
• Qwa Qwa – Basotho
• Venda – Venda

In 1970 the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act was passed, which made black people living throughout South Africa legal citizens in a specific homeland, according to the ethnicity set down for them in the population register.

While the plan was for all 10 homelands to eventually become “independent” (again, an independence not recognised by the rest of the world), only four ever did: the Transkei in 1976, Bophuthatswana in 1977, Venda in 1979, and Ciskei in 1981.

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander
Updated 24 September 2024
Comments? Email southafrica.gateway@gmail.com

The graphics on this page are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

The post The provinces and ‘homelands’ of South Africa before 1996 appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

See below for a static version of this animation.

Gauteng contributes more than a third to South Africa’s economy and dominates every sector except mining and agriculture. Mining is the main industry of Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and the Northern Cape. KwaZulu-Natal has the country’s largest farming sector, but the province’s major industry is manufacturing – second in size only to manufacturing in Gauteng.

Gauteng’s biggest sector is finance, real estate and business services, which makes up almost a quarter of the province’s economy, followed by general government services, and then manufacturing.

General government services include all major government administrative spending, as well as social grants. Investment in public healthcare and education fall under the category personal services.

Government services make the biggest contribution to the economies of the Free State (followed by finance) and the Eastern Cape (followed by trade, catering and accommodation).

The Western Cape’s largest industry is finance, followed by trade, catering and accommodation (a sector that roughly corresponds to shopping, leisure and tourism).

• READ MORE: The nine provinces of South Africa

In 2016 the main industries in each province were:

• Eastern Cape: government services 21%, trade, catering and accommodation 18%, finance 16%
• Free State: government services 15%, finance 14%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%
• Gauteng: finance 23%, government services 19%, manufacturing 14%
• KwaZulu-Natal: manufacturing 16%, finance 15%, government services 15%
• Limpopo: mining 25%, government services 18%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%
• Mpumalanga: mining 20%, trade, catering and accommodation 13%, manufacturing 13%
• Northern Cape: mining 19%, government services 15%, finance 12%
• North West: mining 30%, government services 12%, finance 12%
• Western Cape: finance 23%, trade, catering and accommodation 15%, manufacturing 14%

See below for the actual figures.

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Provincial economies in numbers

Here’s the composition and value of South Africa’s provincial economies in 2016.

All amounts are in millions of rands, so (for example) R7,140 means R7.1-billion, and R1,507,082 means R1.5-trillion.

Eastern Cape economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R5,695 (1.9%)
• Mining and quarrying: R437 (0.1%)
• Manufacturing: R37,724 (12.8%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R7,140 (2.4%)
• Construction: R12,543 (4.2%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R60,351 (20.4%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R27,759 (9.4%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R53,401 (18.1%)
• Personal services: R21,880 (7.4%)
• General government services: R68,820 (23.3%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R35,343
• Eastern Cape GDP at market prices (millions): R331,093

Free State economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R10,057 (5.2%)
• Mining and quarrying: R20,501 (10.5%)
• Manufacturing: R22,560 (11.6%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R8,871 (4.6%)
• Construction: R4,990 (2.6%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R27,410 (14.1%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R20,203 (10.4%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R30,551 (15.7%)
• Personal services: R15,511 (8.0%)
• General government services: R33,711 (17.3%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R23,485
• Free State GDP at market prices (millions): R217,849

Gauteng economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R6,344 (0.5%)
• Mining and quarrying: R33,927 (2.5%)
• Manufacturing: R204,292 (15.2%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R43,657 (3.2%)
• Construction: R53,278 (4.0%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R180,864 (13.5%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R136,434 (10.1%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R340,571 (25.3%)
• Personal services: R66,177 (4.9%)
• General government services: R278,994 (20.8%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R162,545
• Gauteng GDP at market prices (millions): R1,507,082

