1.067-meter
gauge trackage (counts double and multiple tracking as single track);
314 km of 610 mm gauge

_#_Highways: 188,309 km total; 54,013 km paved, 134,296 km crushed
stone, gravel, or improved earth

_#_Pipelines: 931 km crude oil; 1,748 km refined products; 322 km
natural gas

_#_Ports: Durban, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Richard's Bay, Saldanha,
Mosselbaai, Walvis Bay

_#_Merchant marine: 7 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 229,245
GRT/218,929 DWT; includes 6 container, 1 vehicle carrier

_#_Civil air: 81 major transport aircraft

_#_Airports: 917 total, 765 usable; 130 with permanent-surface
runways; 5 with runways over 3,659 m; 10 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; 224
with runways 1,220-2,439 m

_#_Telecommunications: the system is the best developed, most modern,
and has the highest capacity in Africa; it consists of carrier-equipped
open-wire lines, coaxial cables, radio relay links, fiber optic cable,
and radiocommunication stations; key centers are Bloemfontein, Cape Town,
Durban, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Pretoria; 4,500,000 telephones;
stations--14 AM, 286 FM, 67 TV; 1 submarine cable; earth
stations--1 Indian Ocean INTELSAT and 2 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, Medical Services

_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 9,797,349; 5,980,786 fit for
military service; 426,615 reach military age (18) annually; obligation
for service in Citizen Force or Commandos begins at 18; volunteers for
service in permanent force must be 17; national service obligation is
one year; figures include the so-called homelands not recognized by
the US

_#_Defense expenditures: $3.67 billion, 11% of GDP (FY92)
_%_
_@_South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands
(dependent territory of the UK)
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 4,066 km2; land area: 4,066 km2; includes Shag and
Clerke Rocks

_#_Comparative area: slightly larger than Rhode Island

_#_Land boundaries: none

_#_Coastline: undetermined

_#_Maritime claims:

Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Disputes: administered by the UK, claimed by Argentina

_#_Climate: variable, with mostly westerly winds throughout the
year, interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls
as snow

_#_Terrain: most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are
rugged and mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep,
glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich I