South Africa has a population of over 50 million people and a diverse economy that is the second largest in Africa. A PESTEL analysis identifies several key factors in South Africa's external environment. Politically, South Africa is a democracy with the ANC party dominating politics since the 1990s. Economically, South Africa has a large mining and financial sector but also high unemployment and inequality. Socially, the population is diverse with 11 official languages and legal protections for same-sex marriage. Technologically, South Africa aims to be a leader in Africa but faces challenges in rural access. Environmental issues include water scarcity and pollution while the legal system blends civil and common law traditions.

1. PESTEL Analysis of South Africa
Presented by
-Grishma Rane.
-Nikita Kadam.

2. Introduction
• Developed country
• Upper-middle-Income Country
• 25th Largest country in the world by land area with
population close to 53 million people
• Afrikaan & English
• Economy – 2nd largest in Africa & 34th largest in the
world.

3. PESTEL Analysis
• The PESTLE Analysis is a framework used to
scan the organization's external macro
environment. The letters stand for Political,
Economic Socio-cultural, Technological, Legal
and Environmental.

4. Political
• The President of South Africa, serves both as head of
state and as head of government.
• Since 1990s the African National Congress (ANC) has
dominated South Africa's politics
• General elections take place every 5 years.
• The constitution's bill of rights provides extensive
guarantees including :
-equality before the law
-prohibitions against discrimination
-the right to life, privacy, property, and freedom
-prohibition against slavery and forced labor
-freedom of speech, religion, assembly,
association.
Jacob Zuma

5. Economic
• The economy of South Africa is the second-largest in Africa.
• High levels of unemployment, income inequality, growing
public debt, political mismanagement, low levels of
education, reliable access to electricity, and crime are all
serious problems that have negatively impacted the South
African economy
• South Africa was found to have the second most sophisticated
financial market and the second-lowest effective business tax
rate
• In 2011, after a year of observer status, South Africa officially
joined the BRICS group of now-five emerging-market nations
at the summit held in Sanya, Hainan, China

6. Statistics
GDP : $323.809 billion
GDP growth : +0.7%
Unemployment : 25.1%
Main industries : mining (world's largest producer
of platinum), gold, chromium,
automobile assembly,
metalworking, machinery, textiles, iron and
steel, chemicals, fertilizer, foodstuffs,
commercial ship repair
• The agricultural industry contributes around 10% of formal
employment
• The manufacturing industry's contribution to the economy is
relatively small, providing just 13.3% of jobs and 15% of GDP.
• travel and tourism directly contributed ZAR102 billion to
South African GDP in 2012 and supports 10.3%
of jobs in the country.

7. Social
• Population- 49.99 million
• Type: White Coloured, Indian/ Asian
• There are 11 national languages in South Africa.
• The cuisine of South Africa is heavily meat-based and
has spawned the distinctively South African social
gathering known as a braai, or barbecue.
• South Africa enacted same-sex marriage laws in 2006
allowing full marriage and adoption rights to same-sex
couples.
• Poverty is the highest among the Black population

8. Black African
Coloured
Indian or Asian
White

9. Technology
• Being rich in coal, South Africa has some of the largest
coal-fired power stations in the world
• Despite government efforts to encourage
entrepreneurship in biotechnology, information
technology and other high technology fields, not many
notable groundbreaking companies have been founded
in South Africa
• SEACOM - African cable system is first private venture
made towards under-sea cable infrastructure, that
provides affordable bandwidth via volume discounts and
large bandwidth growth.
• There are 150 internet providers, thus there is internet
access is everywhere.
• In rural areas of South Africa telecommunications
are limited and quite costly

10. Future Planning
South Africa sees itself as a technology leader in Africa. The country
has even bigger ambitions for the future:
• To strengthen its bio-economy to become a world leader in
biotechnology and pharmaceuticals;
• To become a key contributor to global space sciences and
technology;
• To achieve energy security with clean, affordable and reliable
energy supply;
• To play a leading role in formulating scientific and technological
solutions to climate change;
• To contribute to a greater global understanding of shifting social
dynamics and the role of science in stimulating growth and
development in developing countries.

11. Environment
The current issues that are of a concern are:
• Lack of important rivers/ lakes requires extensive water conservation
• Growth in water usage is more than supply
• Pollution of rivers from agriculture and urbanization
• Air pollution from acid rains
• Soil erosion
• Desertification
• Natural resources

12. Legal
• South Africa has a 'hybrid' or 'mixed' legal system
• TRALAC-Trade Law Center in South Africa - is a
not-for-profit organization, building trade law
capacity in the southern Africa region
• Main concerns
- standards and technical regulations on trade
-anti-dumping measures
-elimination of import/export duties
-non-tariff barriers
-quantitative import/export restrictions

13. Conclusion
• South Africa is a sophisticated and promising market,
offering a combination of well-developed First World
economic infrastructure with a vibrant emerging market
economy.
• Since the current government came to power in 1994, the
country has made tremendous strides towards becoming a
major contributor in international markets.
• South Africa has abundant natural resources, a well
developed banking system, good infrastructure with major
capital injections to upgrade this further, a reasonable tax
structure, a fairly stable political climate, a stock exchange
ranked among the top 20 in the world and it is
the gateway to other African markets.