KwaZulu-Natal economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R23,896 (3.9%)
• Mining and quarrying: R9,226 (1.5%)
• Manufacturing: R112,407 (18.2%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R24,005 (3.9%)
• Construction: R26,836 (4.3%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R94,782 (15.3%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R83,412 (13.5%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R103,667 (16.8%)
• Personal services: R37,262 (6.0%)
• General government services: R103,395 (16.7%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R73,334
• KwaZulu-Natal GDP at market prices (millions): R692,222

Limpopo economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R7,051 (2.5%)
• Mining and quarrying: R77,239 (27.8%)
• Manufacturing: R8,124 (2.9%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R12,332 (4.4%)
• Construction: R9,158 (3.3%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R41,984 (15.1%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R13,957 (5.0%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R40,554 (14.6%)
• Personal services: R11,870 (4.3%)
• General government services: R55,104 (19.9%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R34,313
• Limpopo GDP at market prices (millions): R311,686

Mpumalanga economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R8,268 (2.9%)
• Mining and quarrying: R64,958 (22.5%)
• Manufacturing: R40,810 (14.2%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R22,522 (7.8%)
• Construction: R9,073 (3.1%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R42,455 (14.7%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R19,065 (6.6%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R33,406 (11.6%)
• Personal services: R11,278 (3.9%)
• General government services: R36,273 (12.6%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R35,613
• Mpumalanga GDP at market prices (millions): R323,722

Northern Cape economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R5,937 (7.3%)
• Mining and quarrying: R17,220 (21.2%)
• Manufacturing: R2,927 (3.6%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R3,344 (4.1%)
• Construction: R2,946 (3.6%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R9,771 (12.0%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R9,946 (12.2%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R10,779 (13.3%)
• Personal services: R4,405 (5.4%)
• General government services: R14,001 (17.2%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R9,607
• Northern Cape GDP at market prices (millions): R90,883

North West economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R6,637 (2.7%)
• Mining and quarrying: R82,529 (33.3%)
• Manufacturing: R13,401 (5.4%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R8,618 (3.5%)
• Construction: R6,129 (2.5%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R29,349 (11.8%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R16,183 (6.5%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R32,957 (13.3%)
• Personal services: R18,909 (7.6%)
• General government services: R33,267 (13.4%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R31,755
• North West GDP at market prices (millions): R279,733

Western Cape economy (in millions)

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing: R20,873 (3.9%)
• Mining and quarrying: R1,268 (0.2%)
• Manufacturing: R81,540 (15.3%)
• Electricity, gas and water: R15,534 (2.9%)
• Construction: R29,416 (5.5%)
• Trade, catering and accommodation: R91,247 (17.1%)
• Transport, storage and communication: R57,544 (10.8%)
• Finance, real estate and business services: R138,179 (25.9%)
• Personal services: R35,555 (6.7%)
• General government services: R61,393 (11.5%)
• Taxes less subsidies on products: R63,495
• Western Cape GDP at market prices (millions): R596,043

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 17 June 2021.
Comments? Email mary1alexander@mail.com

The graphics on this page are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

The post The economies of South Africa’s nine provinces appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

The main languages of each province are:

• Eastern Cape – isiXhosa (78.8%), Afrikaans (10.6%)
• Free State – Sesotho (64.2%), Afrikaans (12.7%)
• Gauteng – isiZulu (19.8%), English (13.3%), Afrikaans (12.4%), Sesotho (11.6%)
• KwaZulu-Natal – isiZulu (77.8%), English (13.2%)
• Limpopo – Sesotho sa Leboa (52.9%), Xitsonga (17%), Tshivenda (16.7%)
• Mpumalanga – siSwati (27.7%), isiZulu (24.1%), Xitsonga (10.4%), isiNdebele (10.1%)
• Northern Cape – Afrikaans (53.8%), Setswana (33.1%)
• North West – Setswana (63.4%), Afrikaans (9%)
• Western Cape – Afrikaans (49.7%), isiXhosa (24.7%), English (20.3%)

