The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality is (as of 5 December 2000) a metropolitan area mostly in Gauteng province, South Africa, that includes the city of Pretoria.

It is made up of 13 former city and town councils and is managed by means of an executive mayoral system. The size of the area is more than 3,200 square kilometres and it has a population of about 2,2 million people.

The name is derived from the original name given by the first (Nguni-speaking) settlers (who later became known as the Ndebele) to the main river that flows through the area, today called the Apies River . They named it after one of their chiefs, Tshwane (from the Ndebele word for "little ape").

The name Tshwane is sometimes also used as an alternative name for the city of Pretoria itself, and following the city council's vote of March 8, 2005, will probably become the city's new name after approval by central government. However, "Pretoria" will continue to refer to the city's central business district. The date for the renaming, estimated to cost more than a billion Rand, had not yet been set by early March 2005. The renaming issue has evoked a strong negative reaction from some residents of the city, particularly those of Afrikaner origin.

Tshwane is a cross-border municipality , which includes parts of North West Province, such as Ga-Rankuwa. This has caused administrative problems, and as of late 2004, there were plans to change the provincial boundaries to include these areas in Gauteng Province.

Thaba Tshwane Military Base

Although the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was created in 2000, prior to that, a military base in the city (formerly called Voortrekkerhoogte, after the Voortrekkers), was renamed Thaba Tshwane (or Thaba Tswane).

Areas

The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality consists of the following areas:

• Ga-Rankuwa (Established in 1961 after forced removals to the area. It is named after one of the Bakgatla headmen, Rankuwa Boikhutso.)
• Centurion (Formerly called Verwoerdburg.)
• Temba (Established in 1940 after forced removals.)
• Mabopane (Established in 1969.)
• Winterveld
• The area of the Northern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure. This area includes the industrial area known as Rosslyn as well as a township, Soshanguve, which was established to accommodate non-Tswana-speaking people when Bophuthatswana became an independent homeland. (Soshanguve is an acronym that was created to reflect the township's cosmopolitan character: Sotho, Shangaan, Nguni (Swazi, Zulu, Xhosa) and Venda.)
• Pretoria
• Pienaarsrivier (Named after the Pienaars River that runs through it, this is the smallest of Tshwane`s former councils.)
• Crocodile River (This area stretches from Rosslyn/Ga-Rankuwa in the north to Lanseria Airport in the south and from the western side of Pretoria towards the Hartebeespoortdam .)
• The area formerly known as the Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council. This council was one of the four local authorities in Gauteng province. It consisted of three local councils: the City Council of Pretoria, the Council of Centurion and the Northern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure.
• Wallmannsthal
• Hammanskraal
• Akasia
• Soshanguve
• Mamelodi

External link

Official Tshwane Website