date_of_birth achmat dangor
South Africa , officially the Republic of South Africa ( RSA ), is the southernmost country in Africa . It is bounded on the south by of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans , on the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia , Botswana and Zimbabwe , and on the east and northeast by Mozambique and Swaziland , and surrounding the kingdom of Lesotho . South Africa is the 25th - largest country in the world by land area , and with close to ___MASK5___ million people , is the world ' s 24th - most populous nation . It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere . It is the only country that borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean . About ___MASK87___ percent of South Africans are of Sub - Saharan African ancestry , divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages , nine of which have official status . The remaining population consists of Africa ' s largest communities of European ( white ), Asian ( Indian ), and multiracial ( coloured ) ancestry . Johannesburg ( also known as Jozi , Joburg and eGoli ) is the largest city in South Africa and is one of the ___MASK18___ largest urban areas in the world . It is the provincial capital of Gauteng , which is the wealthiest province in South Africa . While Johannesburg is not one of South Africa ' s three capital cities , it is the seat of the Constitutional Court . The city is located in the mineral - rich Witwatersrand range of hills and is the centre of large - scale gold and diamond trade . Gauteng , which means " place of gold ", is one of the nine provinces of South Africa . It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa ' s first all - race elections on ___MASK11___ . It was initially named Pretoria  Witwatersrand  Vereeniging ( PWV ) and was renamed " Gauteng " in December 1994 . The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world ' s oceans with a total area of about . It covers approximately ___MASK8___ percent of the Earth ' s surface and about ___MASK52___ percent of its water surface area . It separates the " Old World " from the " New World ". Achmat Dangor ( born ___MASK50___ November 1947 in Johannesburg ) is a South African writer . His most important works include the novels Kafka ' s Curse ( ___MASK56___ ) and Bitter Fruit ( ___MASK95___ ) , but he is also the author of three collections of poetry , a novella and a short - story collection . He is the winner of many literary prizes , including the South African Bosman prize for Kafka ' s Curse . Bitter Fruit was shortlisted for Booker Prize for 2004 . Dangor is also an active development professional and has headed up various non - governmental organisations in South Africa , including the Nelson Mandela Children ' s Fund . He is currently Chief Executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation and lives in Johannesburg , South Africa , with his wife , Audrey , and young son Zachary . The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world ' s oceanic divisions , covering ( approximately ___MASK8___ % of the water on the Earth ' s surface ). It is bounded by Asia on the north , on the west by Africa , on the east by Australia , and on the south by the Southern Ocean or , depending on definition , by Antarctica . It is named after the country of India . The Indian Ocean is known as " Ratnkara ", "" the mine of gems "" in ancient Sanskrit literature , and as " Hind Mahsgar ", "" the great Indian sea "", in Hindi . Bitter Fruit is a novel by Achmat Dangor first published in ___MASK95___ by Kwela Books of Cape Town . Set in South Africa in ___MASK66___ , it is about the disintegration of a Coloured family in the years after the end of apartheid . According to Gabriel Gbadamosi ' s review in " The Guardian ", " All the bases are touched in a reckoning with South Africa ' s past and present turmoil , and no box left unopened in the search for some kind of limbo or twilight zone where all unresolved conflicts might find resolution ." The Bantu languages , technically the Narrow Bantu languages ( as opposed to " Wide Bantu ", a loosely defined categorization which includes other Bantoid languages ), constitute a traditional branch of the Niger  Congo languages . There are about ___MASK53___ Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility , though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear , and " Ethnologue " counts 535 languages . Bantu languages are spoken largely east and south of present - day Cameroon , that is , in the regions commonly known as Central Africa , Southeast Africa , and Southern Africa . Parts of the Bantu area include languages from other language families ( see map ). Namibia , officially the Republic of Namibia ( German : ), is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean . It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north , Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east . Although it does not border Zimbabwe , a part of less than ___MASK46___ metres of the Zambezi River ( essentially a small bulge in Botswana to achieve a Botswana / Zambia micro - border ) separates the two countries . Namibia gained independence from South Africa on 21 ___MASK94___ , following the Namibian War of Independence . Its capital and largest city is Windhoek , and it is a member state of the United Nations ( UN ), the Southern African Development Community ( SADC ), the African Union ( AU ), and the Commonwealth of Nations . Africa is the world ' s second - largest and second - most - populous continent . At about ___MASK50___ . ___MASK4___ million km² ( ___MASK43___ . 7 million square miles ) including adjacent islands , it covers 6 % of Earth ' s total surface area and 20 . 4 % of its total land area . With 1 . 1 billion people as of 2013 , it accounts for about 15 % of the world ' s human population . The continent is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the north , both the Suez Canal and the Red Sea along the Sinai Peninsula to the northeast , the Indian Ocean to the southeast , and the Atlantic Ocean to the west . The continent includes Madagascar and various archipelagos . It contains 54 fully recognized sovereign states ( countries ), nine territories and two " de facto " independent states with limited or no recognition . The Witwatersrand aka The Reef , is a ___MASK5___ - kilometre - long north - facing scarp in the Gauteng Province of South Africa . It consists of a hard , erosion - resistant quartzite sedimentary rock , over which several north - flowing rivers form waterfalls , which account for the name  Witwatersrand , meaning the  ridge of white waters  in Afrikaans . This east  west - running scarp can be traced with only one short gap from Bedfordview ( about ___MASK92___ km west of O . R . Tambo International Airport ) in the east , through Johannesburg and Roodepoort , to Krugersdorp in the west ( see the diagram bottom - left below ). Apartheid was a system of institutionalised racial segregation and discrimination in South Africa between ___MASK48___ and 1991 , when it was abolished . The country ' s first multiracial elections under a universal franchise were held three years later in 1994 . Broadly speaking , apartheid was delineated into " petty apartheid ", which entailed the segregation of public facilities and social events , and " grand apartheid ", which dictated housing and employment opportunities by race . Prior to the 1940s , some vestiges of apartheid had already emerged in the form of minority rule by white South Africans and the socially enforced separation of black South Africans from other races , which later extended to pass laws and land apportionment . Apartheid as a policy was embraced by the South African government shortly after the ascension of the National Party ( NP ) during the country ' s ___MASK48___ general elections . Apartheid was also enforced in South West Africa until it gained independence as Namibia in 1990 . Botswana , officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa . The citizens refer to themselves as " Batswana " ( singular : " Motswana "). Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland , Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on ___MASK50___ September ___MASK13___ . Since then , it has maintained a strong tradition of stable representative democracy , with a consistent record of uninterrupted democratic elections . Zimbabwe , officially the Republic of Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in southern Africa , between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers . It is bordered by South Africa to the south , Botswana to the west and southwest , Zambia to the northwest , and Mozambique to the east and northeast . Although it does not border Namibia , less than ___MASK46___ metres of the Zambezi River separates it from that country . The capital and largest city is Harare . A country of roughly 13 million people , Zimbabwe has 16 official languages , with English , Shona , and Ndebele the most commonly used . The Guardian is a British national daily newspaper , known from ___MASK14___ to 1959 as the Manchester Guardian . Along with its sister papers " The Observer " and " The Guardian Weekly ", " The Guardian " is part of the Guardian Media Group , owned by The Scott Trust Limited . The Trust was created in 1936 " to secure the financial and editorial independence of " The Guardian " in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of " The Guardian " free from commercial or political interference ." The Scott Trust became a limited company in 2008 , with a constitution to maintain the same protections for " The Guardian ". Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to the benefit of an owner or shareholders .