Pretoria is named after theVoortrekker leaderAndries Pretorius,[8] and South Africans sometimes call it the "Jacaranda City",[9] because of the thousands ofjacaranda trees planted along its streets and in its parks and gardens.[10]
The founding of Pretoria as the capital of the South African Republic can be seen as marking the end of the Boers' settlement movements of theGreat Trek.
During theFirst Boer War, the city was besieged by Republican forces in December 1880 and March 1881. The peace treaty that ended the war was signed in Pretoria on 3 August 1881 at thePretoria Convention.
ThePretoria Forts were built for the defence of the city just prior to the Second Boer War. Though some of these forts are today in ruins, a number of them have been preserved as national monuments.
The Boer Republics of the ZAR and theOrange River Colony were united with theCape Colony andNatal Colony in 1910 to become theUnion of South Africa. Pretoria then became the administrative capital of the whole of South Africa, withCape Town serving as the legislative capital andBloemfontein as the judicial capital. Between 1910 and 1994, the city was also the capital of the province ofTransvaal. (As the capital of the ZAR, Pretoria had supersededPotchefstroom in that role.)On 14 October 1931, Pretoria achieved official city status.[11] When South Africa became a republic in 1961, Pretoria remained its administrative capital.[12]
Pretoria is situated approximately 56 km (35 mi) north-northeast ofJohannesburg in the northeast ofSouth Africa, in a transitional belt between the plateau of theHighveld to the south and the lower-lyingBushveld to the north. It lies at an altitude of about 1,339 m (4,393 ft)above sea level,[13] in a warm, sheltered, fertile valley, surrounded by the hills of theMagaliesberg range.
Pretoria has a monsoon-influencedhumid subtropical climate (Köppen:Cwa) with long hot, rainy summers, and short, dry and mild winters. The city experiences the typical winters of South Africa, with cold, clear nights and mild to moderately warm days. Although the average lows during winter are mild, it can get cold due to the clear skies, with night time low temperatures in recent years in the range of 2 to −5 °C (36 to 23 °F).
The average annual temperature is 18.7 °C (65.7 °F).[14] This is rather high, considering the city's relatively high altitude of about 1,339 metres (4,393 feet), and is due mainly to its sheltered valley position, which acts as a heat trap and cuts it off from cool southerly and south-easterly air masses for much of the year.[citation needed]
Rain is chiefly concentrated in the summer months, with drought conditions prevailing over the winter months, when frosts may be sharp. Snowfall is an extremely rare event; snowflakes were spotted in 1959, 1968 and 2012 in the city, but the city has never experienced an accumulation in its history.
During a nationwideheat wave in November 2011, Pretoria experienced temperatures that reached 39 °C (102 °F), unusual for that time of the year. Similar record-breaking extreme heat events also occurred in January 2013, when Pretoria experienced temperatures exceeding 37 °C (99 °F) on several days. The year 2014 was one of the wettest on record for the city. A total of 914 mm (36 in) fell up to the end of December, with 220 mm (9 in) recorded in this month alone. In 2015, Pretoria saw its worst drought since 1982; the month of November 2015 saw new records broken for high temperatures, with 43 °C (109 °F) recorded on 11 November after three weeks of temperatures between 35 °C (95 °F) and 43 °C (109 °F). Pretoria reached a new record high of 42.7 °C (108.9 °F) on 7 January 2016.[15]
Climate data for Pretoria, elevation 1,308 m (4,291 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1951–1990)
Depending on the extent of the area understood to constitute "Pretoria", the population ranges from 700,000[20] to 2.95 million.[21] The main languages spoken in Pretoria areSepedi,Setswana,Xitsonga,Tshivenda,Afrikaans, and English. The city of Pretoria has the largest white population in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since its founding, it has been a majorAfrikaner population centre, and there are roughly 1 million Afrikaners living in or around the city.
