City of Tshwane
Encyclopedia
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane) is a metropolitan municipality
Metropolitan municipality (South Africa)
In South Africa, a metropolitan municipality or Category A municipality is a municipality which executes all the functions of local government for a city or conurbation...
that forms the local government of northern Gauteng Province, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and includes the city of Pretoria
Pretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
.
History
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was established on 5 December 2000 and, when founded, was made up of 13 former city and town councils and managed by means of an executive mayoral system.Incorporation of additional neighboring areas
The Metsweding District MunicipalityMetsweding District Municipality
Metsweding District Municipality was, from 2000 till 18 May 2011, a district municipality in Gauteng province, South Africa. Metsweding, and its component local municipalities, was disestablished and absorbed into the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality on the date of the 2011 municipal election.The...
was incorporated into the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, with effect from 18 May 2011 (the date of the 2011 municipal elections). The municipality also controversially sought to incorporate Midrand, which is part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality
The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa...
to offset the costs of absorbing Metsweding, amid a financial crisis in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
Geography
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality's land area increased from 2198 square kilometre in 2010 to 6368 square kilometre after the incorporation of Metsweding.The Tswaing crater
Tswaing crater
thumb|400px|Lake in the center of Tswaing crater seen from the south. Hills in the rear are its rim.Tswaing is an impact crater in South Africa. This astrobleme is 1.13 km in diameter and 100 m deep and the age is estimated to be 220,000 ± 52,000 years...
is located in the north west of Soshanguve.
Subdivisions
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality consists of the following areas:- Akasia
- AtteridgevilleAtteridgevilleAtteridgeville, part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, is a township located on the west of Pretoria, South Africa. It is bordered to the west by Saulsville, to the east by Proclamation Hill; to the south by Laudium and to the north by Lotus Gardens.-History:Atteridgeville was...
- Bronberg
- Bronkhorstspruit
- Centurion
- Crocodile River
- CullinanCullinan, GautengCullinan is a small town 30 km east of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. Sir Thomas Cullinan discovered a rich diamond pipe here in 1902 and soon afterwards, on 25 June 1905, the famed Cullinan Diamond, the largest in the world at , was discovered by Frederick Wells, surface manager of the Premier...
/Rayton/Refilwe - EersterustEersterustEersterust or "First Rest", often incorrectly spelled "Eersterus", is a formal South African township located within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and is located just about 15 km east of the Pretoria city centre. It is also referred to by locals as "Poort"...
- Ekangala
- Elands River
- Ga-RankuwaGa-RankuwaGa-Rankuwa is a township located about 37 km north of Pretoria. Provincially it falls under Gauteng province but it used to be under North West Province, as it once fell under Bophuthatswana region ruled by Lucas Mangope under the apartheid regime....
- Hammanskraal
- Laudium
- MabopaneMabopaneMabopane is a Township in South Africa. It is situated in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, in the north of Gauteng.-History:Mabopane was proclaimed in the early 1970s as a black-only residential settlement by the then puppet government of Bophuthatswana under Kgosi Dr. Lucas Mangope...
- Mamelodi
- Pienaarsrivier
- PretoriaPretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
- Rethabiseng
- Roodeplaat
- Soshanguve
- TembaTembaTemba is a male given name and may refer to;* Temba Bavuma, a South African cricketer* Paul Temba Nyathi, Zimbabwean politician* Temba Tsheri, Sherpa from Nepal and youngest person to climb Mount Everest...
- Winterveld
- ZithobeniZithobeniZithobeni a Zulu word meaning humble yourselves, is a township situated in Gauteng, South Africa, just north of Bronkhorstspruit and southwest of Ekangala....
Demographics
There are around 2 200 000 (2004 est) people living within the borders of Tshwane; 72.65% black, 23.84% white, 1.99% coloured and 1.52% Indian or AsianRailway
The main rail station is located in PretoriaPretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
.
Gautrain
Gautrain
Gautrain is an mass rapid transit railway system in Gauteng Province, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, and OR Tambo International Airport...
construction is evident in many parts of Tshwane.
Airports
Oliver R Tambo International Airport in bordering Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality serves Tshwane. Wonderboom AirportWonderboom Airport
Wonderboom Airport , is located north of Pretoria, South Africa. The airport handles general aviation flights, and may offer scheduled passenger service in the near future.-History:...
in the north of Tshwane serves light aircraft.
