fun facts about South Africa

fun facts about South Africa

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Perhaps the most famous South African movie is "Tsotsi" by Gavin Hood."Tsotsi" is a story about a gang leader. On March 5, 2006, "Tsotsi" won the Academy Award for Foreign Language Film in Los Angeles.
In his speech, Gavin Hood said, "God bless Africa. Wow. I have a speech, it´s in my pocket, but that thing says 38 seconds. But mine´s way too long. Go to tsotsi.com and there is a huge long list of people. Because I´m accepting this not for myself. This is for best foreign-language film. It is sitting right there to start with. Please stand up Presley Chweneyagae and Terry Pheto. My two fantastic young leads. Put the cameras on them, please. Viva Africa. Viva. I´ve got ten seconds. Ten seconds I just want to thank my fellow nominees who I´ve become deep friends with. We may have foreign language films, but our stories are the same as your stories. They´re about the human heart and emotion. It says please wrap. Thank you so much. Thank you to the Academy. Thank you".
Winner: "Tsotsi" (South Africa)
Finalists:
-"Sophie Scholl" (Germany)
-"Joyeux Noel" (France)
-"The Beast of the Heart" (Italy)
-"Paradise Now" (Palestine)

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For the first time since 1960, South Africa sent a delegation to compete in the Olympic Games. Certainly, South Africa sent 94 athletes to the 1992 Olympic Games, which were held in Barcelona, Spain. The African delegation had athletes competing in seventeen areas: archery, badminton, boxing, kayak, cycling, equestrian, fencing, modern pentathlon, rowing, sailing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, track and field, weightlifting and wrestling. They returned to South Africa with two silver medals.

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Nelson Mandela was one of the most important leaders in the 20th century. He played a fundamental role in the recuperation of the nation´s democracy. Under his leadership, South Africa adopted one of the best constitutions in the world. Mandela once said, "And so it has come to pass that South Africa today undergoes her rebirth, cleansed of a horrible past, matured from a tentative beginning, and reaching out to the future with confidence. Our pledge is: never and never again shall the laws of our land rend our people apart or legalize their oppression and repression".
Since 1993, in South Africa, you can feel freedom. Different from Cuba, Iran, and Zimbabwe, South Africa is a democracy where civil society has immense influence and power.

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South Africa has loads of national parks and reserves that are the home of some amazing wildlife. Kruger National Park is one of the most popular tourist spots on the African continent. It is one of the world´s most beautiful national parks. The Kruger National Park provides an ideal habitat for animals such as elephants, giraffes, rhinoceroses, monkeys, zebras, cheetahs, hyenas, hippopotamus, gazelles, elands, lions, and African wild dogs.

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South Africa has three capitals: Cape Town (legislative), Pretoria (administrative), and Bloemfontein (judicial). However, Johannesburg is the most important economic, industrial and cultural centre in South Africa. It is one of the most industrialized cities in the Third World along with Taipei (Taiwan), Mexico City (Mexico), and Seoul (South Korea).In 2006 Johannesburg had a population of 2.6 million

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About half of the world´s gold is produced in South Africa.

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The South African Penny Heyns, won the 100-and 200-meter breaststroke events at the 1996 Summer Olympics. She is considered among South Africa´s national heroines. Like Anthony Nesty (Suriname), Felipe Muñoz (Mexico), Claudia Poll (Costa Rica), and Kirsty Coventry (Zimbabwe), Penny Heyns is a Third World swimming icon.

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South Africa has many World Heritage Sites by UNESCO: Greater Saint Lucia Wetland Park (1999), Robben Island (1999), Drakensberg Park (2000), Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape (2003), Vredefort Dome (2005), and Cape Floral Region Protected Areas (2004).

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On March 26, 1998, American U.S. president Bill Clinton visited South Africa.

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South Africa has more Nobel Prizes than Mexico(3) India (2) Brazil (0)Argentina (3) Cuba (0), and the People´s Republic of China (1).

South Africa has six Nobel Prize winners:

1960: Albert J. Luthuli (Nobel Prize for Peace)

1982: Aaron Klug (Nobel Prize for Chemistry)

1984:Bishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Prize for Peace)

1991: Nadine Gordimer (Nobel Prize for Literature)

1993: Nelson Mandela and Frederik W. de Klerk (Nobel Prize for Peace)

2003: John Maxwell Coetzee (Nobel Prize for Literature)