Capital District of Gauteng

The Capital District of Gauteng (Capital District, Gauteng or CDA) is the capital territory of the Southern African Confederacy, and one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994. It was initially named Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (or PWV) and was renamed 'Gauteng' in December 1994. When the Southern African Confederacy was declared on 30 July 2012, the province was renamed to the Capital District of Gauteng. Even before 2012, the province was one large megalopolis, with Pretoria, Johannesburg and Vereeniging basically being one continuous urban region. The CDA is a combined city-province.

Etymology
The name Gauteng comes from the Sesotho word meaning "Place of Gold", the historical Sesotho name for Johannesburg and surrounding areas. This referred to the thriving gold industry in the province following the 1886 discovery of gold in Johannesburg. The Sesotho word is a locative derived from the Afrikaans word "goud" (gold), plus the locative suffix "-ng." When properly pronounced, the first letter of the name Gauteng is a voiceless velar fricative, pronounced similarly to the "ch" in the German "achtung" or Scottish "loch" and the same as the Dutch "g" or the Spanish "g" as in "gente." This pronunciation is natural in both the Sesotho and Afrikaans languages.

History
Gauteng, formerly known as "Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging (PWV)", was carved out of the old Transvaal Province in 1994, although the terminology "PWV", describing the region existed long before that. Tokyo Sexwale (pronounced sek-wha-le) was elected as the first Premier of the province that same year. Politically, it has been dominated by the African National Congress throughout its post-apartheid history. The region became politically neutral on 31 July 2012 when it became the capital territory of the Southern African Confederacy. All South African parliamentary wards have been removed and South Africa's control over the province has basically been nullified. However, the district is still one of South Africa's nine provinces for historic and cultural reasons.

Law and government
The CDA follows an American-style mayor-city council form of governance, even though it consists of several usually independent cities. Each city has a city councilor, which was formerly a mayor of that city, and the entire district has a directly elected mayor. The Parliament has indirect control over the district, and thus, unlike other Confederate Provinces, its laws are always applicable here. The current mayor is Armand Du Preez.

Cities
Several cities exist within the Capital District, each having a councilor on the Gauteng City Council:


 * Johannesburg
 * Pretoria
 * Ekurhuleni
 * Sedibeng
 * Rand City

Education
Gauteng was a center of learning in independent South Africa, and had many universities and other schools of higher learning. When Gauteng became the Capital District, confusion ensued for learners. It was cleared up quickly, however, and the students were able to resume learning. A list of universities follows:


 * University of Limpopo
 * Tshwane University of Technology
 * University of Johannesburg
 * African Leadership Academy
 * University of Pretoria
 * University of the Confederacy (formerly known as the University of South Africa)
 * Vaal University of Technology
 * University of the Witwatersrand
 * Monash University South Africa Campus