Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only 1.5% of the country's land area, it is the most populous province in South Africa, with more than a quarter (26%) of the national population;[7] the provincial population was approximately 16.1 million, according to mid-year 2022 estimates.[8] Highly urbanised, the province contains the country's largest city, Johannesburg, which is also one of the largest cities in the world. Gauteng is the wealthiest province in South Africa and is considered the financial hub of South Africa; the financial activity is mostly concentrated in Johannesburg. It also contains the administrative capital, Pretoria, and other large areas such as Midrand, Vanderbijlpark, Ekurhuleni and the affluent Sandton. The largest township, Soweto is also found in this province. Politically, it is the closest contested province between the ANC and the DA in South Africa.[9]
Etymology
The name Gauteng is derived from Sotho-Tswanagauta, meaning 'gold'.[10] There was a thriving gold industry in the province following the 1886 discovery of gold in Johannesburg.[11] In Sesotho, Setswana and Sepedi the name Gauteng was used for Johannesburg and surrounding areas long before it was adopted in 1994 as the official name of the province.
Gauteng was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first multiracial elections on 27 April 1994. It was initially called Pretoria–Witwatersrand–Vereeniging (PWV) and was renamed "Gauteng" on the 28th of June 1995, the same day two other provinces were renamed.[10] The term "PWV" describing the region existed long before the establishment of a province by that name,[12] with the "V" sometimes standing for "Vaal Triangle" rather than Vereeniging.[13][14]
Events in this area were not written down until the 19th century;[15] information from before that time is lost or difficult to confirm.[15] The first records are from the early 19th century, when settlers originating from the Cape Colony defeated chief Mzilikazi and started establishing villages in the area.[15]
The city of Pretoria, established in 1855 as the capital of the South African Republic, witnessed rapid growth until the discovery of gold in the Witswatersrand area in 1886, which led to the founding of Johannesburg.[12][15] Despite slower development compared to Johannesburg, Pretoria maintained significance, notably due to its pivotal role in the Second Boer War. [15] The nearby town of Cullinan gained international acclaim in 1905 when the largest diamond ever discovered, the Cullinan Diamond, was mined there.[12]
The Johannesburg City Hall, home of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
Gauteng is governed by the Gauteng Provincial Legislature, a 73-person unicameral legislature elected by party-list proportional representation. The legislature elects one of its members as Premier of Gauteng to lead the executive, and the Premier appoints an Executive Council of up to 10 members of the legislature to serve as heads of the various government departments. The provincial government is responsible for the topics allocated to it in the national constitution, including such fields as basic education, health, housing, social services, agriculture and environmental protection.
The undulating hills that form part of the rural areas in the province just north of Johannesburg. Although Gauteng is a heavily urbanised province, much of its area is extensively cultivated for agriculture.
Gauteng's southern border is the Vaal River, which separates it from the Free State.[10] It also borders on North West[10] to the west, Limpopo[10] to the north, and Mpumalanga[10] to the east. Gauteng is the only landlocked province of South Africa without a foreign border.[10] Most of Gauteng is on the Highveld, a high-altitude grassland (circa 1,500 m or 4,921 ft above sea level). Between Johannesburg and Pretoria, there are low parallel ridges and undulating hills, some part of the Magaliesberg Mountains and the Witwatersrand. The north of the province is more subtropical, due to its lower altitude and is mostly dry savanna habitat.
Witwatersrand area
In the southern half of Gauteng, the Witwatersrand area is an older term describing a 120 km wide oblong-shaped conurbation from Randfontein in the West to Nigel in the East, named after the Witwatersrand, a geologically and economically important series of low ridges and their associated plateau that greater Johannesburg developed on. This area is also often referred to simply as "Witwatersrand", "the Rand" or "the Reef" (archaic, after the gold reefs that precipitated the development of the area), and was the "W" in PWV, the initial name for Gauteng. It has traditionally been divided into the three areas of East Rand (governed by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality), Central Rand (approximately today's Johannesburg Municipality) and West Rand.[18][19]
Climate
The climate is mostly influenced by altitude. Even though the province is at a subtropical latitude, the climate is comparatively cooler, especially in Johannesburg, at 1,700 m (5,577 ft) above sea level (Pretoria is at 1,330 m or 4,364 ft). Most precipitation occurs as brief afternoon thunderstorms; however, relative humidity never becomes uncomfortable. Winters are crisp and dry with frost occurring often in the southern areas. Snow is rare, but it has occurred on some occasions in the Johannesburg metropolitan area.[20][21]
Climate data for Pretoria (1961–1990 with extremes 1951–1990)
Gauteng Province is home to 15.1 million people (2022 Stats SA Census), with 24% of the total South African population.[8] Gauteng Province is also the fastest growing province, experiencing a population growth of over 33% between the 1996 and 2011 censuses. Despite being the smallest province by area, it has the highest population of any South African province.
