Local short name form

Official name

Area

Population

Capital

Currency

International telephone access code

ISO 3166 country codes

Car nationality plate code

Internet country code

GRC Country Code

   Note: This section last updated 13th June 2021

In Afrikaans, English, South Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Swati and Venda:

   1 234,45

(where , indicates the decimal separator and a space the thousands separator)

In Northern Sotho, Tswana and Xhosa:

   1 234.45

(where . indicates the decimal separator and a space the thousands separator)

In Zulu:

   1,234.45

(where . indicates the decimal separator and , the thousands separator)

   Note: This section last updated 13th June 2021

In Afrikaans, Northern Sotho, South Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Swati, Tswana, Venda and Xhosa:

   yyyy-mm-dd

   14:32

In English:

   yyyy/mm/dd

   14:32   

In Zulu:

   mm/dd/yyyy

   14:32

South Africa has 11 national languages. These are: Afrikaans (6 200 000 speakers); English (3 500 000 speakers); Ndebele (isiNdebele) (588 000 speakers); Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa) (3 840 000 speakers); Southern Sotho (Sesotho) (2 704 000 speakers); Swati (siSwati) (1 019 000 speakers); Tsonga (Xitsonga) (1 646 000 speakers); Tswana (Setswana) (2 822 000 speakers); Venda (Tshivenda) (666 000 speakers); Xhosa (isiXhosa) (6 858 000 speakers) and Zulu (isiZule) (8 778 000 speakers). There are 15 other languages spoken.

The Afrikaans version of “Limited”, Beperk (Bpk), will often be found in company names. Also found will be:

   BK (Beslote Korporasie)
   CC (Closed corporation)
   Privaat Maatskappy
   Private Company
   Pty Ltd (Proprietary Limited)
   Public Company
   Publieke Maatskappy
   Section 21 Company (non-profit organization)

   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm 

Addresses are written in the following format:

   Contact name
   number[ ]Thoroughfare
   Settlement
   postal code

For example:

Alternatively, the postal code is often found written before the town name in this format:

   Contact name
   number[ ]Thoroughfare
   postal code[ ]Settlement

For example:

Addresses in Afrikaans may have the building number following the thoroughfare name:

Although the state/province may often be found in addresses, these should not be printed. The South African Post Office request that no punctuation at all be included in the address. The postal code should be on the last line, even if posted from abroad - in that case the country name goes on the line preceding the postal code or, in the first format above, on the same line but following the postal code as follows:

   Republic of South Africa
   1559

or

   1559 Republic of South Africa

The settlement name is that where the delivering post office is situated, not necessarily the same as the location where the person actually lives/works.

Est and lgd, found in addresses, mean estate and landgoed.

   A table containing information about the relevant position of elements within address blocks can be acquired 

Thoroughfare types

   Comprehensive tables of these strings can be acquired – see http:www.grcdi.nl/addresses.htm 

Other elements commonly found in address databases

This is written PO Box in English and Posbus in Afrikaans. Deliveries may also be to Private Bag or Post Bag.

Postal codes consist of a block of 4 digits. The first two digits refer to a postal area, the final two to a post office.

There are plans to change the postal code but no date for implementation has yet been announced. The suggested new code will consist of the current code followed by a new digit to expand the number of codes in a given area, and a second digit to show delivery type (house delivery, post office box, postal bag etc.). Bulk mailers will use a further 6 digits after this new code to identify the postperson’s walk and delivery point. The new code will therefore have the format:

   9999[ ]99

or

   9999[ ]99[ ]999999

making it the world’s longest postal code. This plan is still under discussion and it may change.

Codes 9000 to 9299 were assigned to South West Africa (now Namibia) until 1992 and are now not in use.

Metadata containing postal code formatting rules, exceptions and regular expressions can be acquired

South Africa - Postal code format graphic

South Africa - Postal code format

South Africa - Postal code specifics

South Africa - Postal code regular expression

South Africa - Postal code level of coverage

South Africa - Postal code map

   Note: This section last updated 26th August 2015

Note that the casing patterns in certain South African languages are different to those to which non-speakers are used, even in upper case. For example:

   eLIKWATINI
   Ga-THLOSE
   kwaNALA

Many place names have three versions - English, Afrikaans and local South African language. Direction indicators (East, Eastern etc.) written in Afrikaans (Oos, Wes, Noord, Suid, Ooster, Wester, Noorder and Suider) always have a hyphen between them and the rest of the town name. For example “Lingelethu-Wes”. The English equivalents never have a hyphen: “Lingelethu West”.

The following lists give equivalents for settlement names in other national languages:

South Africa: Endonyms and exonyms in Ndebele:

Postal code	English → Ndebele	For more information about this place:
0001	Pretoria → Pitoli	Pretoria - Wikipedia

South Africa: Endonyms and exonyms in Xhosa:

Postal code	English → Xhosa	For more information about this place:
7700-8099	Cape Town → Ikapa	Cape Town - Wikipedia
6001	Port Elizabeth → iBhayi	Port Elizabeth - Wikipedia

South Africa: Endonyms and exonyms in Zulu:

Postal code	English → Zulu	For more information about this place:
4001	Durban → eThekwini	Durban - Wikipedia
2001	Johannesburg → eGoli	Johannesburg - Wikipedia
3201	Pietermaritzburg → umGungundlovu	Pietermaritzburg - Wikipedia
6001	Port Elizabeth → Bhayi	Port Elizabeth - Wikipedia

Pretoria is in the process of being renamed to Tshwane, a process which was planned to be completed by the end of 2012.

South Africa has started a process of renaming some of its settlements. These are the main places which have been renamed:

Old name	Becomes
Bloemfontein	Manguang
Durban	iThekweni
Lydenburg	Mashishing
Pietersburg	Polokwane
Port Elizabeth	Nelson Mandela Bay
Potchefstroom	Tlokwe
Pretoria	Tshwane
Triomf	Sophiatown
Verwoerdburg	Centurian

Refer to Exonyms in South Africa for full lists of place names in South Africa in other languages.

   Alternate place name forms/postal code tables can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/settlements.htm 

   Other language place name data can be acquired at http://www.grcdi.nl/otherlanguageplace.htm 

   Note: This section last updated 17th June 2020

Province names should never be added to addresses. During the apartheid regime, the provinces were:

   Cape Province/Kaapprovinsie
   Natal
   Orange Free State/Oranje-Vrijstaat
   Transvaal

They are now:

	Approximate postal code areas
Eastern Cape	4735-4739, 4800-4890, 4920-6499
Free State	9300-9999
Gauteng	0001-0204, 1400-2199
Kwazulu/Natal	2900-4730, 4740-4799
Limpopo (previously Northern Province)	0699-0999
Mpumalanga	0205-0698, 1000-1399, 2200-2494
North West Province	2495-2899
Northern Cape	8180-8999
Western Cape	6500-8179

Administrative districts graphic

   Note: This section last updated 5th February 2013

South African area codes have 2 digits when called from abroad, and subscriber numbers have 7 digits. Mobile number area codes commence with a 6, 7 or 8.