The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane, pronounced /ˈtswɑːneɪ/ (listen)) is a metropolitan municipality contained in the province of Gauteng, South Africa, that includes the city of Pretoria. In South Africa, a metropolitan municipality or Category A municipality is a Municipality which executes all the functions of local government for a Gauteng (xaʊˈtɛŋ Sotho xɑ́útʼèŋ̀ is a province of South Africa. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. The municipality came into existence on 5 December 2000. Events 63 BC - Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar.
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Background
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality 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 3. 2 million people.
Although the origin of the name "Tshwane" is not known for certain, the most plausible explanation is that it is derived from the Setswana word "tshwana", meaning a black cow [1]. During a time of drought and famine, a black cow was used as a principal part of a rainmaking ritual in which water was taken from the main river that flows through the area known as the "Apies Rivier" (English: Monkeys River), and the water from the river sprinkled on a black cow. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The cow was then allowed to graze freely, under the belief that wherever the cow grazed, the land would become fertile and rain would fall. The drought was accordingly broken following this ritual by such rains that the river from which the water was drawn was apparently named "Tshwane", meaning "place of the black cow". Later, the name was transferred to the new municipality as Pretoria originally developed around the Apies River.
Although other alternative explanations have been offered for the name, these appear to be less plausible. One other commonly put forth explanation is that it is derived from the original name given by the first (Nguni-speaking) settlers (who later became known as the Ndebele) nearby the Apies River. The Ndebele people are three Tribes or Nations of people living in South Africa and Zimbabwe; there are three main groups of Ndebele According to this explanation, they named it after the son of one of their chiefs, Tshwane. Some say that "Tshwane" is from the Ndebele word for "little ape" (tshwene), but this appears to be false. The Tshwane Municipality claims that Tshwane means "We are the same", however, the linguistic evidence does not support this. Some Ndebele kings claim to have never heard of a chief named "Tshwane" [2].
Controversy
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, it could become the city's new name if approved by the central government. Events 1618 - Johannes Kepler discovers the third law of planetary motion. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Should the change take place, "Pretoria" would continue to refer to the city's central business district, as proposed by the current municipality.
By November 2007 the change of the name from Pretoria to Tshwane has still not been finalized as controversy over the name change continues.
The change of name is seen by many as a way to recognize that blacks represent a majority in the city. The controversy however says that the city was originally established under the name Pretoria, little evidence has been provided for the origin of the name “Tshwane”, and no western form of jurisdiction for the area existed prior to Pretoria’s formation.
The Sunday Times used the word Tshwane to refer to the Pretoria area for a short period in 2005. The Sunday Times is a popular South African Sunday newspaper It has an audited circulation of 504 000 and a weekly readership of 32 million making it the largest The state-controlled SABC also started using the term in its evening news broadcasts, although private media outlets continued to refer to the metropolitan area as Pretoria. SABC redirects here as this is the most common use of the abbreviation in English The Pretoria News newspaper, the main paper in the metropolitan area did not appear to have plans to change its name as of early 2006, although it has adopted the slogan The paper for the people of Tshwane. The newspaper appears to experience confusion when it refers to the capital city; sometimes calling it Tshwane and sometimes Pretoria. This, together with the public backing of the name change by the editor of the Pretoria News, Philani Mgwaba [3], has led to the independence of the newspaper's editorial team being called into question. Currently, the only news media that refers to the capital city as Tshwane is the Pretoria News and the South African Broadcasting Corporation television news editions (see below). SABC redirects here as this is the most common use of the abbreviation in English
The proposed name has evoked a strong negative reaction from some South Africans. Also, many businesspeople do not want to change their stationery and many feel that the cost of the name change would be better spent dealing with the country's high poverty rates and current Aids crisis. There is also an argument that whereas the name "Pretoria" is recognized worldwide, "Tshwane" is not.
Road signs erected at the boundaries of the Tshwane Metropolitan area have been consistently defaced, with the word Tshwane replaced with the word Pretoria, presumably by South Africans opposed to the name change. The letters PTA, which are an abbreviation of "Pretoria", have also been stencilled on a number of speed limit signs . For a discussion of the maximum speed possible in the universe see Speed of light and Special relativity.
On 21 May 2005, the Pretoria Civil Action Committee, a group consisting of business, labour, cultural, civil and political leaders opposed to the name change organised a protest against the name change in the Pretoria city centre. [4] They marched to the office of Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan and handed him a petition signed by 3000 University of Pretoria students as well as various other petition documents. Dr Zweledinga Pallo Jordan (born 22 May 1942) has been the Minister of Arts and Culture of the Republic of South Africa since 29 April 2004 The University of Pretoria is a University in Pretoria South Africa, with a total of about 57409 students being enrolled in 2008 Former president FW De Klerk, a Nobel prize winner and the last president under apartheid, also raised concerns about the name change. Frederik Willem de Klerk (born 18 March 1936 was the last State President of apartheid-era South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994 [5].
