Randburg

Randburg
Randburg Location of the town in Gauteng
Randburg
Coordinates: 26°5′37″S 28°0′23″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Gauteng
Municipality	City of Johannesburg
Area
• Total	134.33 km2 (51.87 sq mi)
Population (2001)
• Total	133,899
• Density	997/km2 (2,580/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2001)
• Black African	26.9%
• Coloured	2%
• Indian/Asian	4.4%
• White	66.7%
First languages (2001)
• English	60.9%
• Afrikaans	13.7%
• Zulu	5.8%
• Tswana	4.6%
• Other	15%
Time zone	SAST (UTC+2)

Randburg is an area located in northern Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. Formerly a separate municipality, its administration devolved to the newly created City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, along with neighbouring Sandton and Roodepoort, in the late 1990s. During the transitional period of 1996-2000, Randburg was part of the Northern Metropolitan Local Council (MLC)[1].

Randburg was founded as a town in 1959, as the amalgamation of 32 suburbs, northwest of Johannesburg. Although economically linked to Johannesburg, residents chose to create their own town council. The name Randburg was chosen in a competition, and is derived from the Rand currency, which was introduced at around the same time that the new municipality was established in 1959.[2] Randburg was a stronghold of the National Party during the apartheid era.[3][4]

The resident demographic of Randburg tends to be more affluent than most of Johannesburg. The area was declared as a white area during the Apartheid era, but post-apartheid has attracted a varied population. It is still predominated by white English and Afrikaans suburban citizens.

Randburg is well known for its plethora of shopping malls and entertainment nodes, including the Brightwater Commons, Cresta Centre, Northgate and the Randburg Square (formerly Sanlam Shopping Centre) among various others.

Randburg contains numerous suburbs; many of these are residential. Some larger areas include Blairgowrie, Ferndale, Kensington B, Darrenwood, Linden, Cresta, Aldara Park, Olivedale, Randpark Ridge, Boskruin and Fairlands, Gauteng. Randburg is not a regulated area anymore; local citizens would roughly define the town from the southern suburbs of Linden, Northcliff and Cresta, to the north in Olivedale and Strijdom Park.

Economy

Hellenic Imperial Airways has its South Africa offices in the Holiday House in Randburg.

Multichoice and its associated companies M-Net and SuperSport have their head offices in Randburg.

The central business district of Randburg had fallen into decay starting in the 1990's[5], and plans were made to revive the CBD by the Johannesburg municipality. [6]