As of the census of 2022, there are 15,099,422 people and 5,318,665 households residing in Gauteng. The population density is 831/km2. The density of households is 155.86/km2.
About 22.1% of all households are made up of individuals. The average household size fell slightly between the 2011 census and 2022 census, from 3.1 to 2.8 persons.[29]
The province's age distribution was 23.6% under the age of 15, 19.6% from 15 to 24, 37.9% from 25 to 44, 15.0% from 45 to 64, and 4.0% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 27 years. For every 100 females there are 101.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 102.3 males.
According to the 2022 census, in Gauteng, the most spoken languages at home were:[29]
86.1% of residents are Christian, 4.3% have no religion, 1.6% are Muslim, 0.1% are Jewish, and 0.7% are Hindu. 6.0% stated Traditional African religions as their faith.[30]
8.4% of residents aged 20 and over have received no schooling, 11.2% have had some primary, 5.5% have completed only primary school, 34.3% have had some high education, 28.0% have finished only high school, and 12.6% have an education higher than the high school level. Overall, 40.6% of residents have completed high school.
56.1% of housing units have a telephone and/or mobile phone in the dwelling, 41.5% have access to a phone nearby, and 2.3% have access that is not nearby or no access. 82.8% of households have a flush or chemical toilet. 84.2% have refuse removed by the municipality at least once a week and 2.6% have no rubbish disposal. 47.2% have running water inside their dwelling, 83.6% have running water on their property, and 97.5% have access to running water. 73.2% of households use electricity for cooking, 70.4% for heating, and 80.8% for lighting. 77.4% of households have a radio, 65.7% have a television, 15.1% own a computer, 62.1% have a refrigerator, and 45.1% have a mobile phone.
25.8% of the population aged 15–65 is unemployed.
The median annual income of working adults aged 15–65 is R 23 539 ($3,483). Males have a median annual income of R 24 977 ($3,696) versus R 20 838 ($3,083) for females.
Distribution of annual income of Gauteng province (2001)[31]
Gauteng is the province with the second highest life expectancy in the country in 2019 with females having a life expectancy of 69 years and males having a life expectancy of 64 years.[8]
Urban conurbation
Historically described as the PWV complex,[32] the urban conurbation of Gauteng, referred to as the Gauteng City Region,[33] contains the major urban populations of Johannesburg (7,860,781 as of 2011[update]), Pretoria (1,763,336), Vereeniging (377,922), Evaton (605,504) and Soshanguve (728,063), coming to an urban population of over 11 million.[34] Thomas Brinkhoff lists a "Consolidated Urban Area" in Gauteng as having a population of 13.1 million as of January 2017[update].[35] The future governmental plans for the region indicate the gradual urbanisation and consolidation towards the creation of a megalopolis that connects these metros. The GCRO is a collaboration between the Universities of Johannesburg and Witwatersrand, the city of Johannesburg, Gauteng Provincial Government, and SALGA-Gauteng. The GCRO's purpose is to collect information and create a database on the Gauteng City Region to provide to government, lawmakers and civil society an informed understanding of the fastest urbanizing region in Southern Africa.[33][non-primary source needed]
Economy
Gauteng is considered the economic hub of South Africa and contributes heavily in the financial, manufacturing, transport, technology, and telecommunications sectors, among others. It also plays host to a large number of overseas companies requiring a commercial base in and gateway to Africa.