In November 2005, the Advertising Standards Authority found that advertising proclaiming that Tshwane, rather than Pretoria, was the capital of South Africa was misleading. [6] The reason being that no city named Tshwane has yet been registered as a geographic place name, and Pretoria has not yet been renamed. A similar complaint was lodged against the SABC, who maintained they were referring to events taking place in the municipal area called Tshwane, and therefore were not misleading the public. Though the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa found that the tactic was "unhelpful" they saw no reason to prevent the SABC from using the name. [7]
The Pretoria name change process
On 5 December 2000 a number of old Pretoria municipalities as well as others that fell outside the Greater Pretoria area were combined into one metropolitan area called The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. The city of Pretoria remained largely intact within this municipality. The debate around the possible name change of the city of Pretoria raged ever since.
On the 26 May 2005 the South African Geographical Names Council unanimously approved a recommendation by the Tshwane Metro Council that the name Pretoria be changed to Tshwane. Events 451 - The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The South African Geographical Names Council is the official government body of South Africa that advises the executive branch of the central government (in the form of the [8]
The legal process involved is as follows:
- Recommendation to the Geographical Names Council.
- Council approves / rejects recommendation (Approved - 26 May 2005).
- Council gives its recommendation to Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan.
- Minister approves / rejects recommendation.
- Approved / rejected name is published in the Government Gazette.
- Any person or body unhappy with the name change can complain within 1 month of above.
- The minister can consult the Geographical Names Council with concerns raised.
- The minister's decision, along with the reasons for it, are published
- The minister will then take the matter before parliament where the central government will decide on whether to change the name or not based on the information before it.
Some controversial groups have attached themselves to the Pretoria name-change issue, including the trade union Solidarity [9]]. Solidarity and the Pretoria Civil Action Committee have threatened legal action should the name change be recommended by the minister.
As of November 2007 the name change has not yet been approved or rejected by the minister (step 4 above).
Early August 2007, it was reported in the press that the Municipality, after consulting with the Gauteng provincial government had withdrawn the application to change the name, and was instead contemplating a plan to change all road signs pointing to "Pretoria", to "Tshwane" or the "City of Tshwane" across the country. This plan raised threats of legal action from both political groupings opposed to the renaming, and concerns from municipal officials about the possibility of vandalism to the proposed road signs. [10] [11]. Later reports appeared to contradict these claims, to some extent [12].
Thaba Tshwane Military Base
Although the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was only created in 2000, prior to that a military base in the city (formerly called Voortrekkerhoogte after the Voortrekkers and before that Roberts Heights after Lord Roberts), was renamed Thaba Tshwane (or Thaba Tswane). Voortrekkers can also refer to a youth organization see Voortrekkers (youth organization. Thaba Tshwane is a Military base (or military area in Pretoria, South Africa.
Areas
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality consists of the following areas:
- 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 (Formerly called Verwoerdburg. Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. Centurion (previously known as Verwoerdburg is a town in Gauteng Province, South Africa, located between Pretoria and Midrand ( Johannesburg )
- The Northern Pretoria Metropolitan Substructure. This area included 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 a township situated about 45 km north of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. Tswana ( Setswana) is a Bantu language written in the Latin Alphabet. Bophuthatswana (meaning gathering of the Tswana people) was a Bantustan ("homeland" in the northwest of South Africa. (Soshanguve is an acronym that was created to reflect the township's cosmopolitan character: Sotho, Shangaan, Nguni (Swazi, Zulu, Xhosa) and Venda. )
- Ga-Rankuwa (Established in 1961 after forced removals to the area. Ga-Rankuwa is a small Town situated in North West Province of South Africa that was formed out of forced removals during the Apartheid era It is named after one of the Bakgatla headmen, Rankuwa Boikhutso. )
- Temba (Established in 1940 after forced removals. )
- Mabopane (Established in 1969. )
- Winterveld
- 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 Hartbeespoort Dam. Crocodile River Crocodile River (Limpopo Province, river in the north of South Africa tributary of Limpopo River Crocodile River (Mpumalanga Lanseria Airport is a privately owned international Airport that is situated in the North West of Johannesburg, South Africa Hartbeespoort Dam also known as HARTIES (officially the Hartbeespoort Dam Reservoir) is a Dam situated in the North West Province of South Africa )
- Wallmannsthal
- Hammanskraal
- Akasia
- Soshanguve
- Mamelodi
- Atteridgeville
Recent developments
Residents of townships in the Tshwane area, including Soshanguve and Olievenhoutbosch [13] staged violent protests against the municipality in 2005 and 2006 against foreigners and poor service delivery [14]. Hammanskraal is a small town in northern Gauteng, South Africa which serves a large rural community Soshanguve is a township situated about 45 km north of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. Mamelodi, part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, is a black township set up by the then Apartheid government northeast of Pretoria Atteridgeville, part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, is a township located on the west of Pretoria, South Africa. In South Africa, the term Township usually refers to the (often underdeveloped urban living areas that under Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites Soshanguve is a township situated about 45 km north of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. Riots are a form of Civil disorders characterized by disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of Violence, Vandalism or other Xenophobia is an intense and/or irrational dislike and sometimes fear of people from other countries
External links
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