Renosterveld is a term used for one of the major plant communities and vegetation types of the Cape Floristic Region (Cape Floral Kingdom) which is located in southwestern and southeastern South Africa , in southernmost Africa . It is an ecoregion of the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub biome .
102-504: Renosterveld directly translated in the Afrikaans language means "rhinoceros-field", a possible reference to the high number of rhinoceroses seen by the Afrikaner settlers at the time. It may also derive its name from the renosterbos (rhinoceros bush – Dicerothamnus rhinocerotis ), which is a common species of shrub found here. The dull grey colour of renosterbos is similar to the colour of
204-455: A decreasing number of first language Afrikaans speakers in South Africa from 13.5% in 2011 to 10.6% in 2022. The South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) projects that a growing majority of Afrikaans speakers will be Coloured . Afrikaans speakers experience higher employment rates than other South African language groups, though as of 2012 half a million were unemployed. Despite
306-644: A government, and Morkel remained Premier. In 2000 the DP and the NNP formalised their coalition by forming the Democratic Alliance (DA). In 2001, however, the NNP broke with the DA over the removal of Peter Marais from office as Mayor of Cape Town by DA leader Tony Leon . The NNP instead went into coalition with the ANC; Gerald Morkel, who was opposed to the split, resigned as Premier and
408-455: A lack of fresh water in the region meant that it has only recently been used as a harbour. The province's main harbour was built in Table Bay , which in its natural state was fully exposed to the northwesterly storms that bring rain to the province in winter, as well as the almost uninterrupted dry southeasterly winds in summer. But fresh water coming off Table Mountain and Devil's Peak allowed
510-744: A long tradition of holding liberal values. For example, the Cape Qualified Franchise before the Union of South Africa. The Cape Qualified Franchise was the system of non-racial franchise that was adhered to in the Cape Colony , and in the Cape Province in the early years of the Union of South Africa . Qualifications for the right to vote at parliamentary elections were applied equally to all men, regardless of race. This local system of multi-racial suffrage
612-558: A national, but not official, language. There is a much smaller number of Afrikaans speakers among Zimbabwe's white minority, as most have left the country since 1980. Afrikaans was also a medium of instruction for schools in Bophuthatswana , an Apartheid-era Bantustan . Eldoret in Kenya was founded by Afrikaners. There are also around 30.000 South-Africans in the Netherlands , of which
714-677: A rhino's hide. Renosterveld plants grow on rich soil, which makes them more nutritious than typical fynbos plants. Typically, renosterveld is largely confined to fine-grained soils – mainly clays and silts – which are derived from the shales of the Malmesbury and Bokkeveld Groups and the Karoo Sequence . In drier regions it also occurs on Cape Granite Suite-derived soils. Renosterveld usually grows in areas that have moderate winter rainfall of 300–600 mm (12–24 in) per year. It can survive relatively frequent fires. Renosterveld vegetation
816-608: A second language. It is widely taught in South African schools, with about 10.3 million second-language students. Afrikaans is offered at many universities outside South Africa, including in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Poland, Russia and the United States. In Afrikaans grammar, there is no distinction between the infinitive and present forms of verbs, with the exception of the verbs 'to be' and 'to have'. In addition, verbs do not conjugate differently depending on
918-584: A single negation. Certain words in Afrikaans would be contracted. For example, moet nie , which literally means 'must not', usually becomes moenie ; although one does not have to write or say it like this, virtually all Afrikaans speakers will change the two words to moenie in the same way as do not is contracted to don't in English. Western Cape The Western Cape ( Afrikaans : Wes-Kaap [ˈvɛskɑːp] ; Xhosa : iNtshona-Koloni )
1020-601: A social movement for political consciousness. In December 1968, the South African Student Organization (SASO) was formed at a conference held in Marianhill, Natal. The conference was exclusively attended by Black students. After its launch, SASO became the medium through which black consciousness ideology spread to schools and other university campuses across the country. In 1974, South African Minister of Bantu Education and Development MC Botha, constituted
1122-484: A wide variety of pollinators, like bees , flies , beetles and sunbirds . Because of its high soil fertility, it is probable that all the herds of large game in the fynbos biome occurred in renosterveld. Thus mountain zebra , quagga , bluebuck , roan antelope, red hartebeest , eland , bontebok , elephant, black rhino and Cape buffalo were common, as were lion , cheetah , African wild dog , spotted hyena and leopard . Two of these only ever occurred within
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#17331150935451224-511: Is "a pure and proper language" for religious purposes, especially among the deeply Calvinist Afrikaans religious community that previously had been sceptical of a Bible translation that varied from the Dutch version that they were used to. In 1983 a fresh translation marked the 50th anniversary of the 1933 version. The final editing of this edition was done by E. P. Groenewald, A. H. van Zyl, P. A. Verhoef, J. L. Helberg and W. Kempen. This translation
