Midrand is a town in central

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 ...

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 situated in-between Centurion and Sandton. Formerly an independent municipality, Midrand now forms part of the

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 ...

History

Midrand was established as a municipality in 1981 (in an area known as '' Halfway House'', named after its position 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 ...

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 ...

), but ceased to be an independent town in the restructuring of local government that followed the end of apartheid in 1994. It was incorporated in the

in 2000. It was made part of Region 2 and, as of 2006, when the number of regions were reduced to seven, it forms part of Region A of the City of Johannesburg. Though no longer an independent town, the name Midrand is still in common use to denote the suburbs around the N1 highway north of the Jukskei River up to the border with the

City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ), also known as the City of Tshwane (), is the Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng in South Africa. The metro ...

(this portion of the N1 highway is also known as the Ben Schoeman Highway). Suburbs that are generally regarded as being in Midrand include among others: Country View, Carlswald,

Crowthorne Crowthorne is a village, and civil parish, in the Bracknell Forest district of southeastern Berkshire, England. It had a population of 7,806 at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census. Crowthorne is the location of Wellington College, Be ...

, Ebony Park, Glen Austin, Ivory Park, Kaalfontein, Rabie Ridge, Halfway House, Halfway Gardens, Vorna Valley, Noordwyk, Randjesfontein, Randjespark, Blue Hills, Kyalami Agricultural Holdings and Waterfall City. In 2010, it was reported that the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality wished to annex Midrand from the City of Johannesburg, reportedly to boost its income, which was severely strained. The city is relatively modern, having experienced much growth in the last decade. Many businesses have relocated there due to its proximity to good highway links and its location in the economic centre of Gauteng Province. The development of Midrand has resulted in little break between the outskirts of Johannesburg and those of Pretoria.

Government

The South African Civil Aviation Authority is headquartered in Midrand, as is the Railway Safety Regulator (RSR), and the National Credit Regulator. Midrand is also the location of the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The b ...

Pan-African Parliament The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. It held its inaugural session in March 2004. The Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, ha ...

and of the NEPAD secretariat.

Politics

Geography

As the name suggests, Midrand lies centrally within the Gauteng province positioned halfway between

to the south (27 km) and

to the north (30 km). It forms the northernmost part of the

, bordering two other metropolitan municipalities within Gauteng namely the City of Tshwane to the north and the City of Ekurhuleni to the east. Midrand is flanked by Centurion to the north, Sandton to the south and Thembisa to the east.

Landmarks

Midrand has the largest conference centre in South Africa which is known as Gallagher Estate which was built on the former site of Halfway House Primary School, which subsequently moved to new grounds near the fire station. A landmark of Midrand is the Nizamiye Mosque, opened in 2012, the largest mosque in South Africa. The Classical Turkish-style

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

was personally funded by Turkish-born construction tycoon Ali Katircioglu at a cost of R210 million. The largest single-phase shopping mall built in Africa, The Mall of Africa, is located in the Waterfall City precinct of the town. It is now also home to the new headquarters for a multinational auditing-finance company, PWC. (Constructed b
WSP
Visible, as currently (2018) the only skyscraper in Midrand. It will however be rivaled by its upcoming twin, The Falcon Building. Both the Falcon and PWC are in the same complex as Mall of Africa. Other landmarks include the Boulders Shopping centre, so named after the heritage site housing huge granite rocks which are approximately 3.5-billion years old.

Business

Midrand is a thriving business node, home to the offices of major corporations such as Vodacom,

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, Neotel, and Altech Autopage as well as an array of small and medium enterprises. In 2013, Atterbury Properties announced plans to build the Mall of Africa, which would be one of the continent's largest. The Mall of Africa is located within the green, mixed-use Waterfall City precinct. The N1 Business Park and International Business Gateway are among the commercial developments in Midrand. The latest industrial development is calle
Waterfall Logistics Precinct

Education

The University of South Africa's Graduate School of Business Leadership is located in Midrand. The Pearson Institute of Higher Education formerly known as Midrand Graduate Institute, was officially opened on 9 May 1990. A Varsity College campus was established in 2012. Macmillan Education South Africa relocated their offices in June 2017 from Melrose Arch. There are primary and high schools located in several areas.

Sports

Kyalami, an international renowned racetrack is in Midrand and is the venue for many of South Africa's premier motor racing events. The South African Lipizzaners riding academy is situated in the

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

s of Kyalami.

Transport

Midrand lies along the N1 ( Ben Schoeman Freeway) which runs through the town in a northerly direction from

. Midrand is connected to the N1 by the M39 Allandale Road, M71 New Road, R562 Olifantsfontein Road and the M36 Samrand Road in Centurion. The N3 ( Eastern Bypass) lying just south of Midrand, intersects the N1 at the Buccleuch Interchange and runs southwards to Germiston and

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. Midrand is intersected by three regional routes, namely; the R101 (Pretoria Main Road) from Sandton to Centurion and

, the R55 from Sandton to Centurion and Pretoria and the R562 from Thembisa to Diepsloot. Metropolitan routes within the Greater Johannesburg metropolitan region that intersect in Midrand include the M38 (Modderfontein Road; Allan Road) and M39 (Allandale Road), both connecting the town with Kempton Park to the south-east. Midrand is the home of Grand Central Airport and also to one of the stations in the Gautrain rapid rail system on the route from

to Sandton.

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as subtropical highland (Cwb).

References

External links

Midrand Chamber of Commerce

Midrand Free Business Directory, Community Forum and Classifieds
{{Authority control Johannesburg Region A