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The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Council is the second largest municipality in Gauteng and is among the six biggest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa. The following towns and townships form part of the Municipality's area: Pretoria, Centurion, Akasia, Soshanguve, Mabopane, Atteridgeville, Ga-Rankuwa, Winterveld, Hammanskraal, Temba, Pienaarsrivier, Crocodile River and Mamelodi.
Tshwane's inner city is about a 50 km drive from Johannesburg's city centre and the same distance from the OR Tambo International Airport.
Pretoria, as one component of Tshwane, is the administrative capital of South Africa and houses the Union Buildings.
Government plays an important role in Tshwane's economy, but there are many other sectors that are doing extremely well. In fact, the city has adapted to globalisation remarkably well and has all the elements of a smart city. Tshwane is in the process of positioning itself as Africa's leading capital city of excellence.
The city ...
- is the centre of government with all the national government departments being located here;
- forms part of the Gauteng global region, the wealthiest and fasted growing economic region on the African continent;
- houses the embassies of all the countries of the world;
- has a population of two million people and the highest level of education in the country; and
- is a national centre of research and learning with four universities and seven of the eight national science councils, ie the CSIR (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research), the HSRC (Human Sciences Research Council), the ARC (Agricultural Research Council), the NRF (National Research Foundation), the MRI (Medical Research Institute), the VRI (Veterinary Research Institute) and the SABS (South African Bureau of Standards).
These assets are being used to speed up the city's economic development. One of the initiatives that are having a positive impact is the Innovation Hub. The Hub contributes to the city's positioning of itself as a "knowledge economy". It is South Africa's first internationally accredited science park. The Hub is located on a 60 ha site in the eastern suburbs of the city. It is strategically located between the CSIR and the University of Pretoria - allowing synergy between these institutions and the Hub.
The main economic sectors in the Municipality's area are community service followed by finance and manufacturing. The largest sub-sector within manufacturing is metal products, machinery and household appliances, followed by the manufacturing of transport equipment. All the major banks and financial services institutions have offices in Tshwane. Most of the commercial banks have foreign exchange departments. However, some major hotels also have exchange points at their reception desks.
The Gautrain Rapid Rail Link, the rail-bound mass transit system that is being constructed, will serve the Johannesburg-Tshwane corridor and provide a link between Sandton and the OR Tambo International Airport. Funded by the Gauteng provincial government and the private sector, three stations are being constructed in Tshwane (Centurion, Pretoria and Hatfield). The distance between Tshwane and Johannesburg will be covered in less than 35 minutes at a speed of 160 km/h. This project is to be completed in 2010.
"Tshwane has established itself as a seat of government and a preferred residential location in the province, and the future lies in growing, in parallel, a thriving business community with a strong knowledge economy base," says Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, the Executive Mayor of Tshwane. The rapid growth in the uptake of a number of hi-tech companies in the Innovation Hub's Enterprise Building has confirmed that there is significant potential for Tshwane to become an active player in the knowledge economy.
Tshwane is steeped in a rich cultural heritage intertwined with the South African history. For many turbulent decades, Tshwane has played a key role in the political history of South Africa. It was appropriate, therefore, that the liberation struggle culminated in the birth of our democracy at the Union Buildings. The eyes of an ecstatic world were on the city on 10 May 1994 when the people's president, Nelson Mandela, was inaugurated as South Africa's first democratically elected president.
Along with the rest of the country, we look forward to a successful 2010 FIFA World Cup™ tournament when the international spotlight will fall on South Africa. Tshwane, one of the host cities, is ready for this momentous event in our history.
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