There are also two military air bases, AFB Swartkop
AFB Swartkop
AFB Swartkop is an air force base in South Africa. It is managed as part of AFB Waterkloof and houses one of the three branches of the South African Air Force Museum...
and AFB Waterkloof
AFB Waterkloof
Air Force Base Waterkloof is an airbase of the South African Air Force. It is situated on the outskirts of Pretoria, and is the SAAF's busiest airbase.The base's name, Waterkloof, is Afrikaans, it means Water Ravine in English....
.
Thaba Tshwane Military Base
Although the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was only created in 2000, prior to that a military base in the city (formerly called Voortrekkerhoogte after the Voortrekkers and before that Roberts Heights after Lord RobertsFrederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts
Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, Bt, VC, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, KStJ, PC was a distinguished Indian born British soldier who regarded himself as Anglo-Irish and one of the most successful British commanders of the 19th century.-Early life:Born at Cawnpore, India, on...
), was renamed Thaba Tshwane
Thaba Tshwane
Thaba Tshwane is a military base , in Pretoria, South Africa. Founded around 1905 by the British Army, and called Roberts Heights after Lord Roberts...
(or Thaba Tswane).
Memorials
The SANDF memorialSouth African National Defence Force
The South African National Defence Force is the armed forces of South Africa. The military as it exists today was created in 1994, following South Africa's first post-apartheid national elections and the adoption of a new constitution...
is located ot Fort Klapperkop
Pretoria Forts
The Pretoria Forts consisted mainly of four forts built by the government of the South African Republic just before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War around Pretoria....
and the South African Air Force memorial is located at AFB Swartkop
AFB Swartkop
AFB Swartkop is an air force base in South Africa. It is managed as part of AFB Waterkloof and houses one of the three branches of the South African Air Force Museum...
Museums
There are a large number of museums, many of them located within PretoriaPretoria
Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is...
- Pretoria FortsPretoria FortsThe Pretoria Forts consisted mainly of four forts built by the government of the South African Republic just before the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Boer War around Pretoria....
- Kruger House (Residence of the president of the ZAR, Paul KrugerPaul KrugerStephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger , better known as Paul Kruger and affectionately known as Uncle Paul was State President of the South African Republic...
). - Melrose HouseMelrose HouseMelrose House is a stately mansion located in Pretoria, South Africa. Built in 1886 by the prosperous Pretoria businessman George Jesse Heys. it was named after the famous Melrose Abbey in Scotland. Melrose House gained fame during the Second Boer War when Lord Roberts requisitioned it as the...
(The Treaty of VereenigingTreaty of VereenigingThe Treaty of Vereeniging was the peace treaty, signed on 31 May 1902, that ended the South African War between the South African Republic and the Republic of the Orange Free State, on the one side, and the British Empire on the other.This settlement provided for the end of hostilities and...
which ended the Anglo-Boer War was signed here in 1902) - Voortrekker MonumentVoortrekker MonumentThe Voortrekker Monument is a monument in the city of Pretoria, South Africa. The massive granite structure, built to honour the Voortrekkers who left the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1854, was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk who had the idea to design a "monument that would stand a...
- Freedom ParkFreedom Park (South Africa)Freedom Park is situated on Salvokop in Pretoria. It includes a memorial with a list of the names of those killed in the Boer Wars, World War I, World War II as well as apartheid....
- Transvaal MuseumTransvaal Museum""The Ditsong National Museum of Natural History, formerly Transvaal Museum, is a natural history museum situated in Pretoria, South Africa....
- African WindowAfrican WindowThe African Window is a building in Pretoria, Gauteng, which houses the Ditsong National Museum of Cultural History of South Africa. The DNMCH was amalgamated with the Pretoria-based Transvaal Museum for Natural History The African Window is a building in Pretoria, Gauteng, which houses the...
- South African Air Force MuseumSouth African Air Force MuseumThe South African Air Force Museum houses, exhibits and restores material related to the history of the South African Air Force. The Museum is divided into three locations, AFB Swartkop outside Pretoria, AFB Ysterplaat in Cape Town and at the Port Elizabeth airport.-AFB Swartkop:Swartkop is the...
Education
Tertiary education
The Tshwane municipality is home to both the largest residential university in the country, the Tshwane University of TechnologyTshwane University of Technology
Tshwane University of Technology is a higher education institution in South Africa that came into being through a merger of three technikons — Technikon Northern Gauteng, Technikon North-West and Technikon Pretoria....
and the largest distance education
Distance education
Distance education or distance learning is a field of education that focuses on teaching methods and technology with the aim of delivering teaching, often on an individual basis, to students who are not physically present in a traditional educational setting such as a classroom...
university (the University of South Africa
University of South Africa
The University of South Africa is a distance education university, with headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa. With approximately 300 000 enrolled students, it qualifies as one of the world's mega universities.-History:...
