Randburg, Gauteng

Randburg is a large town, consisting of 32 suburbs, within the city of Johannesburg. The suburbs offer a wide variety of neighbourhoods to suit most lifestyles and, have a mixed population of old and young residents.

It is filled with many family friendly entertainment activities and parks and is well-known for its many shopping centres. One of its feature attractions is Brightwater Commons, previously the Randburg Waterfront, a shopping and entertainment centre with something for everyone to enjoy from Tenpin Bowling, Laser Tag and Movies to restaurants, gift shops and a major retail outlet. Other shopping centres in and nearby include Cresta Centre, Northgate, Fourways Mall, and Sandton City.

Randburg is considered one of Joburg’s more upmarket, mostly residential areas, and is very central to most popular tourist hotspots in and around Johannesburg from one corner, Gold Reef City, to the other, A-maize-ing Mazes in Honeydew. Randburg is an ideal base from which to explore the city and its outskirts - the outskirts of town host a number of reserves and wildlife parks such as the Lion Park, Croc City, and the Rhino and Lion Nature Reserve.

Randburg boasts many well-known and popular restaurants offers all types of accommodation from B&B’s to hotels, suitable for all budgets.

Things to do and see

• Randburg Raceway
• Golden Harvest Park
• Zoo Lake
• Melville Koppies Reserve
• StokeCity Adventure Park
• Locrate Market, Soweto
• Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
• James Hall Museum of Transport
• Past Experiences Inner-City Walking Tours
• Oriental Plaza
• Monecasino
• Northgate Ice Rink
• Cresta Shopping Centre

Climate

Randburg receives approximately 704 mm of rain annually with the majority falling during the Summer months.

Summer months, November to March will have average temperatures of between 14˚C and 29˚C.

Winter months, May to August will have average temperatures of between 2˚C and 21˚C.

Transport

There are daily flights into Lanseria International Airport, approximately 30 km away via the R512 and into O R Tambo International Airport approximately 29 km away via the R24. Car Hire facilities are available at the airport.

History

The earliest inhabitants in the area now known as Randburg were tribesmen, Iron Age craftmanship can still be found on some of the local koppies.

What is recorded and documented on Randburg started in the middle of the last century – it was in the 1850’s when four farms were settled on by Boer pioneers. The farms were Klipfontein, Driefontein, Olievenhoutspoort and Boskop and as was the usual tradition, in time, the farms were later subdivided amongst the sons of the farmers.

The original farm Driefontein extended from the Northern Boundary of Bryanston to the present Braamfontein! It was later subdivided into nine plots by his sons. A portion of the Boskop farm was brought by the famous Rand entrepreneur, Dale Lace, who converted a farmhouse into a ‘country residence’, as was the style of the time.

Randburg came to consist of 32 suburbs that were amalgamated on 1 July 1959. The name Randburg is derived from the South African currency, the Rand, which replaced the pound sterling in 1959.

With the discovery of Gold, Randburg became fashionable as an investment for rich English gentlemen and there was a major influx to Randburg with the great depression of 1928-1934. Thousands of platteland farmers flocked to the city, but many preferred the rural areas and settled in Randburg. Development began in 1950, when there were less than 9000 inhabitants in Randburg. Ten years alter there were 13 townships, a newspaper called ‘Noord-Nuus’ and shops and businesses were opening apace.