Even since the end of Apartheid, Pretoria itself has had a white majority, albeit with an ever-increasing black middle-class. However, in the townships ofMamelodi,Soshanguve andAtteridgeville black people make up close to all of the population. The largest white ethnic group are theAfrikaners and the largest black ethnic group are theNorthern Sothos.
The lower estimate for the population of Pretoria includes largely former white-designated areas, and there is therefore a white majority. However, including the geographically separate townships increases Pretoria's population beyond a million and makes whites a minority.
Pretoria'sIndians were ordered to move from Pretoria toLaudium on 6 June 1958.[22]
Pretoria is known as the "Jacaranda City" due to the approximately 50,000Jacarandas that line its streets. Purple is a colour often associated with the city and is often included on local council logos and services such as theA Re Yeng rapid bus system and the logo of the localJacaranda FM radio station.
Pretoria has over the years had very diverse cultural influences and this is reflected in the architectural styles that can be found in the city. It ranges from 19th century Dutch, German and Britishcolonial architecture tomodern,postmodern,neomodern, andart deco architecture styles with a good mix of a uniquely South African style.
Despite the many corporate offices, small businesses, shops, and government departments that are situated inPretoria's sprawling suburbs, its Central Business District still retains its status as the traditional centre of government and commerce. Many banks, businesses, large corporations, shops, shopping centres, and other businesses are situated in the city centre which is towered by several large skyscrapers, the tallest of which is the Poyntons Building (110 m or 360 ft tall), the ABSA Building (132 m or 433 ft tall) and theReserve Bank of South Africa building (150 m or 490 ft tall).[23]
Several National Departments also have Head Offices in the Central Business district such as the Department of Health, Basic Education, Transport, Higher Education and Training, Sport and Recreation, Justice and Constitutional Development, Public Service and Administration, Water and Environmental Affairs and the National Treasury. The district also has a high number of residential buildings which house people who primarily work in the district.
Pretoria's nickname "the Jacaranda City" comes from the around 70,000 jacaranda trees that grow in Pretoria and decorate the city each October with their purple blossoms. The first two trees were planted in 1888 in the garden of local gardener,J.D. Cilliers, at Myrtle Lodge on Celliers Street inSunnyside. He obtained the seedlings from a Cape Town nurseryman who had harvested them inRio de Janeiro, Brazil. The two trees still stand on the grounds of the Sunnyside Primary School.
The jacaranda comes from tropical South America and belongs to the familyBignoniaceae. There are around fifty species of jacaranda, but the one found most often in the warmer areas ofSouthern Africa isJacaranda mimosifolia.
At the end of the 19th century, the flower and tree grower James Clark imported jacaranda seedlings from Australia and began growing them on a large scale. In November 1906, he donated two hundred small saplings to the Pretoria City Council, which planted them on Koch Street (today Bosman Street). The city engineer Walton Jameson, soon known as "Jacaranda Jim", launched a programme to plant jacaranda trees throughout Pretoria, and by 1971 there would already be 55,000 of them in the city.
Most jacarandas in Pretoria are lilac in colour, but there are also white ones planted on Herbert Baker Street inGroenkloof.
