Olifantsfontein, also known as Clayville, is a small town on the

East Rand The East Rand is a major urban area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is the urban eastern part of Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. The region extends from Alberton in the west to ...

in the

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

Province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is located at the north-western corner of the

City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ; ) is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng, a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. ''Ekurhuleni'' means "place of peace" in Xi ...

, just north of the

Thembisa Thembisa, formerly Tembisa, is a large township situated to the north of Kempton Park on the East Rand, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1957 when black people were resettled from Alexandra and other areas in Edenvale, Kempton Park, ...

township. As of the 2011 Census, the town has a population of 14,526 people. Olifantsfontein is divided into 3 main suburbs, namely Clayville East (the entire area east of the passing Metrorail Line), Clayville Industrial (the entire area south of View Road, with many industrial operations) and Clayville CBD with its extensions (the area north of View Road). The R562 road (Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Road; formerly Olifantsfontein Road) forms the boundary between Clayville and the

Township. Clayville also has the Irene Village to the north and

Midrand Midrand is a town in central Gauteng, South Africa. It is situated in-between Centurion, Gauteng, Centurion and Sandton. Formerly an independent municipality, Midrand now forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History ...

to the west as its neighbours.

History

While Olifantsfontein is currently part of the

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ; ) is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng, a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. ''Ekurhuleni'' means "place of peace" in ...

, it has close historical ties with

in the neighbouring

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality () is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite se ...

. ''Olifantsfontein'' was established in the early 1840s by Frederik Andries Strydom as a farmland. It was only given the name ''Clayville'' in 1940. It was believed that the railway between

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

in the north and the

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand (, ; ; locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, w ...

in the south was going to pass through Halfway House (

) but when it was built, it passed through Olifantsfontein instead of Midrand and when the Olifantsfontein Railway Station was opened in 1892, it was also treated as a station serving Midrand.

Transport

Road

The R562 road (Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Road; formerly Olifantsfontein Road), which forms the boundary between Clayville and

, connects both towns to

in the west. The main north–south route through Clayville is the M18 route, which connects the Clayville CBD with

Irene Irene is a name derived from εἰρήνη (eirēnē), Greek for "peace". Irene, and related names, may refer to: * Irene (given name) Places * Irene, Gauteng, South Africa * Irene, South Dakota, United States * Irene, Texas, United States ...

and

Centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...

in the north and with the

CBD in the south. Clayville is bypassed to the east by two main routes, namely the M57 route and the R21 highway. Both roads connect Clayville with Kempton Park in the south and with

in the north.

Rail

Olifantsfontein has a station on the main Metrorail Route between

in the north and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

(via Kempton Park &

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions as the m ...

) in the south. It was opened in 1892.

References

Populated places in Ekurhuleni East Rand {{Gauteng-geo-stub