Gauteng

Home to Pretoria and Johannesburg, Gauteng is the economic center of South Africa and the continent, responsible for over 34,8% of the country’s and 10% of the entire continent’s GDP. Gauteng (meaning ’City of Gold’) was formed in 1994 from part of the former province of Transvaal. Although it is the smallest of South Africa’s nine provinces, Gauteng is Africa’s financial services capital. Financial and business services, logistics, manufacturing, property, telecommunications and trade are some of the province’s most important economic sectors.

Most overseas visitors enter South Africa via OR Tambo International Airport. Johannesburg, nicknamed “Egoli” (Place of Gold), is the capital of the province and a city of contrasts. South of Johannesburg is Soweto. Some 50 km north of Johannesburg lies Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa and home to the Union Buildings.

The industrial area of Rosslyn and the townships of Soshanguve and GaRankuwa are situated north of Pretoria. Cullinan, which is well known for its diamonds, and Mamelodi lie to the east. To the west lies Atteridgeville. Other important Gauteng towns include Krugersdorp and Roodepoort on the West Rand; and Germiston, Springs, Boksburg, Benoni, Brakpan and Kempton Park on the East Rand. Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging in the south of the province are major industrial centres, while Heidelberg, Nigel and Bronkhorstspruit, to the east, are of agricultural importance.

The province houses some of the most important educational and health centers in the country. The University of Pretoria is the largest residential university in South Africa, while the University of South Africa, known as Unisa, is believed to be the largest correspondence university in the world. Other universities include the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg. There are also several teacher-training colleges, technical colleges and universities of technology in the province. Gauteng is home to leading research institutions such as the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, the Agricultural Research Council, the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and the Human Sciences Research Council.

The people

More than 11 million people live in Gauteng. The people of Gauteng have the highest per-capita income level in the country. The province blends cultures, colors and first- and third-world traditions in a spirited mix, flavoured by a number of foreign influences.

Mining and manufacturing

Manufacturing includes basic iron and steel, fabricated and metal products, food, machinery, electrical machinery, appliances and electrical supplies, vehicle parts and accessories, and chemical products. The major gold and diamond mining houses all have their headquarters in Johannesburg, the biggest being Anglo American and De Beers. There are 159 mines – 44 of them gold mines – in Gauteng, that together account for a quarter of South Africa’s total mineral production.

Most of the mining is for gold – 80% of Gauteng’s output. Although gold mining and ancillary industries provide thousands of jobs, the importance of mining is declining compared to the manufacturing and financial sectors. Mining produces only 6% of Gauteng’s total income and 31% of export earnings.

Technology

Over 60% of South Africa’s research and development is done in Gauteng. The Innovation Hub in Pretoria is Africa’s first internationally accredited science park and a full member of the International Association of Science Parks. Its community has become a regional centre of innovation and knowledge creation, linked to the fast-moving world of global interconnectivity, and made up of small, medium and micro-enterprises and multinational companies, employing over 1 000 people.

Linked to the building of the broadband network infrastructure is a multifaceted information and communications technology (ICT) strategy by the Department of Communications. Key to the strategy is the establishment of a “Gauteng Silicon” to be modelled on Silicon Valley in the United States of America. The Gauteng Silicon will be attached to the Innovation Hub and will drive a structured programme of information technology business incubation; start-up business support; and ICT skills training with a focus on software development, design, and innovation in ICT.

Agriculture and industry

A large area of Gauteng falls within the so-called “Maize Triangle”. The province is an integrated industrial complex with major areas of economic activity in three subregional areas, namely the Vaal Triangle; the East, West and Central Rand; and Pretoria. Johannesburg houses the JSE Limited, the largest securities exchange in Africa. Over the next three years, the Gauteng Provincial Government plans to spend R34 billion on infrastructure development to boost the province’s industrial activity.

History

Bantu-speaking people moved south from central Africa in the 1100s, displacing the San tribes, the original inhabitants of the present-day Gauteng area. Early settlers recognise the mineral wealth of the region centuries before the arrival of Europeans or the discovery of gold and diamonds. Late Iron Age archaeological sites are plentiful throughout the present-day Johannesburg area. By the Mid-1700s, Sotho-Tswana communities inhabit stone-walled dwellings, grazing livestock, and mining and smelting copper, iron and tin.

In the late 1700s to 1800s the Mfecane or Difaqane Wars begin in Zululand. The fleeing Ndebele (named the Matebele by the local Sotho-Tswana) established their territory and dominance northwest of Johannesburg, around what is now Hartebeestpoort and Rustenburg. The Pedi came from the Eastern Transvaal (1823) and invaded Tswana settlements in the Magaliesberg, Pretoria and Wolhuterskop. The Pedi went on to clash with the Fokeng (Tswana) on the banks of the Hex river where they beat them. Various battles continued here inside the Tswana tribes as well as between Pedi and Tswana tribes.

