Where we are

Region A borders Centurion (part of the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality) to the north and Mogale City (Krugersdorp) to the west. To the east is the township of Tembisa, part of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality and on the south it borders Alexandra, Sandton, Randburg and Roodepoort.

General description
The western part of the region consists of many agricultural holdings and farms, though there has been an increase in business and industrial nodes, as well as formal and informal residential areas.

Areas such as Fourways Gardens, Bloubosrand, Cedar Lakes and Dainfern contain affluent developments, mainly on single stands and at a low density. On the other hand, more than 70 percent of the population of Diepsloot lives in informal housing. Other informally settled areas include Riverbend and Zevenfontein.

Industrial developments are concentrated along Hans Strijdom Drive in Kya Sands, while major commercial activity takes place in Fourways to the south.

Rapidly growing Midrand is the main focus area in the eastern part of the region, with development originally confined along the old main road between Johannesburg and Pretoria, the K101.

The building of the Ben Schoeman highway between the two cities greatly improved accessibility to the region and resulted in an explosion of growth along the N1 corridor. Grand Central airport caters to Midrand and the surrounding areas.

The region also contains bird sanctuaries and the Diepsloot Nature Reserve, though this has yet to be fully utilised.

The main development in the eastern part of the region relates to the construction of the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link that will make its way through Midrand, on its way from Marlboro to Centurion. A sizable station is to be developed near Grand Central Airport, along with residential and commercial developments around it.

A property developer has also announced the construction of a major "shoppertainment centre" in the immediate vicinity of the Midrand Gautrain station.

Demographic information
The region is home to more than 250 000 residents, most of whom are concentrated in Midrand. The western part of the region is scarcely populated, though some 56 000 people reside in the township of Deipsloot alone.

Unemployment levels in that settlement stand at over 50 percent and more than 70 percent of the residents live below the poverty line. In the Midrand area, approximately 70 percent of residents earn less than R2 500 a month, while 34 percent earn no income at all.

The population in the region is relatively young, with some 24 percent being between the ages of 20 and 29. While the formal residential areas are home to prosperous and well-educated residents, most of the people living in the townships and informal settlements are poor, with low levels of school education.

Key issues
There are two key issues in the region:

• The development boom in the area comes with traffic congestion and roads in the Fourways and Sunninghill areas are under tremendous pressure. Also, the N1-Ben Schoeman highway which runs through Midrand is the busiest in Africa, handling up to 120 000 vehicles a day. The South African National Roads Agency (Sanra) is busy installing a Highway Management System and introducing high occupancy lanes to reduce congestion on the road.
• The development of Diepsloot is a major priority for the region and the City. The area is far from job opportunities for its residents and Diepsloot consists largely of informal housing, with extreme levels of poverty. The Cosmo City housing project aims to solve some of these inherent problems.