Johannesburg is the capital of the Gauteng Province in South Africa and the site of the South African Constitutional Court. Johannesburg is the city with the biggest population in South Africa, with more than three million residents, according to the 2001 Statistics South Africa Census. The Greater Johannesburg Metropolitan Area has almost eight million residents, making this one of the 35 largest metropolitan areas in the world.
Local residents have nicknamed the city "Jo'burg", "Jozi", and "eGoli" - a Zulu name meaning "city of gold".
Geography And Climate
Johannesburg is located in the eastern plateau area of South Africa, known as the Highveld, at an altitude of 1750 metres.
Johannesburg enjoys a dry, sunny climate, with average maximum summer temperatures of around 26�C, and average maximum winter temperatures of around 20�C. Johannesburg experiences fairly mild winters, but the temperature occasionally drops to below freezing, causing frost.
The annual average rainfall is 600 mm to 800 mm, with occasional late afternoon thunderstorms and lightning from October to April.
Despite Johannesburg's relatively dry climate, local residents and the Johannesburg city council have planting an abundance of trees. The city prides itself on having around six million planted trees, which has created a forest-like appearance, especially in the lush northern suburbs.
Demographics
34 percent of Johannesburg residents speak Nguni languages at home, 26 percent speak Sotho languages, 19 percent speak English, and 8 percent speak Afrikaans.
Johannesburg residents are mainly Christian, with 53 percent belonging to mainstream Christian churches, 24 percent being atheist, 14 percent of the population are members of African Independent Churches, 3 percent are Muslim, 1 percent are Jewish, and 1 percent are Hindu.
Economy
Johannesburg is the economic and financial centre of South Africa and produces 16 percent of South Africa's gross domestic product.
The importance of mining as the foundation of the Witwatersrand economy is gradually declining. Gold mining no longer takes place within the Johannesburg city limits, but most mining companies still have their headquarters in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg's JSE Securities Exchange is Africa's largest stock exchange. Many banking and commercial companies are also located in Johannesburg.
Johannesburg has a great variety of manufacturing industries, including steel and cement plants.
Due to its commercial importance, a number of government branch offices, as well as consular offices and other institutions usually found only in capital cities, are located in Johannesburg.
The Witwatersrand urban complex's continued economic and population growth has depended on schemes to divert water from other regions of South Africa and from the highlands of Lesotho. Johannesburg is a major water consumer in a dry region, and additional sources of water will be needed early in the 21st century.
The container terminal at City Deep is the largest "dry port" in the world. Around 60 percent of all the cargo that arrives through the port of Durban are transported to Johannesburg.
Johannesburg houses some of the most prestigious shopping centres in South Africa.
Johannesburg media
Several newspapers and magazines have their offices in Johannesburg.
Beeld is the leading Afrikaans newspaper, while the City Press, the third largest selling newspaper in South Africa, is a Sunday newspaper aimed mostly at black readers. The Sowetan is another major newspaper aimed mostly at black people. The Mail & Guardian is renowned as the leading investigative newspaper in the country, while the Sunday Times is the leading investigative Sunday newspaper. The Citizen is a tabloid-style paper, and The Star is a local newspaper that mostly covers Gauteng-related issues.
Johannesburg is the main centre for the South African broadcast media. Johannesburg is the headquarters of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, as well as M-Net and eTV, South Africa's two independent television stations. The Hillbrow Tower and the Sentech Tower are Johannesburg's two TV towers. Many radio stations, including YFM, 702, Highveld Stereo and 5FM transmit from here.
Johannesburg Suburbs
The different areas of Johannesburg have greatly differing personalities.
The Central Business District and the surrounding areas were formerly highly desired, wealthy areas, but they have lost their former reputation. Migrants and criminals have taken over many abandoned buildings in this area and crime levels rose accordingly.
The suburbs to the south of the city are mainly poor, extremely large and undistinguished residential areas and some of the old townships.
