South Africa: May Pretoria Be Pre-eminent In Excellence

Pretoria is a city in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. It is one of the country's three capital cities, serving as the executive (administrative) and de facto national capital; the others are Cape Town, the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein, the judicial capital.

Pretoria is sometimes regarded as being divided into three sections: West, East and north, relative to the CBD (Central Business District). Pretoria is contained within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality as one of several constituent forme administrations (part which as well Centurion and Soshanguve).

Pretoria itself is sometimes referred to as "Tshwane" due to a long-running and controversial proposed change of name, which has from presently on to be decided, as of 2013.

Pretoria is named next Andries Pretorius.

Pretoria in South Africa is popularly known as The Jacaranda City due to the thousands of Jacaranda trees planted in its streets, parks and gardens.

Pretoria is situated approximately 55 km (34 mi) north-northeast of Johannesburg in the north-east of South Africa, in a transitional belt between the plateau of the Highveld to the south and the lower-lying Bushveld to the north. It lies at an altitude of about 1,350 m (4,500 ft) above sea level, in a warm, sheltered, fertile valley, surrounded by the hills of the Magaliesberg range.

Depending on the extent of the area understood to constitute "Pretoria", the people ranges from 500,000[9] to 2.950 million.The major language spoken in the Tshwane municipality is Pretoria Sotho; as well widely spoken are Pedi, Afrikaans, Tswana, Tsonga, Zulu and English. The whole Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality had a people of 2,985,997 at the 2011 census. The city of Pretoria has the major white people of anywhere on the African continent. Since its founding it has been a major Afrikaner people centre, and currently there are roughly 400,000 Afrikaners living in or around the city.

Even since the end of Apartheid, Pretoria itself still has a white majority, albeit an ever increasing black middle-class. However in the townships of Soshanguve and Atteridgeville blacks make up close to all of the people. The major white ethnic group are the Afrikaners and the major black ethnic group are the Northern Sothos.

If one considers the lower estimate for the people of Pretoria, this includes largely former-white designated areas and there is therefore a white majority. However if one includes the geographically separate townships, this increases Pretoria's people beyond a million and makes whites a minority.

Pretoria's Indians mostly live in the Indian township of Laudium and surrounding areas, or in white suburbs.

The Central Business District (CBD) of Pretoria has been the traditional centre of government and commerce, although today a lot of corporate offices, small businesses, shops and government departments are situated in the sprawling suburbs of the city rather than the CBD. However to bring service delivery back to the people, various Government departments are returning to the CBD. National Departments with their Chief Office in the CBD include: Department of Health, Basic Education, Transport, Higher Education and Training, Sport and Recreation, Justice and Constitutional Development, Water and Environmental Affairs and the National Treasury.

Commuter rail services around Pretoria are operated by Metrorail. The routes, originating from the city centre, extend south to Germiston and Johannesburg, west to Atteridgeville, northwest to Ga-Rankuwa, north to Soshanguve and east to Mamelodi.
The Gautrain high-speed railway line runs from the eastern suburb of Hatfield to Pretoria Station and again southwards to Centurion, Sandton, OR Tambo International Airport and Johannesburg.

Pretoria Station is a departure point for the Blue Train luxury train. Rovos Rail, a luxury mainline train safari service operates from the colonial-style railway station at Capital Park.[13] The South African Friends of the Rail have recently moved their vintage train trip operations from the Capital Park station to the Hercules station.

The N1 is the major freeway that runs through Pretoria. It enters the city from the south as the Ben Schoeman Highway. At the Brakfontein Interchange with the N14 it continues as The N1 Eastern Bypass bisects the large expanse of the eastern suburbs, routing traffic from Johannesburg to Polokwane and the north of the country. The R101 is the original N1, and served the same function before the construction of the highway. It runs through the centre of town rather than the eastern suburbs.
The N4 enters the town as a highway from Witbank in the east, merging with the N1 at the Proefplaas Interchange. It begins again north of the city, branching westr from the N1 as the Platinum Highway, forming the Northern Bypass, and heading to Rustenburg. The The N4 runs east-west through South Africa, connecting Maputo to Gaborone. Before the Platinum Highway was built, the N4 continued passed the Proefplaas Interchange to the city centre, where it became a regular road, before again becoming a highway west of the city. These roads are presently designated the M2 and M4. There is a third, original east-west road: the R104, Church Street. Church Street is in the process of being renamed to a number of new names.

The N14 starts in the centre of town from the M4 (former N4). It is a normal road heading south through the centre before becoming the Ben Schoeman highway. At the Brakfontein interchange, the Ben Schoeman highway becomes the N1, but the N14 continues as the intersecting west-south-western highway towards Krugersdorp. The R114 parallels the N14 in its westward journey running just to the north of the highway.

The R21 provides a second north-south highway, further east. It starts from the Fountains Interchange south of the city centre, but is still a road until Monument Park, at the same time as it becomes a authentic highway. It crosses the N1 east of the Brakfontein Interchange at the Flying Saucer Interchange and runs north/south towards Ekurhuleni (specifically Kempton Park and Boksburg). Importantly it links Pretoria with the OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park.

A proposed third north-south highway, in the west of the city, the R80 is partially built. At present the highway begins in Soshanguve. It terminates just north of the city centre at an intersection with the M1. Plans have been in place for some time to extend this all the way completed the M4 and N14 highways to the N1 in Randburg.

Pretoria is as well served my a lot of regional roads. The R55 starts at an interchange with the R80, and runs north-south west of the city to Sandton. The R50 starts from the N1 just next the Flying Saucer Interchange in the south-east of the city, and continues south-east towards Delmas. The R511 runs north-south from Randburg towards Brits and barely by-passes Pretoria to the west. The R514 starts from the M1, north of the city centre, and terminates at the R511. The R513 crosses Pretoria's northern suburbs from east to west. It links Pretoria to Cullinan and Bronkhorstspruit in the east and Hartbeespoort in the west. The R566 takes origin in Pretoria's northern suburbs, and exits the town to the west just north of the R513. It connects pretoria to Brits. Finally the R573 starts from the R513, just east of the town and heads north-east to Siyabuswa.

For scheduled air services, Pretoria is served by Johannesburg's airports: OR Tambo International, 45 kilometres (28 mi) south of central Pretoria; and Lanseria, 35 kilometres (22 mi) south-west of the city. Wonderboom Airport in the suburb of Wonderboom in the north of Pretoria services light commercial and private aircraft. There are two military air bases to the south of the city, Swartkop and Waterkloof.