East Rand

Coordinates: 26°10′38″S 28°13′19″E / 26.17722°S 28.22194°E / -26.17722; 28.22194

East Rand
From top left: Germiston, Benoni, Kempton Park, Tembisa, Boksburg and Brakpan
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	Ekurhuleni
Government
• Mayor	Mzwandile Masina
Area
• Total	1,975 km2 (763 sq mi)
Population
• Total	3,178,470
• Density	1,600/km2 (4,200/sq mi)
Racial makeup ()
• Black African	78.7%
• Coloured	2.7%
• Indian/Asian	2.1%
• White	15.8%
First languages ()
• Zulu	28.8%
• English	12.0%
• Afrikaans	11.9%
• Northern Sotho	11.4%
• Other	35.9%
PO box	1462
HDI	0.74 High (2012)[1]
GDP	US$ 55.3 billion [2]
GDP per capita	US$ 17,361 [2]

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

The large black townships of the East Rand were the scene of heavy clashes between the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party before the end of Apartheid.

The region extends from Germiston in the west to Springs in the east, and south down to Nigel, and includes the towns of Boksburg, Benoni, Brakpan, Kempton Park, Edenvale, and Bedfordview.

As part of the restructuring of municipalities in South Africa at the time, the local governments of the East Rand were merged into a single municipality in 1999, now called City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, meaning "place of peace."

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

References