READ MORE:

• The 11 languages of South Africa
• The nine provinces of South Africa
• What languages do black, coloured, Indian and white South Africans speak?
• South Africa’s population

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 11 June 2021.
Comments? Email mary1alexander@gmail.com

The graphic on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

The post What languages are spoken in South Africa’s nine provinces? appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

Data: Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2017

Gauteng is South Africa’s wealthiest province, mostly a city region and the centre of the country’s economy. It has the largest population, constantly increased by migration. Gauteng’s net migration rate (the number of people moving in minus people moving out) was nearly two million between 2006 and 2016. Its population will be swelled by another million from 2016 to 2021.

The Eastern Cape is the poorest province. Between 2006 and 2016 a million of its people migrated to other provinces, while only 300,000 or so moved into the province, leaving the Eastern Cape with a negative net migration of minus 700,000 people. From 2016 to 2021 the Eastern Cape is expected to lose another 324,000 people to migration.

Read more

• South Africa’s population
• The nine provinces of South Africa
• Infographic: The population of South Africa’s nine provinces
• Infographic: Population density in South Africa’s nine provinces
• Animation: The economies of South Africa’s provinces

Estimated migration between the provinces from 2006 to 2011

Estimated migration between the provinces from 2011 to 2016

Projected migration between the provinces from 2016 to 2021

• Data: Statistics South Africa mid-year population estimates 2017

Researched, written and designed by Mary Alexander.
Updated 2 October 2020

The graphic on this page is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.

The post Moving to the city: Provincial migration in South Africa from 2002 to 2017 appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

MARY ALEXANDER • 20 JUNE 2024

On 3 June 2024 a tornado ripped through towns and settlements in the South African municipality of eThekwini, which includes KwaZulu-Natal province’s port city of Durban.

The twister was part of a major storm, its high winds, heavy rain and sudden flooding killing at least 11 people. Heaviest hit was the eThekwini town of Tongaat, also known as oThongathi.

A tornado is a column of wind rotating at a high speed. They develop during thunderstorms and can cause enormous damage when they hit the ground. Tornadoes are not uncommon in South Africa, particularly in the east of the country.

The South African Weather Service says the oThongathi tornado rated EF3 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, a measure of twisters’ wind speed from one to five. Wind in an EF3 tornado can reach up to 265 kilometres an hour. These “stronger and more destructive” tornadoes only occur every decade or so.

In the week after the tornado hit KwaZulu-Natal, a video appeared on social media with the claim it showed the twister. In the clip we see a tornado barrelling through a settlement, throwing up the debris of destroyed buildings.

It’s been posted with the captions “Tornado KZN 4 June 2024” and “The #tornado seen on camera in KZN Durban”, and the hashtags #tongaattornado and #kzntornado.*

But does the video really show the KwaZulu-Natal tornado?

Drone footage of 2022 tornado in Andover, Kansas

Africa Check took a screenshot of the first frame of the video and ran it through a reverse image search.

This led us to several news reports of a tornado that tore through Andover, a town in the US state of Kansas, in May 2022. They all use the same footage, shot from a drone.

The twister was reportedly also a destructive EF3, but there were no fatalities.

In 2023 Africa Check debunked a claim that the video showed part of the destruction when an earthquake hit Morocco. But it was shot in the United States, not Morocco – or South Africa.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 21 June 2024

The post Tornado video shot in US state of Kansas, not South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province appeared first on South Africa Gateway.

MARY ALEXANDER • 18 JUNE 2024

A video of ballot boxes piled high in a series of storerooms has been circulating on social media since 3 June 2024 with the claim that “uncounted” votes from South Africa’s recent elections are inside.*

The boxes carry the logo of the country’s Independent Electoral Commission (IEC).