The Jacaranda Carnival is an old tradition that was held from 1939 to 1964. After a hiatus of over twenty years, it resumed in 1985. Festivities include a colourful march and the crowning of the Jacaranda Queen.[25]
Pretoria Station is a departure point for theBlue Train luxury train.Rovos Rail,[27] a luxury mainline train safari service operates from the colonial-style railway station at Capital Park.[28] The South African Friends of the Rail have recently moved their vintage train trip operations from the Capital Park station to the Hercules station.[29]
Various bus companies exist in Pretoria, of whichPUTCO is one of the oldest and most recognised. Tshwane municipality provides the remainder of the bus services.[30]
TheN1 is the major freeway that runs through Pretoria. It enters the city from the south as theBen Schoeman Highway. At the Brakfontein Interchange inCenturion, the Ben Schoeman Highway becomes theN14 to Pretoria Central, the N1 turns north-east, then north, as theEastern Bypass, bisecting the large expanse of the eastern suburbs, routing traffic fromJohannesburg toPolokwane and the north of the country.[31] The N1 is atoll road north of Pretoria. TheR101 is the original N1, and served the same function before the construction of the highway. It runs through the centre of the city on regular streets rather than the eastern suburbs.[31]
TheN4 enters the city as a highway fromeMalahleni in the east, merging with the N1 at the Proefplaas Interchange. It begins again north of the city, branching west from the N1 as thePlatinum Highway, forming theNorthern Bypass, and heading toRustenburg.[31] The N4 runs east–west through South Africa, connectingMaputo toGaborone.[32] The N4 is a toll road. Before the Platinum Highway was built, the N4 continued passed the Proefplaas Interchange to the city centre, where it became a regular road, before again becoming a partially-tolled highway west of the city towardsHartbeespoort. These roads through the city centre are now designated as theM2 (from the Proefplaas Interchange toArcadia) and theM4 (from Arcadia to Hartbeespoort).
There is a third, original east–west road: theR104, previously named Church Street, also from eMalahleni in the east through Pretoria to Hartbeespoort and Rustenburg in the west.[31] Church Street has been renamed as Stanza Bopape Street from the M16 to Nelson Mandela Drive (M3),[33] Helen Joseph Street from theM3 toChurch Square,[33] WF Nkomo Street from Church Square to theR511 (south-east of Hartbeespoort)[33] and Elias Motswaledi Street from the R511 toPelindaba.[33]
TheN14 starts from the R101 just south of the Pretoria CBD, heading south as theBen Schoeman Freeway. At the Brakfontein interchange inCenturion, the Ben Schoeman Freeway becomes the N1 to Johannesburg, and the N14 continues as the intersecting west-south-westerly highway towardsKrugersdorp.[31] TheR114 parallels the N14 from Centurion toMuldersdrift.[31]
TheR21 provides a second north–south highway, further east. It starts from the Fountains Circle south of the city centre, heading south-east toMonument Park, where it becomes a highway. It crosses the N1 at the Flying Saucer Interchange and runs north–south towardsEkurhuleni (specificallyKempton Park andBoksburg).[31] Importantly, it links Pretoria with theOR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park.[31]
TheR80 highway (Mabopane Highway) is a highway in the north-west of the city. The highway begins inSoshanguve and it terminates just north of the city centre (inRoseville) at an intersection with theM1.[31]
Pretoria is also served by many regional roads. TheR55 starts at an interchange with the R80, and runs north–south fromPretoria West toSandton.[31] TheR50 starts from the N1 in the south-east of the city, and heads south-east towardsBapsfontein andDelmas.[31] TheR511 runs north–south from Sandton towardsBrits and barely by-passes Pretoria to the west.[31] TheR514 starts from the M1, north of the city centre, and terminates at the R511 in Hartbeespoort.[31] TheR513 crosses Pretoria's northern suburbs from east to west. It links Pretoria toCullinan andBronkhorstspruit in the east andHartbeespoort in the west.[31] TheR566 takes origin in Pretoria's northern suburbs, connecting Pretoria to Brits.[31] TheR573 (also calledMoloto Road) starts from the R513, just east of the town and heads north-east toKwaMhlanga andSiyabuswa.[31]
For scheduled air services, Pretoria is served by Johannesburg's airports:OR Tambo International, 45 km (28 mi) south of central Pretoria; andLanseria, 35 km (22 mi) south-west of the city.Wonderboom Airport in the suburb of Annlin in the north of Pretoria primarily services light commercial and private aircraft. However, as from August 2015, scheduled flights from Wonderboom Airport toCape Town International Airport were made available bySA Airlink. There are two military air bases to the south of the city,Swartkop andWaterkloof.
