Gauteng

Location Name

Gauteng

Description

Location: Province in northeast South Africa.

Motto: Unity in Diversity.

Capital: Johannesburg. Home to South Africa’s administrative capital, Pretoria.

Municipalities: Three metropolitan municipalities (City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, and City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality), as well as two district municipalities, which are further subdivided into six local municipalities.

Principal languages: IsiZulu 23%, Afrikaans 10%, Sesotho 13%, English 11%.

Population: 16 098 571.

Surface area: 18 178 km2.

Environment: On the Highveld plateau. Largely urbanised with some farming.

Economy: Economic hub of South Africa and possibly the continent. Heart of commercial business and industrial services. Responsible for a third of South Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP). Gold mining, especially in Witwatersrand, but other minerals are also mined.

Notable features/Interesting information: Smallest but most populous and wealthiest province. Soweto is South Africa’s largest township. O.R. Tambo International Airport is South Africa’s main international airport. Johannesburg is home to JSE Limited (previously JSE Securities Exchange and Johannesburg Stock Exchange), Africa’s largest securities exchange. The largest diamond ever discovered was found in Cullinan. Includes the Cradle of Humankind (UNESCO World Heritage Site). Historically important events from the apartheid struggle, such as the Freedom Charter of 1955, the Women's March of 1956, the Sharpeville massacre of 1960, the Rivonia Trial of 1963 and 1964, the little Rivonia Trial of 1964, the Soweto uprising of 1976 and Sharpeville Six of 1984.

Previous name: Previously part of the Transvaal province, and the region was called Pretoria–Witwatersrand–Vereeniging (PWV), with the ‘V’ sometimes referring to the ‘Vaal Triangle’ instead. Incorporates parts of the former KwaNdebele and Bophuthatswana homelands. Officially renamed in 1995, although ‘Gauteng’ has been used informally for Johannesburg and its surrounding areas. ‘Gauteng’ is Sesotho, Setswana and Sepedi for ‘place of gold’ (from ‘gauta’ (gold), derived from the Afrikaans ‘goud’).

Official website: https://www.gauteng.gov.za/.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauteng

https://municipalities.co.za/provinces/view/3/gauteng

https://www.britannica.com/place/Gauteng

https://www.gauteng.net/

https://www.gov.za/about-sa/south-africas-provinces

Administrative Level

Province

Province

Gauteng