Mohlakeng is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

west of

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 ...

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 ...

History

The township was established in

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. The new location of Mohlakeng was established after African residents of the then old Randfontein township of Madubulaville was abolished by the apartheid regime to make way for the industrial site closer to Randfontein town.

Geography

Mohlakeng is where the large part of the

Randfontein Randfontein is a gold mining town in the West Rand, Gauteng, South Africa, west of Johannesburg. With the Witwatersrand gold rush in full swing, mining financier Sir Joseph Robinson, 1st Baronet, JB Robinson bought the farm Randfontein and, in ...

population is situated. It lies 7 kilometres south of

, and around 38 kilometres west of

. Mohlakeng has now grown about 15% in size in 2012 as compared to 2002. The former Executive Mayor of the

West Rand District Municipality The West Rand District Municipality (; ; ; ) is one of the districts of the Gauteng province of South Africa, that covers the West Rand area, with the exception of Roodepoort. The seat of the district municipality is Randfontein. As of 2011, the ...

hails from Mohlakeng.

Infrastructure

The community is served with Umphakathi mall, a police station, Mohlakeng Medical Centre, a refurbished Ramosa Hall, a soccer stadium and a recreation centre. Mohlakeng is surrounded by

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

in the east, Randfontein in the north and Westonaria in the south. Mohlakeng is accessible by the R28 Main Reef Road and the R559 Main Road.

Notable people

Notable people from Mohlakeng include: *

Peter Mathebula Peter Mathebula (3 July 1952 – 18 January 2020) was a South African professional boxer who held the WBA flyweight title from 1980 to 1981. Biography After he began his professional career in 1971, Mathebula became South African flyweight cha ...

, the first African World WBA Light-Weight Boxing Champion * Oupa Manyisa, soccer player * Donald Khuse, soccer player * Patrick Ntsoelengoe, soccer player *

Thembi Kgatlana Chrestinah Thembi Kgatlana (born 2 May 1996) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a Forward (soccer), forward for Liga MX Femenil club Tigres UANL (women), Tigres UANL Femenil and the South Africa women's national soccer tea ...

, soccer player * Makhehlene Makhaula, soccer player

References

Townships in Gauteng Populated places in the Rand West City Local Municipality {{Gauteng-geo-stub