West Rand District Municipality

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A map of South Africa showing West Rand (within Gauteng province)
A map of South Africa showing West Rand (within Gauteng province)

West Rand is the name of the urban western part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. This area became settled by Europeans after a gold-bearing reef discovered in 1886 and sparked the gold rush that gave rise to the establishment of Johannesburg.

The West Rand extends from Randfontein in the west to Roodepoort in the east, and includes the town of Krugersdorp. The areas of Carletonville and Westonaria are sometimes included as being part of the Far West Rand. The areas are economically linked to the city through the gold mining industry. Following the creation of the Johannesburg unicity in 1999, Roodepoort, which was traditionally always part of the West Rand, became part of Johannesburg municipality. After 1999, much of the area became part of the newly-formed West Rand District Municipality.[1]

Despite being a separate municipal area, like the East Rand, the West Rand is included in the Greater Johannesburg metropolitan area. To this end, the West Rand shares the same dialling code as Johannesburg (011 locally). It is not uncommon for residents of the West Rand to work in Johannesburg proper and vice versa.

Contents

[edit] District municipality

West Rand is one of the districts of Gauteng province of South Africa. The seat of West Rand is Randfontein. The majority of its 744 168 people speak Setswana (2001 Census). The district code is CBDC8.

[edit] Geography

[edit] Neighbours

West Rand is surrounded by:

[edit] Local municipalities

The district contains the following local municipalities:

Local municipality Population %
Mogale City 289 714 38.93%
Merafong City 210 484 28.28%
Randfontein 128 848 17.31%
Westonaria 109 324 14.69%
West Rand 5 783 0.78%

[edit] Demographics

The following statistics are from the 2001 census.

Language Population %
Tswana 215 507 28.96%
Afrikaans 126 338 16.98%
Xhosa 123 501 16.60%
Sotho 86 236 11.59%
Zulu 63 541 8.54%
Tsonga 38 410 5.16%
English 35 811 4.81%
Northern Sotho 22 618 3.04%
Other 10 587 1.42%
Swati 9 918 1.33%
Venda 8 927 1.20%
Ndebele 2 759 0.37%

[edit] Gender

Gender Population %
Male 400 157 53.77%
Female 344 011 46.23%

[edit] Ethnic group

Ethnic group Population %
Black African 586 665 78.84%
White 132 849 17.85%
Coloured 17 531 2.36%
Indian/Asian 7 123 0.96%

[edit] Age

Age Population %
000 - 004 63 062 8.47%
005 - 009 55 983 7.52%
010 - 014 55 746 7.49%
015 - 019 58 721 7.89%
020 - 024 72 868 9.79%
025 - 029 82 601 11.10%
030 - 034 77 616 10.43%
035 - 039 76 425 10.27%
040 - 044 65 412 8.79%
045 - 049 46 479 6.25%
050 - 054 31 153 4.19%
055 - 059 19 826 2.66%
060 - 064 14 459 1.94%
065 - 069 9 058 1.22%
070 - 074 6 526 0.88%
075 - 079 4 177 0.56%
080 - 084 2 561 0.34%
085 - 089 897 0.12%
090 - 094 395 0.05%
095 - 099 130 0.02%
100 plus 73 0.01%

[edit] Politics

[edit] Election results

Election results for West Rand in the South African general election, 2004.

  • Population 18 and over: 535 436 [71.95% of total population]
  • Total votes: 267 225 [35.91% of total population]
  • Voting % estimate: 49.91% votes as a % of population 18 and over
Party Votes %
African National Congress 196 513 73.54%
Democratic Alliance 41 008 15.35%
Inkhata Freedom Party 6 748 2.53%
Freedom Front Plus 4 235 1.58%
United Democratic Movement 4 093 1.53%
African Christian Democratic Party 3 301 1.24%
Independent Democrats 3 076 1.15%
Pan African Congress 2 481 0.93%
New National Party 1 645 0.62%
United Christian Democratic Party 1 244 0.47%
Azanian People's Organisation 1 215 0.45%
UF 350 0.13%
CDP 338 0.13%
SOPA 258 0.10%
NA 242 0.09%
PJC 182 0.07%
TOP 82 0.03%
EMSA 64 0.02%
KISS 61 0.02%
Minority Front 59 0.02%
NLP 30 0.01%
Total 267 225 100.00%

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1] Municipalities of the Republic of South Africa: Gauteng].


Flag of South Africa

Province of Gauteng

Provincial Capital:

Johannesburg

Major Metros:

Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni

District Municipalities:

Sedibeng , West Rand, Metsweding

Cities:

Johannesburg, Pretoria

Smaller Cities:

Benoni, Boksburg, Vereeniging

Languages