British Council first opened its office in Pretoria, the country’s administrative capital, in 1958. An office in Cape Town was opened in 1974. In 1987, at the height of South Africa’s infamous State of Emergency, we relocated to Johannesburg, situating ourselves closer to the anti-apartheid civil society organisations with which we partnered and engaged. In 1996, a Durban office was added to the South African operation. The Pretoria office closed in March 2006. Today British Council has 41 country-appointed staff and 5 UK-appointed staff.
The British Council South Africa is the largest in the region and forms part of the Southern Africa regional directorate, which also includes Botswana, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia. We continue to maintain the close ties we have historically enjoyed with other UK agencies in South Africa. Bilateral relations and links between the UK and South Africa are strong. We co-ordinate activities and strategies at various levels with the British High Commission in South Africa and work closely with the Department for International Development (DFID) and UK Trade and Investment (UKTI).
Our work in South Africa includes demonstrating the innovation, creativity and excellence of and providing the latest information about ; promoting .
During apartheid, the non-violent anti-apartheid organisations and programmes that aimed to educate the non-white community.
We run programmes designed to create opportunities for young South Africans to visit the UK for education and professional development, to build links with people like them in the UK; and to engage with the very best of contemporary UK creativity and innovation here in South Africa.
Our work has a strong focus on young people and many of South Africa’s current and future decision-makers and opinion-formers will have been active in British Councils programmes.