There are many radio stations in the greater Pretoria region, some of note are:
Jacaranda FM, previously known as Jacaranda 94.2, is a commercial South African radio station, broadcasting in English and Afrikaans, with a footprint that covers Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the North West Province and boasts a listening audience of 2 million people a week, and a digital community of more than 1,1 million people a month. The station's format is mainstream adult contemporary with programming constructed around a playlist of hit music from the 1980s, 1990s and now.
Tuks FM is the radio station of theUniversity of Pretoria and one of South Africa's community broadcasters. It was one of the first community broadcasters in South Africa to be given an FM licence. It is known for contemporary music and is operated by UP's student base.
Radio Pretoria is a community-based radio station in Pretoria, South Africa, whose programmes are aimed at Afrikaners. It broadcasts 24 hours a day in stereo on 104.2 FM in the greater Pretoria area. Various other transmitters (with their own frequencies) in South Africa broadcast the station's content further afield, while the station is also available onSentech's digital satellite platform.
Impact Radio, is a Christian Community Radio Station based in Pretoria, and broadcasting on 103FM in the Greater Tshwane Area.
The city is serviced by a variety of printed publications namely;
Pretoria News is a daily newspaper established in Pretoria in 1898. It publishes a daily edition from Monday to Friday and a Weekend edition on Saturday and Sunday. It is an independent newspaper in the English language that serves the city and its direct environs. It is available online via the Independent online website.
Beeld is an Afrikaans-language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. Beeld is distributed in four provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West. Die Beeld (English: The Image) was an Afrikaans-language Sunday newspaper in the late 1960s.
Pretoria Sotho (called Sepitori by its speakers)[34] is the urbanlingua franca of Pretoria and theTshwane metropolitan area inSouth Africa. It is a combination ofTswana andNorthern Sotho (Pedi), with influences fromTsotsitaal and other black South African languages. It is a creole language that developed in the city during the years of Apartheid.
A number of popular South African bands and musicians are originally from Pretoria. These include Desmond and the Tutus, Bittereinder, The Black Cat Bones,Seether, popular mostwako rapperJR, Joshua na die Reën andDJ Mujava who was raised in the town of Attridgeville.
The song "Marching to Pretoria" refers to this city. Pretoria was the capital of theSouth African Republic (a.k.a. Republic of the Transvaal; 1852–1881 and 1884–1902) the principal battleground for theFirst andSecond Boer War, the latter which brought both the Transvaal and the Orange Free State republic under British rule. "Marching to Pretoria" was one of the songs that British soldiers sang as they marched from theCape Colony, under British Rule since 1814, to the capital of the Southern African Republic (or in Dutch,Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek). As the song's refrain puts it: "We are marching to Pretoria, Pretoria, Pretoria/We are marching to Pretoria, Pretoria, Hurrah."[37]
The opening line ofJohn Lennon'sBeatles' songI Am the Walrus, "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together", is often believed to be based on the lyric "I'm with you and you're with me and so we are all together"[38] in "Marching to Pretoria". Lennon denied this, insisting his lyrics came from "nothing".[39]
Pretoria is home to an extensive portfolio of public art. A diverse and evolving city, Pretoria boasts a vibrant art scene and a variety of works that range from sculptures to murals to pieces by internationally and locally renowned artists. ThePretoria Art Museum is home to a vast collection of local artworks. After a bequest of 17th century Dutch artworks by Lady Michaelis in 1932 the art collection of Pretoria City Council expanded quickly to include South African works by HenkPierneef,Pieter Wenning,Frans Oerder,Anton van Wouw andIrma Stern.[40] And according to the museum: "As South African museums in Cape Town and Johannesburg already had good collections of 17th, 18th and 19th century European art, it was decided to focus on compiling a representative collection of South African art" making it somewhat unusual compared to its contemporaries.[40]
A 9 metre tall statue of former presidentNelson Mandela was unveiled in front of theUnion Buildings on 16 December 2013.[42] Since Nelson Mandela's inauguration as South Africa's first majority elected president the Union Buildings have come to represent the new 'Rainbow Nation'.[43] Public art in Pretoria has flourished since the2010 FIFA World Cup with many areas receiving new public artworks.[44]
Cricket is also a popular game in the city. As there is no international cricket stadium in the city, it does not host any top-class cricket tournaments, although the nearby situatedCenturion hasSupersport Park which is an international cricket stadium and has hosted many important tournaments such as2003 Cricket World Cup,2007 ICC World Twenty20,2009 IPL and2009 ICC Champions Trophy. The most local franchise team to Pretoria is theTitans, althoughNortherns occasionally play in the city in South Africa's provincial competitions. Many Pretoria born cricketers have gone on to play forSouth Africa, including former international captainsAB de VilliersFaf du Plessis.
