The study of population genetics in southern Africa is a young, but im
portant discipline because of its relevance to systematics and the con
servation of biotic diversity. The fundamental goals of population gen
etics are to measure the amounts of genetic variability within and amo
ng subpopulations and to understand the mechanisms producing the varia
bility. Although there are powerful statistical approaches and molecul
ar methods to achieve these goals, there is a tendency among molecular
biologists in South Africa to pursue the development of new laborator
y techniques, rather than to formulate and rigorously test 'bold' hypo
theses with methods that permit the analysis of large sample sizes. Th
ere are three important directions for research in southern Africa: (1
) the measurement of population genetic structure, (2) the study of th
e influence of historical biogeographical events on present-day popula
tions, and (3) the use of more realistic models to understand the gene
tics of natural populations.