_*Communications #_Railroads: 20,638 km route distance total; 35,079 km of 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