The Pretoria Transnet Blind Cricket Club is situated in Pretoria and is the biggest Blind Cricket club in South Africa. Their field is at the Transnet Engineering campus on Lynette Street, home of differently disabled cricket. PTBCC has played many successful blind cricket matches with abled bodied teams such as the South African Indoor Cricket Team and TuksCricket Junior Academy. Northerns Blind Cricket is the Provincial body that governs PTBCC and Filefelfia Secondary School. The Northern Blind Cricket team won the 40 over National Blind Cricket tournament that was held in Cape Town in April 2014.[48]
Pretoria has a small Jewish community of around 3,000.[52] Jewish citizens have been in Pretoria since its foundation in the 19th century and played an important role in its industrial and economic growth. A Mr. De Vries, the first Jewish inhabitant of Pretoria, was a prominent citizen and prosecutor, a member of theVolksraad and a pioneer of theAfrikaans language. Another famed Jewish Pretorian wasSammy Marks.
Other early Jewish settlers, many of them immigrants fromLithuania, were not as educated as De Vries and often did not speak Dutch, Afrikaans, or English. Many of them spoke onlyYiddish and made a living as shopkeepers in the local retail industry. Most Jewish residents stayed neutral in theSecond Boer War, though some joined theSouth African Republic army.
The first congregation was founded between 1890 and 1895, and in 1898 the first synagogue,The Old Synagogue opened on Paul Kruger Street.[53] A second synagogue, known as the Great Synagogue, opened in 1922. Both synagogues are no longer in operation, but aReformed synagogue, Temple Menorah, opened in the early 1950s.
The Jewish community of Pretoria's golden age was in the early 20th century, when many Jewish sports clubs, charities, and youth groups flourished. After 1948, many Jews left for Cape Town or Johannesburg.
The Old Synagogue on Paul Kruger Street was purchased by the government in 1952 to become the new home of the High Court where prominent opposition figures in theAnti-Apartheid Movement were tried, includingNelson Mandela,Walter Sisulu, and 26 others were prosecuted for treason from 1 August 1958 to 29 March 1961; theRivonia Trial was held there in 1963–1964.[53]
Two Jewish schools arose in Pretoria, the Miriam Marks School, which was founded in 1905, and the Carmel School, which opened in 1959. Only the second, currently also operating as a synagogue, remains. Pretoria's Reformed congregation shares a rabbi with the Johannesburg one, though the synagogue no longer operates and services take place in worshippers' private homes.
ABuddhist centre, the Jang Chup Chopel Rigme Centre ("Centre of Light") was founded in early January 2015 by Duan Pienaar or Gyalten Nyima (his adopted monastic name) inWaverley around Pretoria-Moot. Pienaar is the only Afrikaner ordained in the highly selectiveTibetanTantric Buddhist community inBylakuppe, in southern India. His instructorLamaKyabje Choden Rinpoche is the highest tantric master after theDalai Lama. Pienaar, who studied Buddhist teachers for twenty years, spent two years in India.[54][55]
The Pretoria civic arms, designed by Frans Engelenburg,[56] were granted by theCollege of Arms on 7 February 1907. They were registered with the Transvaal Provincial Administration in March 1953[57] and at theBureau of Heraldry in May 1968.[58] The Bureau provided new artwork, in a more modern style, in 1989.[59]
The arms were:Gules, on an mimosa tree eradicated proper within an orle of eight bees volant, Or, an inescutcheon Or and thereon a Roman praetor seated proper. In layman's terms: a red shield displaying an uprooted mimosa tree surrounded by a border of eight golden bees, superimposed on the tree is a golden shield depicting a Roman praetor. The tree represented growth, the bees industry, and the praetor (judge) was an heraldic pun on the name.