1326-428: Is a province of South Africa , situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of 129,449 square kilometres (49,981 sq mi), and the third most populous , with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020. About two-thirds of these inhabitants live in the metropolitan area of Cape Town , which is also the provincial capital. The Western Cape
1428-549: Is a groundswell movement within Afrikaans to be inclusive, and to promote itself along with the indigenous official languages. In Namibia, the percentage of Afrikaans speakers declined from 11.4% (2001 Census) to 10.4% (2011 Census). The major concentrations are in Hardap (41.0%), ǁKaras (36.1%), Erongo (20.5%), Khomas (18.5%), Omaheke (10.0%), Otjozondjupa (9.4%), Kunene (4.2%), and Oshikoto (2.3%). Some native speakers of Bantu languages and English also speak Afrikaans as
1530-512: Is absent from the other West Germanic standard languages. For example: Both French and San origins have been suggested for double negation in Afrikaans. While double negation is still found in Low Franconian dialects in West Flanders and in some "isolated" villages in the centre of the Netherlands (such as Garderen ), it takes a different form, which is not found in Afrikaans. The following
1632-469: Is an example: Compare with Ek wil dit nie doen nie , which changes the meaning to 'I want not to do this'. Whereas Ek wil nie dit doen nie emphasizes a lack of desire to act, Ek wil dit nie doen nie emphasizes the act itself. The -ne was the Middle Dutch way to negate but it has been suggested that since -ne became highly non-voiced, nie or niet was needed to complement
1734-597: Is bordered on the north by the Northern Cape and on the east by the Eastern Cape . The total land area of the province is 129,462 square kilometres (49,986 sq mi), about 10.6% of the country's total. It is roughly the size of England or the State of Louisiana . Its capital city and largest city is Cape Town , and some other major cities include Stellenbosch , Worcester , Paarl , and George . The Garden Route and
1836-542: Is dominated by Karoo drought-resistant shrubbery . The West Coast and Little Karoo are semi-arid regions and are typified by many species of succulents and drought-resistant shrubs and acacia trees. The Garden Route on the south coast (between the Outeniqua Mountains and the Southern Indian Ocean ) is extremely lush, with temperate rainforest (or Afromontane Forest ) covering many areas adjacent to
1938-686: Is dominated by a species of grey-coloured plant called the renosterbos . However, the Proteas , Ericas and Restios — typical of fynbos habitats — tend to occur in very low abundance in renosterveld. Few species are endemic solely to renosterveld vegetation, as most found in renosterveld occur in fynbos as well. However, species endemic to the Cape Floristic Region comprise about one-third of renosterveld plant species, and many of these belong to families which are not considered to be of "Cape affinity" (i.e. these families are also diverse outside
2040-555: Is neither a creole nor a direct descendant of Dutch, but a fusion of two transmission pathways. Most of the first settlers whose descendants today are the Afrikaners were from the United Provinces (now Netherlands), with up to one-sixth of the community of French Huguenot origin, and a seventh from Germany. African and Asian workers, Cape Coloured children of European settlers and Khoikhoi women, and slaves contributed to
2142-528: Is seen as the dawn of a new era in Afrikaans cinema. Several short films have been created and more feature-length movies, such as Poena Is Koning and Bakgat (both in 2008) have been produced, besides the 2011 Afrikaans-language film Skoonheid , which was the first Afrikaans film to screen at the Cannes Film Festival . The film Platteland was also released in 2011. The Afrikaans film industry started gaining international recognition via
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#17331150935452244-405: The -ne . With time the -ne disappeared in most Dutch dialects. The double negative construction has been fully grammaticalised in standard Afrikaans and its proper use follows a set of fairly complex rules as the examples below show: A notable exception to this is the use of the negating grammar form that coincides with negating the English present participle . In this case there is only
2346-588: The Evangelie volgens Markus ( Gospel of Mark , lit. 'Gospel according to Mark'); however, this translation was never published. The manuscript is to be found in the South African National Library, Cape Town. The first official translation of the entire Bible into Afrikaans was in 1933 by J. D. du Toit , E. E. van Rooyen, J. D. Kestell, H. C. M. Fourie, and BB Keet . This monumental work established Afrikaans as 'n suiwer en ordentlike taal , that
2448-413: The 2004 election , there was again no absolute winner in the provincial parliament; this time the ANC won 19 seats, the DA won 12, and the NNP won 5. The ANC-NNP coalition continued in power, but van Schalkwyk took up a ministerial post in the national cabinet and was replaced as Premier by the ANC's Ebrahim Rasool . The NNP was finally dissolved after the 2005 floor-crossing period and its members joined
2550-678: The Arabic alphabet : see Arabic Afrikaans . Later, Afrikaans, now written with the Latin script , started to appear in newspapers and political and religious works in around 1850 (alongside the already established Dutch). In 1875 a group of Afrikaans-speakers from the Cape formed the Genootskap vir Regte Afrikaaners ('Society for Real Afrikaners'), and published a number of books in Afrikaans including grammars, dictionaries, religious materials and histories. Until