“Uncounted sealed boxes discovered stored away,” a typical caption reads. “IEC, we didn’t stand in long queues for our votes to be hidden.” At one point the videographer demonstrates that each box is held closed with a cable tie.

South Africa’s national and provincial elections took place on 29 May, with a 58.6% voter turnout. The results were announced on 2 June. The viral video appeared the next day.

The election results were historic. The African National Congress lost the majority it had held since 1994, garnering only 40.2% of the national vote. The Democratic Alliance (DA) won 21.8% and the newcomer uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) – headed by former president Jacob Zuma – 14.6%.

The DA was re-elected to the government of the Western Cape province. In KwaZulu-Natal, the MK Party won 45.6% of the provincial vote.

Some social media users claim the “hidden” boxes contain votes cast in the Western Cape. Others say they affected the MK Party’s results in KwaZulu-Natal.

Variations on the claim include:

• THIS IS THE “FRAUD” AND “CORRUPTION” YOUR OFFICIALS HAVE DONE IN KZN…THEY STOLE PEOPLE’S VOTE!!!
• Western Cape Election has been rigged by Zionists… We don’t recognize Alan Winde as Western Cape Premier
• IEC exposed for not counting hundreds of ballot boxes
• MK Party’s 2/3rd majority is locked up in here!

In mid-June the MK Party filed an application with the electoral court to have the results of the election nullified, claiming it was not “free and fair”. Days before, the constitutional court dismissed the party’s application to prevent the first sitting of parliament.

But does the video really show sealed and hidden ballot boxes full of votes the IEC did not count?

‘In the absence of evidence, do not spread false information’

In the first few seconds of the video you can see the province, municipal code and voting district (VD) number set out in the form printed on IEC ballot boxes.

These handwritten details reveal that the votes inside were cast in KwaZulu-Natal, not the Western Cape.

We were also able to discern two VD numbers: 43950898 and 4395084, both in the Msunduzi municipality of KwaZulu-Natal (municipal code KZN 225).

We looked up the two districts’ national voting data on the IEC’s 2024 results portal. In both a clear majority of votes went to the MK Party (62% in the first district and 72% in the second). For Msunduzi as a whole, the MK Party won 52.6% of the vote.

The video is clearly not proof that the IEC “rigged” results in the Western Cape – the votes were cast in KwaZulu-Natal. And if it shows an attempt to “lock up” votes for the MK Party, the attempt wasn’t effective.

On the day the claim appeared online, the IEC took to X/Twitter to dismiss it. Resealed ballot boxes, the commission said, had by law to be retained for six months. And the boxes weren’t “hidden”: they were stored in an official IEC warehouse.

It’s worth quoting the IEC’s response in full:

This video shows election materials stored and awaiting roll-back from voting districts to the IEC provincial warehouse. This includes counted ballots, which are sealed inside ballot boxes, voter management devices and other security and bulk materials. By law, all ballots from an election must be retained for a period of six months. Note that, after counting, voting station diaries and results slips are signed off by all party agents present before the results are uploaded. In the absence of any evidence to substantiate your claims, do not spread false information.

This video shows election materials stored and awaiting roll-back from voting districts to the IEC provincial warehouse. This includes counted ballots, which are sealed inside ballot boxes, voter management devices and other security and bulk materials. By law, all ballots from…

— IEC South Africa (@IECSouthAfrica) June 3, 2024

False claims of election rigging are on the uptick across the world, from Nigeria and Brazil to Slovakia and, notoriously, the United States. These claims undermine democracy and people’s faith in their governments.

There is no evidence that the video shows “hidden” boxes full of “uncounted” votes from South Africa’s pivotal 2024 elections.

* Some Facebook and Instagram users may have deleted their posts after Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program rated their claims as untrue.

Published by Africa Check on 21 June 2024

The post Zero evidence video shows boxes of ‘hidden’, ‘uncounted’ votes cast in South Africa’s 2024 elections appeared first on South Africa Gateway.