In the early 1800s Dutch-speaking Voortrekkers (pioneers) oust the Matebele with the help of the Sotho-Tswana tribes. They claimed sovereignty over the settlements of Rustenburg and Pretoria. The first Voortrekker groups moving into Ndebele country (1836) were killed by Ndebele warriors. The other Voortrekker groups consolidated under Hendrik Potgieter and Sarel Celliers and retaliated against the Ndebele tribe. A commando consisting of Voortrekkers, Tswana and Griquas joined forces and traveled through the Olifantsnek poort and set up a base camp where present day Rustenburg is located. Attacks by this contingent on Mizilikatze forced the Ndebele chief to flee over the Limpopo river into present day Zimbabwe. By the mid-1800s, two Voortrekker republics had emerged – the South African Republic (later called the Transvaal), with Pretoria as its capital, and the Orange Free State.

In 1881 Gold was discovered on Kromdraai Farm, 7km from Sterkfontein. Kromdraai Gold Mine is one of the first gold mines in South Africa. When gold was discovered on Langlaagte farm in 1886, it becomes evident that the reefs of the Witwatersrand hold copious mineral reserves. Europeans settle on East Rand, later to become Johannesburg.

On December 16, 1880 the First Anglo-Boer War broke out when the Afrikaners revolt against the British annexation of the Transvaal. In the March 23, 1881 peace treaty, the British grant the Boers self-government. In the late 1890s to 1900s, the suburbs of Johannesburg develop – the west, where land is cheaper, occupied by the working class and the east accommodating Johannesburg’s affluent residents. Mining makes the Randlords, the moneyed class, extremely wealthy. Mansions leap up on Parktown Ridge, many designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

On October 11, 1899, war broke out between Great Britain and the South African Republic (Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. Johannesburg encountered very little military action during the South African War, which is also called the Second Boer War or Anglo-Boer War, but Pretoria is surrendered to the British, who win the war. In 1909 Sir Herbert Baker was commissioned to design the government building of the Union of South Africa.

In the 1930s building development takes place during a major economic boom after South Africa abandons the gold standard and printed currency is matched by gold reserves. On October 14, 1931 Pretoria gained status as a city, and Pretoria City Hall was built to celebrate the achievement. In the late 1940s to 1950s the Johannesburg suburb of Hillbrow goes high-rise when the Johannesburg Council removes restrictions on building heights. New freeways encourage massive suburban sprawl to the north of the city. For a brief period the skyline of Hillbrow is considered cutting edge and world class. Once desirable and cosmopolitan, this flatland today is an urban slum.

On February 9, 1955 armed policemen forcefully remove families living in the Johannesburg suburb of Sophiatown to Meadowlands, south west of Johannesburg. Over the next eight years Sophiatown is flattened by the government and replaced by the suburb of Triomf (Afrikaans for “triumph”), reserved for whites. On June 26, 1955, the Freedom Charter is adopted by a coalition of anti-apartheid organisations at the Congress of the People in Kliptown, Soweto. The document calls for a democratic, non-racial South Africa. As a result, 156 people are arrested and charged with high treason

In 1956 Indian residents were forcibly removed from the non-racial areas of Vrededorp (or Fietas) and Fordsburg. As segregation increases, people of Indian extraction are limited to living in Lenasia, about 35km south of the Johannesburg’s central business district. The area gets its name from a combination of the words “Lenz”, from the occupied land that was once the Lenz Military Base, and “Asia”. On March 21, 1960 the Sharpeville massacre took place in what is now southern Gauteng. A peaceful protest, organised by the Pan African Congress (PAC), in which demonstrators burn their pass books turns violent. Police open fire on the crowd, killing 69 and wounding 178. Today, March 21 is celebrated as Human Rights Day.

In 1961 Pretoria was named the capital of the Republic of South Africa, the title it still enjoys. In 1963 tThe name Soweto (South Western Township) is adopted for the sprawling township to the south of Johannesburg. The township achieves international renown: Nobel Peace Prize winners Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu both lived in the Vilakazi Street precinct in Orlando West – named after Dr BW Vilakazi, one of the country’s foremost black intellectuals. The Orlando West School is notable for its role in the riots of 1976.

On June 16, 1976 high school learners in Soweto marched against the imposition of Afrikaans as an official medium of instruction. Police opened fire on the crowds and one of the first to be killed is 12-year-old Hector Pieterson. On June 16 each year, South Africans remember the events of 1976 on the Youth Day public holiday.

By the 1990s urban decay saw businesses and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange migrate north from the Johannesburg central business district, lured by suburban shopping malls such as Sandton City and Rosebank Mall. Boarded-up buildings became a common sight. Today, there is evidence of urban renewal, with initiatives such as tax relief measures bringing investors back to the CBD.