The crest was a three-towered golden castle; the supporters were an eland and a kudu; and the mottoPraestantia praevaleat Pretoria.The coat of arms have gone out of favour after the City Council amalgamated with its surrounding councils to form theCity of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality.
Pretoria is one of South Africa's leading academic cities and is home to both the largest residential university in South Africa, largest distance education university in South Africa and a research intensive university.[60] The three Universities in the city in order of the year founded are as follows:
TheUniversity of South Africa (commonly referred to as Unisa), founded in 1873 as theUniversity of the Cape of Good Hope, is the largest university on the African continent and attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. It spent most of its early history as an examining agency for Oxford and Cambridge universities and as an incubator from which most other universities in South Africa are descended. In 1946 it was given a new role as a distance education university and in 2012 it had a student headcount of over 300,000 students, including African and international students in 130 countries worldwide, making it one of the world's mega universities. Unisa is a dedicated open distance education institution and offers both vocational and academic programmes.
TheUniversity of Pretoria (commonly referred to as UP, Tuks, or Tukkies) is a multi campuspublic research university.[61] The university was established in 1908 as the Pretoria campus of theJohannesburg basedTransvaal University College and is the fourth South African institution in continuous operation to be awarded university status. Established in 1920, theUniversity of Pretoria Faculty of Veterinary Science is the second oldestveterinary school in Africa and the only veterinary school in South Africa.[62] In 1949 the university launched the first MBA programme outside of North America.[63][64] Since 1997, the university has produced more research outputs every year than any other institution of higher learning in South Africa, as measured by the Department of Education's accreditation benchmark.[65]
TheTshwane University of Technology (commonly referred to as TUT) is ahigher education institution, offeringvocational oriented diplomas and degrees, and came into being through a merger of Technikon Northern Gauteng, Technikon North-West and Technikon Pretoria. TUT caters for approximately 60,000 students and it has become the largest residential higher education institution in South Africa.
TheCouncil for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is South Africa's central scientific research and development organisation. It was established by an act ofparliament in 1945 and is situated on its owncampus in the city.[66] It is the largest research and development organisation in Africa and accounts for about 10% of the entire African R&D budget. It has a staff of approximately 3,000 technical and scientific researchers, often working in multi-disciplinary teams. In 2002, Sibusiso Sibisi was appointed as the president and CEO of the CSIR.
Pretoria has earned a reputation as being the centre of South Africa's Military and is home to several military facilities of theSouth African National Defence Force:
Thaba Tshwane is a large military area south-west of the Pretoria Central Business District and North ofAir Force Base Swartkop. It is the headquarters of several army units-
Joint Support Base Garrison that is responsible for the town management of Thaba Tshwane
The Tshwane Regiment, a reservemotorised infantry regiment of the South African Army[71]
The military base also houses the 1 Military Hospital and the Military Police School. Within Thaba Tshwane, a facility known as "TEK Base" exists which houses its own units:
The Wonderboom Military Base is located adjacent to the Wonderboom Airport and is the headquarters of theSouth African Army Signals Formation. It also houses the School of Signals, 1 Signal Regiment, 2 Signal Regiment, 3 Electronic Workshop, 4 Signal Regiment and 5 Signal Regiment.[72]
TheSouth African Air Force College, theSouth African Military Health Service School for Military Health Training and theSouth African Army College are situated in the Thaba Tshwane Military Base and are used to train Commissioned and Non-commissioned Officers to perform effectively in combat/command roles in the various branches of the South African National Defence Force. The South African Defence Intelligence College is also located in the Sterrewag Suburb north ofAir Force Base Waterkloof.[67][73]
While technically not within the city limits of Pretoria,Air Force Base Swartkop andAir Force Base Waterkloof are often used for defence related matters within the city. These may include aerial military transport duties within the city, aerospace monitoring and defence as well as VIP transport to and from the city.