2652-554: The Dutch vernacular of South Holland ( Hollandic dialect ) spoken by the predominantly Dutch settlers and enslaved population of the Dutch Cape Colony , where it gradually began to develop distinguishing characteristics in the 17th and 18th centuries. Although Afrikaans has adopted words from other languages, including German and the Khoisan languages , an estimated 90 to 95% of
2754-619: The House of Assembly in 1960. Coloured voters similarly followed in 1958 and 1970 , respectively. The Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) was a grassroots anti-Apartheid activist movement that emerged in South Africa in the mid-1960s out of the political vacuum created by the jailing and banning of the African National Congress and Pan Africanist Congress leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960. The BCM represented
2856-603: The Overberg are popular coastal tourism areas. The Western Cape is the southernmost region of the African continent with Cape Agulhas as its southernmost point, only 3,800 kilometres (2,400 mi) from the Antarctic coastline. The coastline varies from sandy between capes, to rocky to steep and mountainous in places. The only natural harbour is Saldanha Bay on the west coast, about 140 kilometres (90 mi) north of Cape Town. However
2958-554: The Overberg on the south coast have a maritime climate with cool, moist winters and mild, moist summers. Mossel Bay in the Garden Route is considered to have the second mildest climate worldwide after Hawaii. The La Niña phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle tends to increase rainfall in this region in the dry season (November to April). The effects of El Niño on rainfall in southern Africa differ between
3060-686: The Referendum Party , Freedom Front Plus and organisations such as the Cape Independence Advocacy Group and CapeXit, wish to bring forth the constitutional and peaceful secession of the Western Cape. Proponents claim substantial support for the idea, with CapeXit having over 800,000 signed mandates in May 2021. Additionally, a poll conducted in 2023 by Victory Research on behalf of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group claimed that 58% of
3162-716: The Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches, were involved. Afrikaans descended from Dutch dialects in the 17th century. It belongs to a West Germanic sub-group, the Low Franconian languages . Other West Germanic languages related to Afrikaans are German, English, the Frisian languages , Yiddish , and the unstandardised language Low German . Afrikaans is also widely spoken in Namibia. Before independence, Afrikaans had equal status with German as an official language. Since independence in 1990, Afrikaans has had constitutional recognition as
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3264-576: The Senate , in which the Afrikaans language was declared a variety of Dutch. The Constitution of 1961 reversed the position of Afrikaans and Dutch, so that English and Afrikaans were the official languages, and Afrikaans was deemed to include Dutch. The Constitution of 1983 removed any mention of Dutch altogether. The Afrikaans Language Monument is on a hill overlooking Paarl in the Western Cape Province . Officially opened on 10 October 1975, it
3366-528: The Synod of Dordrecht of 1618 and was thus in an archaic form of Dutch. This was hard for Dutch speakers to understand, and increasingly unintelligible for Afrikaans speakers. C. P. Hoogehout, Arnoldus Pannevis [ af ] , and Stephanus Jacobus du Toit were the first Afrikaans Bible translators. Important landmarks in the translation of the Scriptures were in 1878 with C. P. Hoogehout's translation of
3468-516: The University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the University of Cape Town (UCT) organised marches. Poster parades by UWC and Black Power Salute marches by UCT was broken by the police, resulting in 73 students getting arrested and detained at Victor Verster Prison , near Paarl. On 1 September 1976, the unrest spread to the city of Cape Town itself. Approximately 2000 black students from Western Cape townships, namely Langa, Nyanga and Gugulethu, matched
3570-498: The constitution of the Western Cape , which went into effect in 1998, declares Afrikaans to be an official language of the province alongside English and Xhosa . The Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine Huisgenoot has the largest readership of any magazine in the country. When the British design magazine Wallpaper described Afrikaans as "one of the world's ugliest languages" in its September 2005 article about
3672-519: The monument , South African billionaire Johann Rupert (chairman of the Richemont Group ), responded by withdrawing advertising for brands such as Cartier , Van Cleef & Arpels , Montblanc and Alfred Dunhill from the magazine. The author of the article, Bronwyn Davies, was an English -speaking South African. An estimated 90 to 95 percent of the Afrikaans lexicon is ultimately of Dutch origin, and there are few lexical differences between
3774-554: The national constitution ; these responsibilities include agriculture, education, environment, health services, housing, language policies, tourism, trade, and welfare. The provincial parliament also elects the Premier of the Western Cape to lead the provincial executive. Alan Winde , a member of the DA and former Provincial Minister of Community Safety, has served as Premier since the 2019 provincial election . The Premier appoints ten members of
3876-553: The "R" roads which connect the smaller towns. All major roads are tarred with major rural gravel roads well maintained. Limited access motorways are limited to the Cape Metropolitan Area, Winelands and Garden Route, however due to the low population density of the remainder of the province, the highways remain efficient and high-speed, except during peak holiday travel seasons, when travel can be slow-going in places due to heavy traffic. The 2022 South African census recorded
