Gauteng
Gauteng, where about 37,7 per cent of the country’s GDP is generated, is colourful, polluted, vibrant and dynamic. This is also where the gold capital of the world, Johannesburg, is situated.
Most overseas visitors enter South Africa via Johannesburg International Airport at Kempton Park just outside Johannesburg, the capital of the province. Johannesburg, also nicknamed Egoli (place of gold), is a city of contrasts. Mine dumps and headgear stand proudly as symbols of its rich past, while modern architecture rubs shoulders with glorious examples of 19th century engineering prowess. The busy streets ring out with the call of fruit sellers and street vendors, and an exciting blend of ethnic and Western art and cultural activities is reflected in theatres and open-air arenas throughout the city.
Some 50 km north of Johannesburg lies Pretoria. As administrative capital of the Republic, the city is dominated by government services and the diplomatic corps of foreign representatives in South Africa. The pace of the city is relaxed and pervaded by a sense of history. Church Square, around which Pretoria developed, was the main venue for trade, recreation and religious gatherings in the early days, and many buildings of historic and architectural importance have been retained.
Other important Gauteng towns include the West Rand towns of Krugersdorp and Roodepoort; and the East Rand towns of Germiston, Springs, Boksburg, Benoni, Brakpan and Kempton Park. North of Pretoria is the industrial area of Rosslyn as well as Soshanguve, and Cullinan, known for its diamonds.
In the south of the province, Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging are major industrial centres, while Heidelberg and Nigel, and Bronkhorstspruit to the east, are important agricultural areas.
Although the province is highly urbanised and industrialised, it contains wetlands of international importance, such as Blesbokspruit.
The people
Gauteng is the most densely populated province in South Africa. It is the smallest province (17 010 km² ), but houses more than seven million of the country’s people. The rate of urbanisation is 97 per cent.
Gauteng has the most important education and health centres in the country. Pretoria boasts the largest residential university in South Africa, the University of Pretoria, and what is believed to be the largest correspondence university in the world, the University of South Africa (Unisa). Only some 9,5 per cent of adults in the province have received no schooling.
Another attribute of Pretoria is the number of scientific institutes in and around the city, for example, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS). Johannesburg has two residential universities, the University of the Witwatersrand and the Rand Afrikaans University. There are several teacher training colleges, technical colleges and technikons.
More than 60 per cent of South Africa’s research and development takes place in Gauteng.
Agriculture and industry
Gauteng’s agricultural sector is geared to provide the cities and towns of the province with daily fresh produce, including dairy products, vegetables, fruit, meat, eggs and flowers.
A large area of the province falls within the so-called maize triangle. The districts of Bronkhorstspruit, Cullinan and Heidelberg are important agricultural land, where groundnuts, sunflowers, cotton and sorghum are produced. This summer-rainfall area has hot summers and cold winters with frost. Hail is common during the summer thunderstorms. Snowfalls rarely occur.