West Rand District Municipality

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

The West Rand extends from Randfontein in the west to Roodepoort in the east, and includes the town of Krugersdorp. The areas of Carletonville and Westonaria are sometimes included as being part of the Far West Rand. The areas are economically linked to the city through the gold mining industry. Following the creation of the Johannesburg unicity in 1999, Roodepoort, which was traditionally always part of the West Rand, became part of Johannesburg municipality. After 1999, much of the area became part of the newly-formed West Rand District Municipality. [cite web|url=http://www.doh.gov.za/department/foodcontrol/sa_municipal/gau-municipal.html] |title=Municipalities of the Republic of South Africa: Gauteng]

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

District municipality

West Rand is one of the districts of Gauteng province of South Africa. The seat of West Rand is Randfontein. The majority of its 744 168 people speak Setswana (2001 Census). The district code is CBDC8.

Geography

Neighbours

West Rand is surrounded by:
* Bojanala Platinum (DC37) to the north
* Tshwane (Pretoria) to the north-east
* Johannesburg to the east
* Sedibeng (DC42) to the south-east
* Southern (DC40) to the south-west

Local municipalities

The district contains the following local municipalities:

Ethnic group

References

* [http://www.wrdm.gov.za/ West Rand DM Official Website]
* [http://www.demarcation.org.za/ Municipal Demarcation Board]
* [http://www.statssa.gov.za/census01/html/default.asp Stats SA Census 2001 page]
* [http://www.elections.org.za/Elections2004_Static.asp Independent Electoral Commission 2004 election results]