3978-452: The "language of the white oppressor" by some, pressure has been increased to remove Afrikaans as a teaching language in South African universities, resulting in bloody student protests in 2015. Under South Africa's Constitution of 1996, Afrikaans remains an official language , and has equal status to English and nine other languages. The new policy means that the use of Afrikaans is now often reduced in favour of English, or to accommodate
4080-499: The ANC, again giving that party an absolute majority of 24 seats. In the 2007 floor-crossing period the ANC gained a further three members of the provincial parliament. In 2008 Rasool resigned as Premier due to internal party politics, and was replaced by Lynne Brown . The 2009 election marked a significant change in Western Cape politics, as the Democratic Alliance won 51% of the votes and an absolute majority of 22 seats in
4182-661: The Arabic script. In 1861, L.H. Meurant published his Zamenspraak tusschen Klaas Waarzegger en Jan Twyfelaar ( Conversation between Nicholas Truthsayer and John Doubter ), which is considered to be the first book published in Afrikaans. The first grammar book was published in 1876; a bilingual dictionary was later published in 1902. The main modern Afrikaans dictionary in use is the Verklarende Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (HAT). A new authoritative dictionary, called Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT),
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4284-683: The Boers and their servants." In 1925 Afrikaans was recognised by the South African government as a distinct language, rather than simply a vernacular of Dutch. On 8 May 1925, that is 23 years after the Second Boer War ended, the Official Languages of the Union Act, 1925 was passed—mostly due to the efforts of the Afrikaans-language movement —at a joint sitting of the House of Assembly and
4386-625: The Cape Floral Kingdom). The original inhabitants of the Western Cape, the San and Khoi , used renosterveld plants for food, medicine and grazing. Because of their relatively small populations and simple lifestyles, they did not cause a great deal of damage to this ecosystem. Many renosterveld trees and shrubs produce berries, which attract fruit-eating birds (e.g. bulbuls , Cape white-eyes ) and other animals (e.g. geometric tortoises , chacma baboons ). During spring, renosterveld flowers attract
4488-615: The Cape Town area. According to a report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), the Western Cape experienced the second highest number of deaths and casualties associated with the 1976 uprising protests. In 1994, at the introduction of the Interim Constitution and the first non-racial election , South Africa's original provinces and bantustans were abolished and nine new provinces were established. The former Cape Province
4590-460: The Cape Town central business district (CBD). Coloured students also contributed to the protests by peacefully marching to the city, but were blockaded by the police in the CBD. The protests turned violent when coloured students started burning schools, libraries and a magistrate's court in support of the student revolt. Thereafter, 200,000 coloured workers partook in a two-day strike staying away from work in
4692-507: The Dutch Cape Colony between 1652 and 1672 had a Dutch father. Sarah Grey Thomason and Terrence Kaufman argue that Afrikaans' development as a separate language was "heavily conditioned by nonwhites who learned Dutch imperfectly as a second language." Beginning in about 1815, Afrikaans started to replace Malay as the language of instruction in Muslim schools in South Africa, written with
4794-619: The Province's most inland boundary. The escarpment marks the southwestern edge of South Africa's central plateau (see the middle and bottom diagrams on the left). It runs parallel to the entire South African coastline, except in the very far northeast, where it is interrupted by the Limpopo River valley, and in the far northwest, where it is interrupted by the Orange River valley. The 1,000-kilometre-long (620 mi) northeastern stretch of
4896-500: The Provincial Treasury. Politically, the Western Cape is a stronghold for the Democratic Alliance (DA). The DA has won an absolute majority of the vote in the province in every national, provincial, and municipal election since 2009 . The Western Cape Province is divided into one metropolitan municipality and five district municipalities . The district municipalities are in turn divided into 24 local municipalities . In
4998-800: The Western Cape's GDP. 95% of wine produced in South Africa is produced in the Western Cape. South Africa is the 7th largest wine producing region in the world. The Western Cape has an excellent network of highways comparable with any first-world country. The primary highways are the N1 (from Cape Town to Three Sisters , continuing outside the province towards Bloemfontein and Johannesburg ), N2 (from Cape Town to Bloukrans River, towards Port Elizabeth ), N7 (from Cape Town to Bitterfontein, continuing towards Springbok and Namibia ), N9 (from George to Uniondale, continuing towards Graaff-Reinet and Colesberg ) and N12 (from George to Three Sisters, continuing towards Kimberley and Johannesburg). Other routes are
5100-476: The Western Cape's registered voters would support independence, while 68% would support a referendum on the issue. The provincial government is established under the Constitution of the Western Cape , which was adopted in 1998. The people of the province elect the 42-member Western Cape Provincial Parliament every five years by a system of party-list proportional representation . The sixth provincial parliament
5202-449: The biggest sector in the Western Cape's economy is the financial, business services and real estate sector, which constitutes 33.55% of gross value added, followed by manufacturing at 14.26% and wholesale and retail trade, hotels, and restaurants at 13.67%. High-tech industries, international call centres, fashion design, advertising and TV production are niche industries rapidly gaining in importance. Cape Town accounts for roughly 73% of
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#17331150935455304-447: The challenges of demotion and emigration that it faces in South Africa, the Afrikaans vernacular remains competitive, being popular in DSTV pay channels and several internet sites, while generating high newspaper and music CD sales. A resurgence in Afrikaans popular music since the late 1990s has invigorated the language, especially among a younger generation of South Africans. A recent trend is
5406-536: The coast, in the deep river valleys and along the southern slopes of the Outeniqua mountain range. Typical species are hardwoods of exceptional height, such as Yellowwood , Stinkwood and Ironwood trees. The Western Cape is climatologically diverse, with many distinct micro- and macroclimates created by the varied topography and the influence of the surrounding ocean currents. These are the warm Agulhas Current which flows southwards along South Africa's east coast, and
5508-626: The cold Benguela Current which is an upwelling current from the depths of the South Atlantic Ocean along South Africa's west coast. Thus climatic statistics can vary greatly over short distances. Most of the province is considered to have a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and warm, dry summers. Both the Great Karoo and Little Karoo , in the interior, have an arid to semi-arid climate with cold, frosty winters and hot summers with occasional thunderstorms . The Garden Route and
5610-762: The course of the 18th century. As early as the mid-18th century and as recently as the mid-20th century, Afrikaans was known in standard Dutch as a 'kitchen language' (Dutch: kombuistaal ), lacking the prestige accorded, for example, even by the educational system in Africa, to languages spoken outside Africa. Other early epithets setting apart Kaaps Hollands (' Cape Dutch ', i.e. Afrikaans) as putatively beneath official Dutch standards included geradbraakt , gebroken and onbeschaafd Hollands ('mutilated, broken, or uncivilised Dutch'), as well as verkeerd Nederlands ('incorrect Dutch'). Historical linguist Hans den Besten theorises that modern Standard Afrikaans derives from two sources: So Afrikaans, in his view,
5712-445: The development of Afrikaans. The slave population was made up of people from East Africa, West Africa, Mughal India , Madagascar , and the Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). A number were also indigenous Khoisan people, who were valued as interpreters, domestic servants, and labourers. Many free and enslaved women married or cohabited with the male Dutch settlers. M. F. Valkhoff argued that 75% of children born to female slaves in
5814-409: The early 20th century Afrikaans was considered a Dutch dialect , alongside Standard Dutch , which it eventually replaced as an official language. Before the Boer wars , "and indeed for some time afterwards, Afrikaans was regarded as inappropriate for educated discourse. Rather, Afrikaans was described derogatorily as 'a kitchen language' or 'a bastard jargon', suitable for communication mainly between
5916-489: The early European settlers to build Cape Town on the shores of this less than satisfactory anchorage. The province is topographically exceptionally diverse. Most of the province falls within the Cape Fold Belt , a set of nearly parallel ranges of sandstone folded mountains of Cambrian - Ordovician age (the age of the rocks is from 510 to about 330 million years ago; their folding into mountains occurred about 350 to about 270 million years ago). The height of
6018-423: The entire United Kingdom. It is characterised by various types of shrubs, thousands of herbaceous flowering plant species and some grasses. With the exception of the Silver tree, Leucadendron argenteum , which only grows on the granite and clay soils of the Cape Peninsula , open fynbos is generally treeless except in the wetter mountain ravines where patches of Afromontane forest persist. The arid interior
6120-416: The escarpment is called the Drakensberg , which is geographically and geologically quite distinct from the Cape Fold Mountains , which originated much earlier and totally independently of the origin of the escarpment. The principal rivers of the province are the Berg and Olifants which drain into the Atlantic Ocean, and the Breede and Gourits which drain into the Indian Ocean. The vegetation of
6222-425: The expected changes. Thunderstorms are generally rare in the province (except in the Karoo ) with most precipitation being of a frontal or orographic nature. Extremes of heat and cold are common inland, but rare near the coast. Snow is a common winter occurrence on the Western Cape Mountains occasionally reaching down into the more inland valleys. Otherwise, frost is relatively rare in coastal areas and many of
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#17331150935456324-417: The following interactive map, the district and metropolitan municipalities are labelled in capital letters and shaded in various different colours. Clicking on the district on the map loads the appropriate article: As of the third quarter of 2023, the Western Cape's total real GDP was R 656.27 billion, which equaled 14.2% of South Africa's total GDP, and real GDP per capita was R90,571. The Western Cape has
