Talk:Gauteng

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Hi Jcw69, I see that you're working on the Gauteng page, and it's nice. There are a few things I don't understand, though:

• I listed the population figure of 8.8, which I found in the 2001 cencus data. You listed 7.3 million (actually, you listed 7.3 billion...) in the box - where did you get that figure? One figure should be agreed upon and used throughout the article.
• I think the population figure belongs in the introduction paragraphs, right next to the land area figure - instead of moving it all the way down to the "demographics" section. The "... second most populated province of south africa" just begs to be followed by the actual population number, and this is how I originally wrote it.
• In the demographics section, what does "languages spoken" mean? Obviously, many South African are bilingual. Are you counting people whose mother tounge is a certain language, people who can speak a certain lanugage, people who understand a certain language, or what?
• Why do we need that side box repeating some geographic and demographic information that could be written in normal textual paragraphs?
• Oh, and why do we need all those extra headings that don't contain any content, both as section headings and on the right infobox? I realise that this might make some people fill that content, but right now my impression is that these headers mostly make the article look ugly :(

Nyh 13:16, 10 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I would also delete the "important sports event" section altogether. For example, what does the super 12 event have to do with Gauteng specifically? Nyh 13:32, 10 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 Gauteng 2 Gauteng Map 3 Name changed 4 Muncipalities/map dispute 5 Transfer of Merafong City Local Muncipality to North-West Province and abolition of cross-border municipalities 6 Requested Move

[edit] Gauteng

Hi Nyh,

I found the provinces of SA a mess most of them just stubs, so I wanted more detail in them. I tried to find a compatible layout for them by looking at the states in USA.

I know they look ugly, sorry but I want to full them with info and I am looking for the info when time permits.

As for the sports side I think your idea is much better because I just copied that from the states.

I was looking at the 1996 stats last night, sorry I corrected them.

I will be getting to the other provinces as soon as I can. I have started on KwaZulu-Natal so could you look there and update. Thanks

Feed back is great. Are u also living in SA

Jcw69

Actually, no, I live in Israel. But my girlfriend was born in Johannesburg, and I'm trying to learn her heritage :) Nyh 07:56, 4 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Gauteng Map

Hi Nyh, I drew the map up based on the map found at the Johannesburg's website. I can change it if need be.--Jcw69 08:53, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Name changed

It says in the article .. It was initially named Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (or PWV) and was renamed Gauteng in December 1994. What I found is that on 8 December 1994 a committee of the legislature of Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging province recommended that the name of the province be changed to Gauteng but I found two dates for the actual renaming that is 8 December 1995 or in Feb 1995. Can anyone give me the actual date when the name was gazetted? --Jcw69 10:24, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

It depends on how you define the event of the name change. I am not from Gauteng (or a South African, for that matter), so I cannot comment on when this name was actually adopted - I wish someone from Gauteng can comment on it. Anyway, the best source I found on the subject is [1], to which I also linked in the article.

Anyway, according to this source (on whose validity I cannot comment...), "Gauteng, Sotho for "Place of Gold", was on Thursday afternoon (December 8) adopted as the new name for the PWV province.". Also "The matter was decided in a split vote". This means the December 8 date was not some arbitrary date that someone recommended the new name, but rather the actual date when this name was chosen in a vote. However, at that date, supposedly the name did not become "official", because the source continues "The name-change must be ratified by the national parliament before becoming official. A legislature source said she expected the name to be ratified in March next year.". Only a South African can comment on whether the actual name change process (which must have taken quite some time) started on December, after the Joburg legislature chose that name, or whether the official national ratification was waited for.

Nyh 18:21, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I am a South African living in Gauteng and I don't even know, that is why I asked the question because of different conflicting dates.--Jcw69 06:54, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

There exists a "South African Place Name Council" (or some similarly named institution) that must first investigate and approve any place name change (or new name for a new urban area, for that matter) on behalf of the national government. Their recommendation then goes to the national government for ratification/approval/rubber stamping. Municipalities or provincial governments do not have the power to change place names (of course, they may recommend/initiate changes), only the national government has. (This is also relevant to the whole Pretoria/Tshwane debate.) So, the second date is the correct one. Elf-friend 01:30, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Muncipalities/map dispute

If you look at the map at [2] you can see that the region marked as West Rand (number 13) on the map in the article is unmarked. Also the list of municipalities on the Department of Health site [3] lists 12 local and metro municipalities, which are presumably depicted on the map in this article, not 13. West Rand is listed as a district municipality, not as a local municipality and therefore should not appear to be on the map. I could be wrong, but someone needs to verify the status of the section marked as 13 on the map. Park3r 20:24, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

See also the map with the West Rand article, where the area marked as the "West Rand" in this article doesn't appear to be part of the West Rand.Park3r 20:26, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

The area marked 13 is a District Management Area - that is, an area with no local municipality - which is part of the West Rand District Municipality. There seems to be some confusion about DMAs; the West Rand municipality is made up of areas 9-13 on that map (although #10, Merafong City, has now been lost to Southern District in the North-West Province). The map on West Rand is wrong; the area marked 13 is definitely part of the West Rand DM. - htonl 23:37, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, with the updated map (see below) I have clarified the description of that area. - htonl 18:32, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Transfer of Merafong City Local Muncipality to North-West Province and abolition of cross-border municipalities

Will the maps have to change following the abolition of cross-border municipalities, and the transfer of various areas like Merafong City Local Municipality (that includes Khutsong)?168.209.98.35 18:04, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes, they will. Merafong City (#10 on the current map) has been transferred to North-West; I am working on drawing up new municipality maps, from the latest Municipal Demarcation Board data, at commons:Maps of South African municipalities. One of my priorities is to draw new maps for areas with significant changes as a result of the abolition of CBMs. - htonl 23:41, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, map and the corresponding list updated. - htonl 18:33, 6 March 2006 (UTC)