The following information comes from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, German studies department. URL: http://www.uct.ac.za/depts/german/why.htm

What career
opportunities
do exist for
students of German?

Teaching and Research
Postgraduate students trained at UCT have successfully obtained teaching positions at universities both in South Africa and elsewhere (All of our Ph.D. students, who completed their Ph.D., are now teaching German at university level).

Many of our Intensive Students in the past were professors and lecturers in a variety of disciplines at UCT, who discovered the importance of knowing German late in their careers.

Teaching at a high school, translator, publisher, journalist, editor
Many of our past students are teaching in high schools. Others have become translators, journalists, publishers, editors etc.

Tourism
Sunday Times of October 29, 1995 reports that Thabo Mbeki stated: "the government could get involved in teaching hotel staff German because a large slice of South African visitors are from Germany". At the beginning of June 1995 Dr. Dawie de Villiers, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism announced in parliament that the Western Cape alone will have to provide 100,000 hotel rooms to cope with the influx of international tourists expected over the next five years. South Africa is facing a tourist boom that would see 6,7 million foreign tourists visiting the country before the turn of the century, bringing in foreign exchange to the value of 10,2 billion Rand. Many of them will be Germans appreciating service and advice in their mother tongue. The stream of tourists will provide 225,000 direct and 450,000 indirect job opportunities. About half of the tourists will visit the Cape provinces, particularly the Western and the Eastern Cape.
With the opening up of South Africa to world-wide tourism we can anticipate many more visitors from overseas. German-speaking tourists are already important customers of the South African tourist trade. It is not surprising that organisations such as the Stellenbosch Publicity Association are keen on employing personnel with a knowledge of German as one of their assets.

Trade and Industry
There is already a demand for German-speaking personnel at all levels in the import/export sector. Looking at the language needs of business and industry underlines the necessity of knowing at least one, and possibly two or more, foreign languages, if one wants to be successful in international markets and as international communicator. South African business leaders share this view, particularly those who are involved in export and tourism. 34% of firms involved in export named German as particularly useful for business transactions, and 70% believe that German will take on a greater significance in the future. 24% of the respondents of a questionaire directed at managers and middle managment said they are competent in German (15% in French, 7% speak either Italian, Spanish or Portuguese). Many companies realise they need personnel able to communicate in German and French, give preference to applicants who have a knowledge of these languages, and realise that a knowledge of French and German will assume an even greater significance in the future.
The Federal Republic of Germany has the third-highest GNP in the world, and its publishing industry also ranks #3 in the production of new book titles (36% more than the United States). A knowledge of German thus grants access not only to rich literary, philosophical, artistic and scientific traditions but also to important contemporary cultural, political, and economic developments.
Germany is one of South Africa's most important trading partners: 360 German-owned or partly German-owned companies with a total turnover of 20 billion Rand are based in South Africa and provide employment for almost 60.000 people. In international trade German is the most important language after English. But not only has Germany a powerful economy, its industry and its tertiary institutions are producing a considerable output of research papers and documentation, which is accessible in German only.
In general, people who can communicate effectively across language and culture barriers will become more and more important in a world which becomes more and more interdependent.