Alberton, Gauteng

Alberton is a town situated on the East Rand of Gauteng Province in South Africa which celebrated its centenary year in 2005. As of 2007 it had a population of 202,202. It is known as a typical bedroom community, a community primarily residential in character, with most of its workers commuting to work in nearby suburbs or cities. The town has multiple access roads to all major freeways in Gauteng. Alberton is situated on the banks of the Natal Spruit close to the major urban centres of Johannesburg (15 kilometres southeast) and Pretoria (76 kilometres).

Founding and history

At the age of 13 a boy by the name of Johannes Petrus Meyer bought 11 hectares of his father’s farm Elandsfontein. He later built a house next to the Alberton stream or Natalspruit, close to where the civic centre stands today, and married. After his wife died in 1870 at the birth of their fourth daughter, he decided to start a general store and built his farmhouse mansion in 1890. The house was miraculously left unharmed during the Anglo Boer War of 1899–1902 and can still be seen today from the bypassing N12 freeway.

Gauteng

Gauteng (/xaʊˈtɛŋ/; Sotho pronunciation [xɑ́.ú.ˈtʼè.ŋ̀]) which means "gold" is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994. It was initially named Pretoria–Witwatersrand–Vereeniging (PWV) and was renamed "Gauteng" in December 1994.

Situated in the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province in South Africa, accounting for only 1.5% of the land area. Nevertheless, it is highly urbanised, containing the country's largest city, Johannesburg, its administrative capital, Pretoria, and other large industrial areas such as Midrand and Vanderbijlpark. As of 2015, it has a population of nearly 13.2 million, making it the most populous province in South Africa.

Etymology

The name Gauteng is derived from the Sotho name, "gauta" meaning "gold" with [locative suffix "-eng"]. This is due to the thriving gold industry in the province following the 1886 discovery of gold in Johannesburg. In Sesotho the name "Gauteng" was used for Johannesburg and surrounding areas long before it was adopted in 1994 as the official name of a province.

Gauteng cricket team

Gauteng cricket team (formerly Transvaal cricket team) is the first-class cricket team of the province of Gauteng (previously Transvaal; Gauteng was called Transvaal from April 1890 to April 1997) in South Africa. Under the main competition's various names – the Currie Cup, then the Castle Cup, now the SuperSport Series – Transvaal/Gauteng cricket team has been the most successful of the South African domestic sides, winning 25 times. The club's most glorious period was the 1980s when they were dubbed the "Mean Machine".

For the purposes of the SuperSport Series, Gauteng has merged with North West (formerly Western Transvaal) to form the Highveld Lions or, more simply, "the Lions". (from October 2004 to the present time).

Honours