Culture of South Africa

There is no single Culture of South Africa. As South Africa is so ethnically diverse, it is not surprising that there are vast cultural differences as well.

The country's black majority is increasingly Westernised, and are usually bilingual in English or Afrikaans and their native tongue, which may be one of nine such languages with official status since 1994. These include the Nguni languages, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sindebele, and Swazi, and the Sotho languages, which include Setswana, Sesotho, Sesotho sa Leboa and Venda. Cultural differences between speakers from the two language groups are comparable to those between Germans and Italians. Most are Christian, with many adhering to the predominantly black Zion Church, although many still follow traditional beliefs, many often consulting a sangoma or soothsayer. There is a vibrant indigenous culture, with local popular music forms, such as kwaito.

White people

The white minority lead lifestyles similar in many respects to those found in Western Europe, North America and Australasia, with sport being immensely popular. The braai or barbecue is another national pastime.

Historical enmity between Afrikaans and English-speaking whites has given way to more amiable banter or rivalry. Afrikaners refer to an English speaker as a soutpiel or 'salt dick', on account of his divided loyalties: one foot in Africa; the other in England; and his genitals in the sea. Similarly English speakers have long made 'Van Der Merwe' jokes about Afrikaners, who they regard as stupid and philistine.

Religious beliefs are also strong, with most Afrikaners adhering to the Dutch Reformed Church. Most English-speaking whites are either Anglican or Roman Catholic. A small minority of whites are Jewish, and other whites are of Portuguese and Greek origin.

Many can be extremely defensive about their country, and about their past attitudes under the apartheid regime, which many supported, although there was a vocal liberal minority. As the satirist Pieter Dirk Uys put it, white liberals think that there are two things wrong with South Africa: one is apartheid, and the other is black people.

Coloured people

The mixed-race Coloureds are, culturally speaking, much closer to whites, especially Afrikaans speakers, whose language and religious beliefs they share, than they are with black South Africans, despite suffering considerable discrimination under apartheid. A small minority of Coloureds, known as Cape Malays are Muslim.

Asian people

Asians, (predominantly Indian origin) preserve their own cultural heritage, languages and religious beliefs, being either Hindu or Muslim, and speaking Indian languages like Telugu or Gujarati. There is a much smaller Chinese community in South Africa, although its numbers have been increased by immigration from Taiwan.

International cultural boycott

Many countries imposed cultural boycotts on the apartheid regime, meaning that South Africa was banned from the Olympic Games until 1992, as well as rugby and cricket. When the all-white national rugby team, the Springboks, toured New Zealand in 1981, it provoked public outrage, as did the decision of the British rock group Queen to perform in the Sun City resort in the bantustan of Bophuthatswana. The American singer Paul Simon caused controversy when he recorded his Graceland album with the South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, even though all its members were black. Until the 1990s, the British actors' union, Equity, imposed a boycott on the sale of TV programmes to South Africa, although the state-controlled South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) happily bought US programmes instead.

Famous South Africans

While South Africa was very much isolated by the cultural boycott in the 1980s, there are now many well-known South African performing artists, and writers. They include playwrights such as Athol Fugard, and satirist Pieter Dirk Uys, actors like Anthony Sher, Hollywood stars like Charlize Theron, and Arnold Vosloo, while in the field of music, the group Ladysmith Black Mambazo has found popularity worldwide. Writers like Nadine Gordimer and J. M. Coetzee have also found international acclaim, both being winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Sport - the national passion

However, sport is the main national passion, athough it has traditionally been divided on ethnic lines. The most popular sport among black South Africans is soccer, with the national team being nicknamed Bafana Bafana or 'The Boys'. Most whites play rugby, which is especially popular among Afrikaners, who dominate the national side, the Springboks, and also cricket, traditionally popular among English-speaking whites.

After being tainted by associations with apartheid, the Springboks (or 'Boks') have sought to become part of the 'New South Africa', with President Nelson Mandela wearing the Springbok jersey, once only worn by whites, at the final of the World Cup in 1995, although allegations of racism remain.

TV and films

Television, which was not introduced in South Africa until 1976, is also popular. Traditionally, US programmes have dominated TV schedules, but locally produced soap operas or 'soapies' now draw a captive audience. Unfortunately, much of it does not travel well overseas. For example, the soap opera Egoli - Place of Gold was bilingual in English and Afrikaans, with actors switching between languages, to the incomprehension of viewers in the rest of Africa. The SABC drama series Shaka Zulu, based on the true story of the Zulu warrior King Shaka, was shown around the world in the 1980s, but had to be marketed by a US distributor.

Ironically, while many foreign films have been produced about South Africa (usually involving race relations), few local productions are known outside South Africa itself. One exception was the film The Gods Must Be Crazy in 1980, set in the Kalahari. This is about how life in a traditional community of Khoikhoi (also known as Bushmen) is changed when a Coke bottle, thrown out of an aeroplane, suddenly lands from the sky. The late Jamie Uys, who wrote and directed The Gods Must Be Crazy, also had success overseas in the 1970s with his films Funny People and Funny People II, similar to the TV series Candid Camera in the US. Leon Schuster's You Must Be Joking! films are in the same genre, and hugely popular among South Africans.

In 2003, the New South African TV channel (NSAT) announced plans to broadcast on Sky Television in the UK, thereby reaching the large (predominantly white) expatriate community, showing a mix of South African entertainment, films, sport and news coverage.

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