military service; women have a long
history of military service in noncombat roles, dating back to World
War I (2004)

Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 10,354,769
females age 18-49: 10,626,550 (2005 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 4,927,757
females age 18-49: 4,609,071 (2005 est.)

Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 512,407
females age 18-49: 506,078 (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$3.55 billion (2005 est.)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.5% (2005 est.)

Military - note:
with the end of apartheid and the establishment of majority rule,
former military, black homelands forces, and ex-opposition forces
were integrated into the South African National Defense Force
(SANDF); as of 2003 the integration process was considered complete

Transnational Issues South Africa

Disputes - international:
South Africa has placed military along the border to apprehend the
thousands of Zimbabweans fleeing economic dysfunction and political
persecution; as of January 2007, South Africa also supports large
numbers of refugees and asylum seekers from the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (33,000), Somalia (20,000), Burundi (6,500) and other
states in Africa (26,000); managed dispute with Namibia over the
location of the boundary in the Orange River

Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): 10,609 (Democratic Republic of
Congo), 7,548 (Somalia), 5,764 (Angola) (2006)

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: South Africa is a source, transit, and
destination country for men, women, and children trafficked for
forced labor and sexual exploitation; women and girls are trafficked
internally - and occasionally to European and Asian countries - for
sexual exploitation; women from other African countries are
trafficked to South Africa and, less frequently, onward to Europe
for sexual exploitation; men and boys are trafficked from
neighboring countries for forced agricultural labor; Asian and
Eastern European women are trafficked to South Africa for
debt-bonded sexual exploitation
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List - South Africa is placed on the Tier
2 Watch List for its failure to show increasing efforts to address
trafficking in 2005

Illicit drugs:
transshipment center for heroin, hashish, marijuana, and coca