Soshanguve

Soshanguve is a township situated about 30 km north of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The name Soshanguve is an acronym for SOtho, SHAngaan, NGUni and VEnda, thus showing the multi-ethnic composition of the population (Mashabela 1988:138). The major African languages of South Africa are heard in Soshanguve.

Soshanguve
Soshanguve
Soshanguve
Soshanguve
Coordinates: 25°31′25″S 28°6′0″E
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceGauteng
MunicipalityCity of Tshwane
Main PlacePretoria
Area
  Total126.77 km2 (48.95 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[1]
  Total403,162
  Density3,200/km2 (8,200/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
  Black African99.2%
  Coloured0.3%
  Indian/Asian0.1%
  White0.1%
  Other0.4%
First languages (2011)
  Northern Sotho28.2%
  Tswana16.7%
  Tsonga15.1%
  Zulu13.6%
  Other26.5%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
0152
PO box
0164
Area code012

The acronym divided the Soshanguve residents according to their tribe when they were resettled from Mamelodi and Atteridgeville in 1974. While this was to make admin easy for the apartheid government, it left a community divided and suspicious of each other. More than 20 years later, there are still remnants of the past but there is integration of cultures. The people of Soshanguve arguably are the most multilingual of South Africans.

Tswaing, meaning Place of Salt in Setswana, is a 2000-hectare heritage site, some 40 km north-west of Central Pretoria, surrounded by settlements inhabited by more than a million people, such as Winterveld, Soshanguve, Mabopane and Eersterus, near Hammanskraal.

Notable People

DJ Maphorisa

Places of interest

References

  1. "Main Place Soshanguve". Census 2011.
  2. South African Fab Labs
  3. Mandavilli, Apoorva (2006). "Make anything, anywhere". Nature. 442 (7105): 862–864. doi:10.1038/442862a. PMID 16929273.


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