Although Gauteng is the smallest of South Africa's nine provinces—it covers a mere 1.5% of the country's total land area,[7] the province is responsible for a third of South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP).[42] Gauteng generates about 10% of the total GDP of sub-Saharan Africa and about 7% of total African GDP.[43] Gauteng has the highest GDP and GDP per capita of all South Africa's provinces.[44] Gauteng is also the province with the most taxpayers and the highest average taxable income per taxpayer according to the South African Revenue Service.[45]
SANRAL, a parastatal, is responsible for the maintenance, development and management of all national road networks in South Africa.[46] SANRAL is responsible for instituting the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project, which was met with a lot of opposition due to the tolling of Gauteng motorists.[47][48] Many important national routes run through Gauteng such as the N1, N3, N4, N12, N14 and the N17. Johannesburg is quite dependent on freeways for transport in and around the city. The R21, R24, R59, M1 and M2 all run through Johannesburg while the R80 connects Pretoria Central to Soshanguve.The Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project led to a large decrease in traffic congestion when construction finished 2011–2012. Cape Town, for the first time in decades, is now the most congested city in South Africa.[49][50]
PUTCO, the largest commuter bus operator in South Africa,[51] services the Gauteng area extensively.[52] The bus rapid transit system Rea Vaya also serves to transport people from Johannesburg's southern neighbourhoods into and around the CBD.[53] In an interview, Parks Tau stated that by 2040, Johannesburg will be dominated by pedestrians and public transport as opposed to the use of private transport or informal transport, such as minibus taxis.[54]
Gautrain and Metrorail both service the province's public transport sector where trains are concerned[55][56] and Gautrain offers a bus service that transports commuters to and from various train stations and predetermined bus stops.[57] Metrorail trains are considered one of the most cost-effective methods of transportation in and around Gauteng.[58]
There is a large informal transport sector in Gauteng, consisting of thousands of minibus taxis, which many of the urban and rural population makes use of.[58][62] However, it is noted that taxis are often unsafe as their drivers ignore the rules of the road and the vehicles are often not roadworthy.[62] The City of Johannesburg stated that: "major initiatives are under way to completely reform the taxi industry and provide more comfort and safety to customers." In March 2017, it is reported that Gauteng alone has 4,7 million registered vehicles under the "GP" abbreviation via the eNatis system.[63][62]
In 2002, the Gauteng Department of Education founded an initiative called Gauteng Online in an attempt to get the entire province to utilize a wide assortment of electronic and telecommunications systems.[64] In 2007, this initiative was handed over to the Gauteng Department of Finance.[64]
In the 2013 national budget speech, it was announced that the Gauteng Department of Education would be granted over R700 million to improve education and to alleviate issues concerning the overcrowding in schools, a shortage in teaching staff and transport for poor pupils.[65]
In 2017/2018, the Gauteng Provincial government spent R42.4 billion on education which accounted for 38% the province's total expenditure.[66]
Several teams from Gauteng play in the country's top-level association football (more commonly referred to as soccer) league, the Premier Soccer League (PSL), including Mamelodi Sundowns, SuperSport United, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. The national squad Bafana Bafana's home stadium is Soccer City in Johannesburg. During the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first ever world cup held by an African nation,[70] Gauteng's stadia hosted many games. The first ever FIFA world cup match on African soil took place at Soccer City on 11 June 2010.[71][72] Along with Soccer City, Loftus Versfeld Stadium and Ellis Park Stadium hosted matches in Gauteng.[73]
Rugby, or more accurately rugby union, is a popular sport in South Africa, and in Gauteng in particular. Two rugby teams from Gauteng participate in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby championship: the Pretoria-based Bulls, and the Johannesburg-based Lions (previously the Cats). Three Gauteng-based teams play in the country's domestic competition, the Currie Cup: the Blue Bulls from Pretoria, the Golden Lions from Johannesburg and the Falcons from the East Rand. In 1995, South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup and proceeded to win the tournament at Ellis Park Stadium on 24 June 1995.[74] The events surrounding the world cup formed the basis of the story for the movie Invictus.[75]
Many South African universities take part in the Varsity Rugby league. Of these, the Gauteng universities include the University of Pretoria, the University of Johannesburg and the University of the Witwatersrand.[76]
Many marathons take place in Gauteng, such as the Gauteng Marathon, the Arwyp Medical Centre 15 km Nite Race and the Trisport Joburg City Triathlon.[77][78][79][80]
Gauteng's favourable weather conditions throughout the year make it an ideal hub for sports and other out door activities.[81] This makes golf, horse racing and swimming very popular. The Vaal River facilitates water sports in the forms of jet skiing, water skiing and motor boating.[81] Adventure sports are also quite popular in Gauteng, particularly skydiving, paragliding and hang-gliding.[81]