The Republic of South Africa is a state in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces.South Africa is multi-ethnic and has diverse cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution. Two of these languages are of European origin: Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans, and South African English. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language. All ethnic and language groups have political representation in the country's constitutional democracy comprising aparliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President. [wikipedia].