, more commonly known by its acronym, UNISA). The University of Pretoria
University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria is a multi campus public research university located in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa...
, one of South Africa's leading research and teaching universities, University of Limpopo (Medunsa Campus) (Formerly known as Medical University of Southern Africa) a Medical School in the North of Tshwane and the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research is South Africa's central and premier scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act of parliament in 1945 and is situated on its own campus in the city of Pretoria...
(CSIR) are located in the municipality.
Stadiums
- Atteridgeville Super Stadium, AtteridgevilleAtteridgevilleAtteridgeville, part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, is a township located on the west of Pretoria, South Africa. It is bordered to the west by Saulsville, to the east by Proclamation Hill; to the south by Laudium and to the north by Lotus Gardens.-History:Atteridgeville was...
- HM Pitje StadiumHM Pitje StadiumHM Pitje Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Mamelodi, a suburb of City of Tshwane, South Africa. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is set to be utilized as a training field for teams participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup after being renovated in 2009 and brought up...
, Mamelodi - Loftus VersfeldLoftus Versfeld StadiumLoftus Versfeld Stadium is a rugby and association football stadium situated in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,762 for rugby union and hosted the 2009 Currie Cup final...
, PretoriaPretoriaPretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.Pretoria is... - SuperSport Park, CenturionCenturion, GautengCenturion is an area with 279,430 inhabitants in Gauteng Province of South Africa, located between Pretoria and Midrand . Formerly an independent municipality, with its own town council, it is now part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality...
- Odi StadiumOdi StadiumOdi Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Mabopane, South Africa. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 60,000. It is the home stadium of Garankuwa United football team....
, MabopaneMabopaneMabopane is a Township in South Africa. It is situated in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, in the north of Gauteng.-History:Mabopane was proclaimed in the early 1970s as a black-only residential settlement by the then puppet government of Bophuthatswana under Kgosi Dr. Lucas Mangope... - Giant StadiumGiant StadiumSoshanguve Giant Stadium, commonly referred to as Giant Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Soshanguve, a suburb of Pretoria, South Africa. It is set to be utilized as a training field for teams participating in the 2010 FIFA World Cup after being rebuilt in 2009...
, Soshanguve
The name Tshwane and associated controversies
Apies River
The Apies River is a river that flows through the city of Pretoria, South Africa. Its source is located just south of the city and it flows northward until it drains into the Pienaars River....
, which flows throw the city. The origin of the name of the river is unclear. It may mean "place (-e) of the black cow (tshwana)", from ceremonies where a black cow was sprinkled with water from the river to end a drought. Another claim is that it was named after Tshwane, son of Chief Mushi, and Ndebele leader who settled near the Apies River about a century before the arrival of the Voortrekkers in the early 19th century. However, some Ndebele kings claim to have never heard of a chief named "Tshwane".
Two other common explanations are demonstrably untrue. One is that it is the Tswana for the motto of Tshwane Municipality, "We are the same". However, this appears to be promoted for its emotional value; if anything, it would mean "we are not the same" in Tswana (ga re tshwane). Another common misunderstanding is that it is the Tswana word for "little monkeys"; although it resembles the Tswana word for baboon, tshwene, "little monkeys" is actually the translation of the Afrikaans
Afrikaans
Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...
name "Apies".
The name Tshwane is sometimes also used as an alternate name for the city of Pretoria itself, and following the city council's vote of March 8, 2005, it could become the city's new name if approved by the central government. Should the change take place, "Pretoria" would continue to refer to the city's central business district, as proposed by the current municipality. By November 2007 the change of the name from Pretoria to Tshwane had not been finalized, and controversy over the name change continues. The change of name is seen by many as a way to recognize that peoples of non-colonial origins represent a majority in the city. The controversy however says that the city was originally established under the name Pretoria, little evidence has been provided for the origin of the name “Tshwane”, and no form of jurisdiction for the area existed prior to Pretoria’s creation.
The Sunday Times used the word Tshwane to refer to the Pretoria area for a short period in 2005. The state-controlled SABC also started using the term in its evening news broadcasts, for a period, but by 2010, had reverted to "Pretoria", and private media outlets continued to refer to the metropolitan area as Pretoria. The Pretoria News
Pretoria News
Pretoria News is a daily newspaper based in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa....
newspaper, the main paper in the metropolitan area did not appear to have plans to change its name as of early 2006, although it has adopted the slogan The paper for the people of Tshwane. The newspaper appears to experience confusion when it refers to the capital city; sometimes calling it Tshwane and sometimes Pretoria. This, together with the public backing of the name change by the editor of the Pretoria News
Pretoria News
Pretoria News is a daily newspaper based in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa....
