Q 01/05

Which of South Africa's three capital cities is its administrative capital?

A) Cape Town

B) Bloemfontein

C) Pretoria

D) Johannesburg

Answer · why

C) Pretoria

Pretoria became the administrative capital in 1910, and in 1899 it held a young Winston Churchill as a prisoner of war until he escaped by stowing abo...

Q 02/05

Which is South Africa's most populous city?

A) Johannesburg

B) Cape Town

C) Durban

D) East London

Answer · why

A) Johannesburg

Johannesburg includes Soweto, where the 1976 student uprising began against a rule making Afrikaans a medium of instruction in Black schools.

Q 03/05

What became South Africa's 12th official language in 2023?

A) Sign language

B) Khoisan languages

C) Mandarin

D) Kiswahili

Answer · why

A) Sign language

Sign language became official in July 2023, yet it is not one uniform language, since signers in different regions of South Africa use different diale...

Q 04/05

Which language is spoken by the largest share of South Africans as a first language?

A) Zulu

B) English

C) Afrikaans

D) Xhosa

Answer · why

A) Zulu

Zulu is the home language of 24.4% of South Africans, yet it became a national official language only in 1994.

Q 05/05

Afrikaans developed mainly from which European language?

A) Dutch

B) German

C) Portuguese

D) English

Answer · why

A) Dutch

Afrikaans grew from a 17th-century Dutch dialect, and a 1925 Act made it an official language in its own right rather than a mere Dutch vernacular.