6426-460: The fynbos biome: bluebuck and bontebok. Of these large mammals, only the mountain zebra and leopard survived (by fleeing to the mountains), with the bontebok just surviving near Bredasdorp. All the other species became extinct in the fynbos biome (a tiny relict elephant population still survives in the area around the Gouritz River and surrounding areas within the fynbos biome area), although many have been introduced into conservation areas from outside
6528-422: The game and Khoi cattle migrated over the region. With the establishment of European stock farmers, continuous grazing and the elimination of the diverse grazing-browsing fauna, the shrubby element was promoted. This theory is not universally accepted, but proponents argue to the sudden decline of hay near Cape Town in the early 18th century, and the many historical records of early explorers claiming that renosterbos
6630-473: The government for Afrikaans, in terms of education, social events, media (TV and radio), and general status throughout the country, given that it now shares its place as official language with ten other languages. Nevertheless, Afrikaans remains more prevalent in the media – radio, newspapers and television – than any of the other official languages, except English. More than 300 book titles in Afrikaans are published annually. South African census figures suggest
6732-411: The heavily cultivated valleys. The Hon Alan Winde MMP The Seventh Provincial Parliament Speaker Daylin Mitchell MMP Deputy Speaker Reagan Allen MMP Chief Whip of the Majority Party Gillon Bosman MMP Leader of the Opposition Khalid Sayed MMP Chief Whip of the Official Opposition Ayanda Bans MMP Municipal: The Cape has had
6834-444: The imposition of using Afrikaans as a medium of instruction in black schools, effective with students in Grade 7 (Standard 5) upwards. As early as March 1976, students began passive resistance against Afrikaans, fueling the outbreak of the Soweto Uprising on 16 June 1976. Consequently, the student protests spread to other parts of the country, and Cape Town became a pivotal site for Western Cape student revolt. Student leaders at
6936-406: The increased availability of pre-school educational CDs and DVDs. Such media also prove popular with the extensive Afrikaans-speaking emigrant communities who seek to retain language proficiency in a household context. Afrikaans-language cinema showed signs of new vigour in the early 21st century. The 2007 film Ouma se slim kind , the first full-length Afrikaans movie since Paljas in 1998,
7038-427: The independence of the "Sovereign State of Good Hope". In the 2019 election , the DA retained their majority in the province, but with a reduction in support. It had won 24 seats with 55%. Helen Zille was term-limited and the DA premier candidate Alan Winde succeeded her. The ANC also lost support. It had received 12 seats with 28% support, its lowest showing since 1994. Veteran politician Peter Marais returned to
7140-414: The language distance for Anglophones once remarked that the differences between (Standard) Dutch and Afrikaans are comparable to those between the Received Pronunciation and Southern American English . Afrikaans is an official language of the Republic of South Africa and a recognised national language of the Republic of Namibia. Post-apartheid South Africa has seen a loss of preferential treatment by
7242-525: The language of instruction for half the subjects taught in non-White schools (with English continuing for the other half). Although English is the mother tongue of only 8.2% of the population, it is the language most widely understood, and the second language of a majority of South Africans. Afrikaans is more widely spoken than English in the Northern and Western Cape provinces, several hundred kilometres from Soweto. The Black community's opposition to Afrikaans and preference for continuing English instruction
7344-513: The likes of big Afrikaans Hollywood film stars, like Charlize Theron ( Monster ) and Sharlto Copley ( District 9 ) promoting their mother tongue. SABC 3 announced early in 2009 that it would increase Afrikaans programming due to the "growing Afrikaans-language market and [their] need for working capital as Afrikaans advertising is the only advertising that sells in the current South African television market". In April 2009, SABC3 started screening several Afrikaans-language programmes. There
7446-530: The majority are of Afrikaans-speaking Afrikaner and Coloured South-African descent. A much smaller and unknown number of speakers also reside in the Dutch Caribbean . Contrary to popular belief, the majority of Afrikaans speakers today are not Afrikaners or Boers , but Coloureds . In 1976, secondary-school pupils in Soweto began a rebellion in response to the government's decision that Afrikaans be used as
7548-519: The mountain peaks in the different ranges varies from 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) to 2,300 metres (7,500 ft). The valleys between ranges are generally very fertile, as they contain the weathered loamy soils of the Bokkeveld mudstones (see the diagrams below). The far interior forms part of the Karoo . This region of the province is generally arid and hilly, with a prominent escarpment that runs close to
7650-514: The other official languages. In 1996, for example, the South African Broadcasting Corporation reduced the amount of television airtime in Afrikaans, while South African Airways dropped its Afrikaans name Suid-Afrikaanse Lugdiens from its livery . Similarly, South Africa's diplomatic missions overseas now display the name of the country only in English and their host country's language, and not in Afrikaans. Meanwhile,