, Philani Mgwaba, has led to the independence of the newspaper's editorial team being called into question. Currently, the only news media that refers to the capital city as Tshwane is the Pretoria News
Pretoria News
Pretoria News is a daily newspaper based in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa....
, SocietyNews.co.za.
The proposed name has evoked a strong negative reaction from some South Africans. Many businesspeople do not want to change their stationery and many feel that the cost of the name change would be better spent dealing with the country's high poverty rates and current Aids
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
crisis. There is also an argument that whereas the name "Pretoria" is recognized worldwide, "Tshwane" is not.
Road signs erected at the boundaries of the Tshwane Metropolitan area have been consistently defaced, with the word Tshwane replaced with the word Pretoria, presumably by South Africans opposed to the name change. The letters PTA, which are an abbreviation of "Pretoria", have also been stencilled on a number of speed limit
Speed limit
Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...
signs .
On 21 May 2005, the Pretoria Civil Action Committee, a group consisting of business, labour, cultural, civil and political leaders opposed to the name change organised a protest against the name change in the Pretoria city centre. They marched to the office of Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan
Pallo Jordan
Dr Zweledinga Pallo Jordan was the Minister of Arts and Culture of the Republic of South Africa from 29 April 2004 to 10 May 2009...
and handed him a petition signed by 3000 University of Pretoria
University of Pretoria
The University of Pretoria is a multi campus public research university located in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa...
students as well as various other petition documents. Former president FW De Klerk, a Nobel prize winner and the last president under apartheid, also raised concerns about the name change.
In November 2005, the Advertising Standards Authority
Advertising Standards Authority (South Africa)
The Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa, is an independent entity organized and financed by members of the marketing communications industry of South Africa. Its purpose is to manage South Africa's voluntary, self-regulating system of advertising...
found that advertising proclaiming that Tshwane, rather than Pretoria, was the capital of South Africa was misleading. The reason being that no city named Tshwane has yet been registered as a geographic place name, and Pretoria has not yet been renamed.
The Pretoria name change process
On 5 December 2000 a number of old Pretoria municipalities as well as others that fell outside the Greater Pretoria area were combined into one metropolitan area called The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. The city of Pretoria remained largely intact within this municipality. The debate around the possible name change of the city of Pretoria raged ever since.On the 26 May 2005 the South African Geographical Names Council
South African Geographical Names Council
The South African Geographical Names Council is the official government body of South Africa that advises the executive branch of the central government on new geographical names as well as the changing of existing geographical names.- Purpose of the Council :The Council was established by the...
unanimously approved a recommendation by the Tshwane Metro Council that the name Pretoria be changed to Tshwane.
The legal process involved is as follows:
- Recommendation to the Geographical Names Council.
- Council approves / rejects recommendation (Approved - 26 May 2005).
- Council gives its recommendation to Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan.
- Minister approves / rejects recommendation.
- Approved / rejected name is published in the Government Gazette.
- Any person or body unhappy with the name change can complain within 1 month of above.
- The minister can consult the Geographical Names Council with concerns raised.
- The minister's decision, along with the reasons for it, are published
- The minister will then take the matter before parliament where the central government will decide on whether to change the name or not based on the information before it.
Some controversial groups have attached themselves to the Pretoria name-change issue, including the trade union Solidarity. Solidarity and the Pretoria Civil Action Committee have threatened legal action should the name change be recommended by the minister.
As of November 2007 the name change has not yet been approved or rejected by the minister (step 4 above).
Early August 2007, it was reported in the press that the Municipality, after consulting with the Gauteng provincial government had withdrawn the application to change the name, and was instead contemplating a plan to change all road signs pointing to "Pretoria", to "Tshwane" or the "City of Tshwane" across the country. This plan raised threats of legal action from both political groupings opposed to the renaming, and concerns from municipal officials about the possibility of vandalism to the proposed road signs. Later reports appeared to contradict these claims, to some extent.
In 2010, the Ministry of Arts and Culture prepared to publish the registration of Tshwane as a place name, in the Government Gazette, however the registration was withdrawn at the last minute, and this was explained by the minister. Although it was too late to remove the name from printing in the Government Gazette, the retraction of the name registration was published the following week in the gazette.
In November 2011, Kgosientso Ramokgopa, who had been elected mayor earlier that year, vowed to push forward with the renaming in 2012http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/tshwane-it-will-be-mayor-1.1183711.