Wealthy Johannesburg residents have made the northern and northwestern suburbs their centre. This area contains the high-end retail shops and several upper-class residential areas including Houghton, which Nelson Mandela calls home today.
The northwestern area of Johannesburg is particularly vibrant and lively. Melville features a lively nightlife and the suburb of Sophiatown is a hotbed of political activity. Auckland Park, home to the headquarters of the South African Broadcasting Corporation and the University of Johannesburg, is located in this area.
To the southwest of central Johannesburg lies Soweto, a mostly black urban area constructed during the apartheid era to house African people removed from areas designated for white settlement. Soweto is one of the the poorest parts of Johannesburg.
Yeoville, in the eastern suburbs, is a poor area that offers a vibrant nightlife for the maily black include, a hot spot for a mainly black clientelle. Several of the residential areas of the eastern suburbs are slowly gaining respectability.
Transport
Ground transportation has been the most important method of transporting people and goods in Johannesburg, from the very beginning of the city's history. Johannesburg is therefore a sprawling city geared towards private motorists.
Three freeways converge in one of Africa's most famous ring roads, forming an 80-kilometre loop around the City of Johannesburg. The N3 Eastern Bypass links Johannesburg with Durban, the N1 Western Bypass links Johannesburg with Pretoria and Bloemfontein and the N12 Southern Bypass links Johannesburg with Witbank and Kimberley. The Johannesburg Ring Road is frequently congested with traffic.
Johannesburg lacks a convenient public transportation system.
Johannesburg's metro railway system, the cheapest form of transport, connects central Johannesburg to Soweto, Pretoria, and most of the satellite towns along the Witwatersrand. Huge numbers of workers depend on the Johannesburg railways to bring them to work every day. But the railway infrastructure was built in Johannesburg's early days and covers only the older areas in the south. None of the northern areas, including the key business districts of Sandton, Midrand, Randburg, and Rosebank, have any rail infrastructure.
The Gauteng Provincial Government has made plans for a rapid rail link, the Gautrain, which will run north to south, between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and east-west between Sandton and Johannesburg International Airport. The Gautrain is hoped to be ready in time for the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa. The Gautrain should alleviate some of the traffic congestion on the N1 freeway between Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Johannesburg International Airport, located just east of Johannesburg with six terminals housed in one building, is the largest and busiest airport in Africa and offers a gateway to the rest of southern Africa. Other Johannesburg airports include Rand Airport in Germiston, Grand Central Airport in Midrand, and Lanseria.
Johannesburg's bus service was once the centre of the local public transport system, but competition from private cars and minibus taxis drove it into decline. Metrobus operates a bus fleet of approximately 550 single and double-decker buses that serves 84 different routes in the Johannesburg area, with the main emphasis on providing affordable transport in lower-income areas.
Johannesburg has two kinds of taxis, conventional metered taxis and minibus taxis.
Metered taxis are rare and are not allowed to drive around Johannesburg looking for passengers. They must be called by phone and ordered to a destination. Major hotels often reserve bays for taxi companies, and reception staff in those that don't, can quickly make arrangements for visitors.
Minibus "taxis" are an essential form of transport for the majority of the Johannesburg population. This self-regulated industry has been the source of violent taxi wars fought over control of certain lucrative routes.Government has been making noises about formally regulating this huge industry in South Africa, which would considerably improve the safety of passengers, but nothing much has happened in this regard yet.
Minibus taxi drivers rush their fares to the destinations as quickly as possible in order to maximise returns and are the city's most notorious drivers, ducking wildly from lane to lane and stopping without warning whenever a passenger wishes to climb on or off. Despite frequent clampdowns by the South African traffic authorities, minibus taxis tend to be old and in poor condition. Use of the taxi system, for anything other than a short drive, requires an expert knowledge of the unwritten lore of hand signs indicating which taxi is travelling where, and an understanding of the various routes and how they intersect.
