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Introduction
South Africa is a country where various cultures merge to form a unique nation, proud of its heritage.
The country boasts some of the world's most breathtaking scenery and features an amazing display of bird and wildlife species, which include the well-known Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino).
South Africa 's biggest asset is its people; a rainbow nation with rich and diverse cultures. South Africa is often called the cradle of humankind, for this is where archaeologists discovered 2,5-million-year-old fossils of our earliest ancestors, as well as 100 000-year-old remains of modern man.
The People
Census 2001
The results of the second democratic Census ( Census 2001 ) were released in July 2003.
On the night of 10 October 2001 , there were 44 819 778 people in South Africa . Of these, 79% classified themselves as African; 9,6% as white; 8,9% as coloured; and 2,5% as Indian/Asian.
Population groups
 A total of 21 685 415 people in South Africa are male, and 23 662 839 female.
The South African population consists of the following groups: the Nguni people (consisting of the Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swazi); the Sotho-Tswana people, who include the Southern, Northern and Western Sotho (Tswana); the Tsonga; the Venda; Afrikaners; the English; coloureds; Indians, and those who have immigrated to South Africa from the rest of Africa, Europe and Asia and maintain a strong cultural identity. A few members of the Khoi and the San also live in South Africa .
Languages
The South African Constitution, 1996 (Act 108 of 1996), states that everyone has the right to use the language and to participate in the cultural life of his or her choice, but no one may do so in a manner inconsistent with any provision of the Bill of Rights . Each person also has the right to instruction in the language of his or her choice where this is reasonably practicable.
Official Languages
To cater for South Africa 's diverse peoples, the Constitution provides for 11 official languages, namely Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda and Xitsonga.
Recognising the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages, the Constitution expects government to implement positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages.
According to Census 2001 , isiZulu is the mother tongue of 23,8% of the population, followed by isiXhosa (17,6%), Afrikaans (13,3%), Sepedi (9,4%), and English and Setswana (8,2% each).
The least spoken indigenous language in South Africa is isiNdebele, which is spoken by 1,6% of the population.
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