The Society of South African Geographers main objective is to advance the research and educational activities of all South African geographers by:

• collectively representing the interests of South African geographers regionally, nationally and internationally
• encouraging and supporting high quality research and teaching in Geography
• providing a national geographic information resource for geographers and interested groups
• stimulating awareness of geographic and environmental matters through academic collaboration with other intellectual communities and accountable interaction with the public at large.

The society achieves these objectives by

• publishing and effectively disseminating scholarly research results in The South African Geographical Journal and other occasional publications,
• through the organization of prestige lectures,
• by encouraging regional and special interest group activities,
• by organising a biennial conference, and
• by performing other services such as representing geographers on various official Department of Education subject groups.

Membership of the Society is open to all who share its objectives.

The Society recognizes the achievements of its members through several types of award, inter alia the Jubilee Bursary (for an Honours student), the Bronze Medal (for outstanding Masters thesis), the Gold Medal (four outstanding service to the geographical community in South Africa) and the Fellowship (for outstanding and sustained scholarly contributions).