On 26 May 2005 theSouth African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC), which is linked to the Directorate of Heritage in the Department of Arts and Culture, approved changing the name of Pretoria toTshwane, which is already the name of the Metropolitan Municipality[74] in which Pretoria and a number of surrounding cities are located. Although the name change was approved by the SAGNC, it was not approved by the Minister of Arts and Culture, who at the time requested further research on the matter. Should the Minister approve the name change, the name will be published in the Government Gazette, giving the public opportunity to comment on the matter. The Minister can then refer that public response back to the SAGNC before presenting a recommendation before parliament for a vote. Various public interest groups warned that any name change would be challenged in court, should the minister approve it. The long process involved makes a name change less likely.
The Tshwane Metro Council has advertised "Africa's leading capital city" asTshwane since the SAGNC decision in 2005. This has led to further controversy, however, as the name of the city had not yet been changed, and the council was, at best, acting prematurely. When a complaint was lodged with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), it ruled that such advertisements are deliberately misleading and should be withdrawn from all media.[75] Despite the rulings of the ASA, Tshwane Metro Council failed to discontinue their "City of Tshwane" advertisements. As a result, the ASA requested that Tshwane Metro pay for advertisements in which it admits that it has misled the public. After refusing to abide by the ASA's request, the Metro Council was banned from placing any advertisements in the South African media that refer to the capital as Tshwane. ASA may still place additional sanctions on the Metro Council that would prevent it from placing any advertisements in the South African media, including council notices and employment vacancies.[76][77]
After the ruling, the Metro Council continued to placeTshwane advertisements, but placed them on council-owned advertising boards and busstops throughout the municipal area. In August 2007, an internal memo was leaked to the media in which the Tshwane mayor sought advice from the premier of Gauteng on whether the municipality could be called the "City of Tshwane" instead of just "Tshwane".[78] This could increase confusion about the distinction between the city of Pretoria and the municipality of Tshwane.
In early 2010 it was again rumoured that the South African government would make a decision regarding the name; however, a media briefing regarding name changes, which could have been an opportunity to discuss it, was cancelled shortly before taking place.[79] Rumours of the name change provoked outrage from Afrikaner civil rights and political groups.[80] It later emerged that the registration of the municipality as a geographic place had been published in thegovernment gazette as it had been too late to withdraw the name from the publication,[81] but it was announced that the name had been withdrawn, pending "further work" by officials.[82][83] The following week, the registration of "Tshwane" was officially withdrawn in the Government Gazette.[84][85] The retraction had reportedly been ordered at the behest of theDeputy President of South AfricaKgalema Motlanthe, acting on behalf of President Jacob Zuma, as minister of Arts and CultureLulu Xingwana had acted contrary to the position of the ANC, which is that Pretoria and the municipality are separate entities, which was subsequently articulated by ANC secretary generalGwede Mantashe.[86]
In March 2010 a group supporting the name change, calling themselves the "Tshwane Royal House Committee", claimed to be descendants of Chief Tshwane and demanded to be made part of the administration of the municipality.[87]
According to comments made by MayorKgosientso Ramokgopa in late 2011, the change would occur in 2012.[88][89] However, there remained considerable uncertainty about the issue.[90]
As of 2024[update], the proposed name change has not occurred.
^Population, according to the2007 Community SurveyArchived 25 August 2013 at theWayback Machine, of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality after the 2011 annexation of the Metsweding District Municipality.
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