7752-410: The other 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 far better than between Dutch and Frisian or between Danish and Swedish . The South African poet writer Breyten Breytenbach , attempting to visualise
7854-411: The past tense is also often replaced with the perfect.) When telling a longer story, Afrikaans speakers usually avoid the perfect and simply use the present tense, or historical present tense instead (as is possible, but less common, in English as well). A particular feature of Afrikaans is its use of the double negative ; it is classified in Afrikaans as ontkennende vorm and is something that
7956-402: The provincial legislature to serve as a cabinet of ministers, overseeing the departments of the provincial government . These departments are Agriculture, Community Safety , Cultural Affairs and Sport, Economic Development and Tourism, Education , Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, Health , Human Settlements, Local Government, Social Development, Transport and Public Works , and
8058-523: The provincial parliament as the sole representative of the Freedom Front Plus . Patricia de Lille formed another party, Good , and it achieved a seat. The DA continued to win a majority of the votes in the 2021 municipal elections , receiving 54% of the vote province-wide, with support in Cape Town at 58%. Since the late 2000s there has been growing support for Western Cape, or Greater Cape, independence from South Africa. Political parties such as
8160-499: The provincial parliament, while the ANC won 14 seats with 31% of the vote. The DA leader Helen Zille was elected Premier. In 2010 the Independent Democrats , which had won 3 seats with 5% of the vote, merged with the DA. In the 2014 election the DA won 59% of the votes and an absolute majority of 26 seats in the provincial parliament, while the ANC won 14 seats with 32% of the vote. In 2018 King Khoebaha Cornelius III Declared
8262-533: The region is also extremely diverse, with one of the world's six floral kingdoms almost exclusively endemic to the province, namely the Cape Floral Kingdom , most of which is covered by Fynbos (from the Afrikaans meaning "Fine Bush" (Dutch: Fijnbos), though precisely how it came to be referred to as such, is uncertain.). These evergreen heathlands are extremely rich in species diversity, with at least as many plant species occurring on Table Mountain as in
8364-487: The region. The quagga and bluebuck are extinct, although there is a project (the Quagga Project ) to restore plains zebras with quagga-like markings. The high fertility of renosterveld soils has meant that most of the area has been converted to agriculture, mainly wheat . It is alleged that the high shrub cover is a result of continuous grazing. Early records suggest that the renosterveld had abundant grasses, and that
8466-522: The remaining precious areas of renosterveld in the Western Cape . For more information go to: Afrikaans Afrikaans ( / ˌ æ f r ɪ ˈ k ɑː n s / AF -rih- KAHNSS , / ˌ ɑː f -, - ˈ k ɑː n z / AHF -, - KAHNZ ) is a West Germanic language , spoken in South Africa , Namibia and (to a lesser extent) Botswana , Zambia and Zimbabwe . It evolved from
8568-556: The south-easterly winds driving upwelling are weaker which results in warmer coastal waters than normal, while during La Niña the same winds are stronger and cause colder coastal waters. These effects on the winds are part of large scale influences on the tropical Atlantic and the South Atlantic High -pressure system, and changes to the pattern of westerly winds further south. There are other influences not known to be related to ENSO of similar importance. Some ENSO events do not lead to
8670-442: The subject. For example, Only a handful of Afrikaans verbs have a preterite , namely the auxiliary wees ('to be'), the modal verbs , and the verb dink ('to think'). The preterite of mag ('may') is rare in contemporary Afrikaans. All other verbs use the perfect tense, het + past participle (ge-), for the past. Therefore, there is no distinction in Afrikaans between I drank and I have drunk . (In colloquial German,
8772-406: The summer and winter rainfall areas. Winter rainfall areas tend to get higher rainfall than normal and summer rainfall areas tend to get less rain. The effect on the summer rainfall areas is stronger and has led to severe drought in strong El Niño events. Sea surface temperatures off the west and south coasts of South Africa are affected by ENSO via changes in surface wind strength. During El Niño
8874-461: The third largest economy of South Africa's nine provinces, behind Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal . The province's unemployment rate was 20.2%, which is the lowest in South Africa and considerably below the national unemployment rate of 31.9%. As of 2018, the Western Cape's Human Development Index is the highest in South Africa at 0.741 compared to the South African average of 0.705. As of 2023,
8976-537: The two languages. Afrikaans has a considerably more regular morphology, grammar, and spelling. There is a high degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, particularly in written form. Afrikaans acquired some lexical and syntactical borrowings from other languages such as Malay , Khoisan languages , Portuguese, and Bantu languages , and Afrikaans has also been significantly influenced by South African English . Dutch speakers are confronted with fewer non-cognates when listening to Afrikaans than
9078-430: The vocabulary of Afrikaans is of Dutch origin. Differences between Afrikaans and Dutch often lie in the more analytic morphology and grammar of Afrikaans, and different spellings. There is a large degree of mutual intelligibility between the two languages, especially in written form . The name of the language comes directly from the Dutch word Afrikaansch (now spelled Afrikaans ) meaning 'African'. It
