The time right now in the capital city of South Africa may as well be different from yours. It could be the same, depending on where you are at the moment. In fact, Cape Town Time is not necessarily the same as that of every part of South Africa.
There are different times that exist in the world. Some parts of the world have more than one time zone. France has over 10 time zones.
Other countries that have more than 10 time zones include Russia, and United States of America. The UK, however, has 9 time zones while Australia and Canada have over 5. This, however, is not the case with South Africa and Cape Town.
Cape Town Time And South Africa
Cape Town time shares the same time with a majority of other parts of South Africa. This time is referred to as South African Standard Time (SAST). This time is also shared by other countries in Southern Africa including Lesotho and Swaziland.
SAST, however, is as well used in other parts of the world, although by different names. These include Central African Time, Central European Summer Time, and Israel Standard Time. The Bravo Time Zone and West African Summer Time are as well as the South African Standard Time. Countries in the Bravo Time Zone include Egypt, Norway, and Hungary among others.
This, therefore, means that the time in Cape Town is same for the above countries. The irony, however, is that the time in Cape Town is different from that of another part of South Africa; Prince Edward Island. This Island that is also Known as Marion Island, is in a different time zone from all other parts of South Africa. Time on this Island is an hour ahead of the normal time in South Africa.
Apart from the time on Prince Edward Island, all other South African cities and towns are in the same time zone. The Island is located in South East Port Elizabeth.
Although the time in the South African city of Cape Town is the same with other parts of the country, sunrise and sunset in some parts of the town are relatively early. These locations are the Western and Northern Cape Town. This means essentially that if one is in these parts, one gets to see the sun rise and fall before other parts of the country.
See Also: 50 Things You Can Do With Less Than R200 In Cape Town
Before 1903, the time in Cape Town was not the same with all other parts of the country. Before that year, the country had separate times for different parts of the country.
Attempts were made to change the country’s time zone in 2008, but the idea was later dropped. The idea was brought to curtail due to some challenges the country was facing with power generation. It was later pointed out that splitting the time was not the best way to handle the problem. Countries get to change their official time as a result of economic benefits attached to it. The idea is called Daylight Saving.
Cape Town Time And Standard Time
The time in Cape Town is one among the six different time zones that exist on the African continent. The time (SAST) however, varies from the Standard Time by up to two hours.
The Standard Time, which is the “official” time of the entire world is called the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The UTC lags by two hours behind the SAST, used by Cape Town. The UTC is used by countries in the Greenwich Time Zone.
Among countries in this Zone are some African countries as well as some European countries. Such countries include Germany, Ghana, Greece, and Tunisia. Others are Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Togo, Iceland, and UK Mainland. These, however, are not the only countries in the GMT Zone.
Different Time Zones exist in the world to ensure that within each country, the sun reaches the highest point in the skies at 12 pm. This is necessary to ensure that each country gets equal rising and falling time of the sun. While some countries get to see the morning, others are still in the night. This, therefore, means that a single time cannot work for the entire world.
The world has so many different time zones. This means that there there are different times that are different from the time in Cape Town. This is so even for a country very close to South Africa like Namibia which is an hour behind.