The Presidency today made an apology about geography. More than a month after President Jacob Zuma told a “business gala dinner in Sandton” that “Africa was the biggest continent on earth”‚ a statement was issued to say that he now “regrets the error”.
“Africa is in fact the second-biggest continent in terms of population size‚ and the biggest continent in this regard is Asia‚” the Presidency added helpfully.
“According to the United Nations World Population Prospects 2015‚ 60% of the world population lives in Asia (4.4-billion)‚ 16% in Africa (1.2-billion)‚ 10% in Europe (737-million)‚ 9% in Latin America and the Caribbean (6340million)‚ and the remaining 5% in North America (358-million) and Oceania (39-million).”
On December 9‚ many shook their heads as Zuma went off-script with some out-of-this-world claims.
After apologising profusely to captains of business and industry for arriving late to address them — as for Zuma “there is no time to clock in and clock out” — he remapped how we think of the world.
“This continent is the biggest continent in the world‚ not separated by a river‚” Zuma asserted.
“The rivers that are there flow with the continent. They don’t cut it in half or quarter.
“All continents together would fit into Africa.”
While the Presidency statement quoted the size of continents in terms of population size‚ it chose to ignore land mass‚ which Zuma alluded too.
Africa trails Asia in this regard too‚ with 30.3-million compared to 43.8-million km².
A month later‚ Zuma concedes Africa isn’t actually the biggest continent
“Africa is in fact the second-biggest continent in terms of population size‚ and the biggest continent in this regard is Asia‚” the Presidency added helpfully.
“According to the United Nations World Population Prospects 2015‚ 60% of the world population lives in Asia (4.4-billion)‚ 16% in Africa (1.2-billion)‚ 10% in Europe (737-million)‚ 9% in Latin America and the Caribbean (6340million)‚ and the remaining 5% in North America (358-million) and Oceania (39-million).”
On December 9‚ many shook their heads as Zuma went off-script with some out-of-this-world claims.
After apologising profusely to captains of business and industry for arriving late to address them — as for Zuma “there is no time to clock in and clock out” — he remapped how we think of the world.
“This continent is the biggest continent in the world‚ not separated by a river‚” Zuma asserted.
“The rivers that are there flow with the continent. They don’t cut it in half or quarter.
“All continents together would fit into Africa.”
While the Presidency statement quoted the size of continents in terms of population size‚ it chose to ignore land mass‚ which Zuma alluded too.
Africa trails Asia in this regard too‚ with 30.3-million compared to 43.8-million km².
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