9180-548: Was created in 1994 from part of the former Cape Province . The two largest cities are Cape Town and George . The Western Cape is roughly L-shaped, extending north and east from the Cape of Good Hope , in the southwestern corner of South Africa. It stretches about 400 kilometres (250 mi) northwards along the Atlantic coast and about 500 kilometres (300 mi) eastwards along the South African south coast ( Southern Indian Ocean ). It
9282-424: Was divided into the Western Cape, Northern Cape , Eastern Cape and part of North West . In the 1994 election, the Western Cape was one of two provinces that did not elect an African National Congress (ANC) provincial government (the other being KwaZulu-Natal ). The National Party (NP) won 53% of the votes and 23 seats in the 42-seat provincial legislature, and Hernus Kriel , a former Minister of Law and Order,
9384-592: Was elected Premier . He resigned in 1998 and was replaced by Gerald Morkel . The 1999 election marked the beginning of a period of great turbulence in Western Cape politics. No party achieved an absolute majority in the provincial parliament, as the ANC won 18 seats while the New National Party (NNP), successor to the NP, won 17. The NNP went into coalition with the Democratic Party (DP), which won 5 seats, to form
9486-680: Was elected in 2024 ; 24 seats are held by the Democratic Alliance , 8 by the African National Congress , 3 by the Patriotic Alliance , 2 by the Economic Freedom Fighters , and 1 each by the African Christian Democratic Party , Al Jama-ah , Good , Freedom Front Plus , and National Coloured Congress . The provincial parliament is responsible for legislating within its responsibilities as set out by
9588-574: Was erected on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Society of Real Afrikaners , and the 50th anniversary of Afrikaans being declared an official language of South Africa in distinction to Dutch. The earliest Afrikaans texts were some doggerel verse from 1795 and a dialogue transcribed by a Dutch traveller in 1825. Afrikaans used the Latin alphabet around this time, although the Cape Muslim community used
9690-559: Was influenced by Eugene Nida 's theory of dynamic equivalence which focused on finding the nearest equivalent in the receptor language to the idea that the Greek, Hebrew or Aramaic wanted to convey. A new translation, Die Bybel: 'n Direkte Vertaling was released in November 2020. It is the first truly ecumenical translation of the Bible in Afrikaans as translators from various churches, including
9792-405: Was later gradually restricted, and eventually abolished, under various National Party and United Party governments. In 1930 white women were enfranchised , and in 1931 property qualifications for white voters were removed . In 1936 black voters were then removed from the common voters' rolls and allowed only to elect separate members in 1936, and subsequently denied all representation in
9894-399: Was previously referred to as 'Cape Dutch' ( Kaap-Hollands or Kaap-Nederlands ), a term also used to refer to the early Cape settlers collectively, or the derogatory 'kitchen Dutch' ( kombuistaal ) from its use by slaves of colonial settlers "in the kitchen". The Afrikaans language arose in the Dutch Cape Colony , through a gradual divergence from European Dutch dialects , during
9996-421: Was replaced by Peter Marais. In 2002 Marais resigned as Premier due to a sexual harassment scandal, and was replaced by NNP leader Marthinus van Schalkwyk . During the 2003 floor-crossing period four members of the provincial parliament crossed to the ANC, giving it an absolute majority of 22 seats in the 42-seat house. However, the ANC remained in coalition with the NNP and van Schalkwyk remained as Premier. In
10098-468: Was taking over and that grass was becoming scarce. In the Cape Floristic Region, less than 2% of renosterveld vegetation types are formally conserved. These are some of the most threatened types of vegetation in the world. It seems unlikely that viable populations of large mammals will ever be reintroduced into the fynbos biome for this reason. Conservation organisations and volunteers are working with farmers and municipalities to identify, map and protect
10200-649: Was the translation of the whole Bible into Afrikaans. While significant advances had been made in the textual criticism of the Bible, especially the Greek New Testament , the 1933 translation followed the Textus Receptus and was closely akin to the Statenbijbel . Before this, most Cape Dutch-Afrikaans speakers had to rely on the Dutch Statenbijbel . This Statenvertaling had its origins with
10302-531: Was under development As of 2018. The official orthography of Afrikaans is the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls , compiled by Die Taalkommissie . The Afrikaners primarily were Protestants, of the Dutch Reformed Church of the 17th century. Their religious practices were later influenced in South Africa by British ministries during the 1800s. A landmark in the development of the language
10404-622: Was underlined when the government rescinded the policy one month after the uprising: 96% of Black schools chose English (over Afrikaans or native languages) as the language of instruction. Afrikaans-medium schools were also accused of using language policy to deter Black African parents. Some of these parents, in part supported by provincial departments of education, initiated litigation which enabled enrolment with English as language of instruction. By 2006 there were 300 single-medium Afrikaans schools, compared to 2,500 in 1994, after most converted to dual-medium education. Due to Afrikaans being viewed as
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