Laudium, Gauteng

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Laudium is an Indian township in Centurion (City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality), South Africa. It was a settlement formed under the apartheid government as part of their segregation policy aimed at moving ethnic groups out of Marabastad and central Pretoria, which were being zoned as 'White Areas' around 1950. Laudium was proclaimed an Indian township in 1961. As for its former inhabitants, older aerial photographs still show remains of circular type dwellings to the west of Laudium. Laudium has 3 extensions which were completed in 1976, 1978 and 1983, respectively.

The original name for Laudium was Claudius, (originally reserved for White residents), named after a Claudius Marais de Vries who owned a farm called Mooiplats and was the mayor of Pretoria at the time. The eastern portion of the original Claudius retained its name and white population for a time, but the white population of Claudius has long since been displaced by Indians, and Claudius has effectively become an extension of Laudium. Interestingly, the boundary between Laudium and Claudius is not widely known, even by residents of the two areas. It is widely thought that the R55 road divides the suburbs, but Claudius, in fact, lies on both sides of the R55 and the dividing line lies well within what is commonly believed to be part of Laudium. For example, Sunrise School and a municipal garden refuse dump are actually part of Claudius, even though they lie on the "Laudium side" of the R55.

As apartheid ended, many residents of Laudium relocated to the neighbouring (formerly whites-only) suburbs of Erasmia and Christoburg which lie south of Laudium, and many lower income residents (many who lived in an area called White Blocks) were relocated in the early 1990s to a new township called Lotus Gardens. A road was eventually built to link Erasmia and Laudium directly (due to apartheid, the areas had not been linked directly, despite being adjacent to each other).

Laudium has roughly equal numbers of Hindu and Muslim residents, with a large number of mosques and temples. Many of the Muslim residents are Memons [1]. There are also many recent South Asian (Indian and Pakistani) residents, who immigrated to South Africa after the end of Apartheid.

During 1981, an Umkhonto weSizwe rocket attack on the Voortrekkerhoogte (now Thaba Tshwane) military base was launched from Laudium [2][3]. The homes of local politicians who supported Apartheid were also bombed in the 1980s.

Although Laudium was initially part of Pretoria, it was incorporated into Centurion following the end of apartheid. Centurion, including Laudium, was incorporated into the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in 2000.

Laudium is a relatively wealthy area (which is unusual for a township), with very large mansions visible from the R55 road (although technically many of these homes are in Claudius, not Laudium).

The black township of Atteridgeville lies directly north of Laudium, although the two areas are separated by a large hill called Kwaggakop, and no direct road link exists between the two.

Laudium is prone to sinkholes that occasionally cause significant property damage due to dolomite in the area.

Telkom telephone numbers for Laudium and Claudius lie within the Pretoria dialling code 012 and begin with the prefix 374. Therefore a Laudium telephone number has the form 012 374- xxxx. The postal code for Laudium is 0037.

1 Geographic data
2 Schools and other educational institutions
3 Media
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Geographic data

   Latitude              : -25.7833
   Longitude             :  28.1000
   Altitude (meters)     : 1445
   Altitude (feet)       : 4744
   Time zone             : UTC+2

[edit] Schools and other educational institutions

Laudium has a large number of government schools. However, since the end of Apartheid, most Indian children from Laudium have begun attending private religious schools, or schools in formerly white areas. While the government schools continue to be staffed mostly by Indian teachers, most of the pupils in these schools are black and commute daily from black townships. The establishment of religious schools as apartheid ended is questioned by some Indians and viewed suspiciously as another form of apartheid since they cater exclusively for rich Indians as most of the blacks are not Muslim or Hindu and hence excluded by default from attending these schools.

Public Schools: Andrew Anthony Primary School; Hillside Primary School; Himalaya Secondary School; Jacaranda Primary School; Laudium Heights Primary School; Laudium Primary School; Laudium Secondary School; Rosina Sedibane Sports School; Sunrise School

Private Schools: Central Islamic School; Pretoria Hindu School; Pretoria Muslim School; Al Ghazali College

The Transvaal College of Education, which trained Indian teachers in the former Transvaal province was moved to a large campus in Laudium. However, after the end of apartheid, the college was deemed redundant and closed down (Indian teachers were no longer barred from colleges formerly used by white teachers). The college campus is now used by the Rosina Sedibane Sports School.