Location

Bojanala East is situated close to Gauteng, and is the most scenic region of the province

The Bojanala Region

Bojanala-Rustenburg region is covered in natural bushveld vegetation. With the added attraction of the Magaliesberg, this region has much to offer to the eco-tourist. It is a natural game area with a number of fine game parks.

There is a large variety of historical and cultural interests to be found in the area, such as the German community of Kroondal that dates back to 1857, the indigenous Bafokeng, Bakgatla and Botswana tribes with their totemic and other tribal traditions.

Bojanala-Eastern Region is situated close to Gauteng, and is the most scenic region of the province. If you like adventure, this is your kind of region. Water activities, mountain sports, hang-gliding, parasailing, abseiling, hiking trails, angling, yachting, ballooning, cable way and leisure.

This region is host to the internationally-renowned Lost City Sun City complex with two designer golf courses, 6000-seat Superbowl, the largest casino and gaming complex in the country and its situation in the extinct Pilanesberg volcano formed more than 1300 million years ago. It is adjacent to the Pilanesberg Game Reserve which is home to thousands of animals including the Big Five - lion, leopard, rhino, buffalo and elephant.

Here rests the Cradle of Humankind, set around the Rustenburg, Magaliesberg and Hartbeespoort regions. The area abounds with relics from the Stone Age and early middle and late Iron Age. There are a large number of arts, crafts and curio outlets, especially in the Hartbeespoort Dam and Rustenburg areas. Many form part of the Crocodile, Rustenburg and Magliesburg Arts and Crafts Rambles - ever popular with visitors.

The northwest of the region borders on the Madikwe Game Reserve, a haven to visitors who want to live the African experience.

History

The area also symbolises the resettlement and separate development policies of the old the apartheid years. The Odi-Moretele-Soshanguve area consisting principally of towns like GaRankuwa, Hebron, Mabopane, Soshanguwe, Winterveldt, Nuwe Eersterus and Kudube/Babelegi is a case in point.

When the former homeland of Bophuthatswana became independent, most of the area was handed over to its government. Eighty percent of Bophuthatswana's population was living in the area. According to recent studies the past policies that guided the development of the Odi-Moretele-Soshanguve region, were not economically motivated, but were designed for the creation and accommodation of a labour pool, available to the larger Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging area, through mass transportation systems. These studies revealed that the policies were not appropriate to developing self-sufficiency or interdependent communities increasing local investment, local employment creation and entrepreneurial activity.

This led to unnatural and artificial distribution of urban areas and transportation systems. There were large, featureless, dependent dormitory settlements without defined urban centres, remote from primary employment and economically active centres. Private sector and informal activities were inhibited. This led to the lack of local markets, commercial outlets and investment opportunities.

A variety of historical and cultural interests are to be found in the area.

TOWNS IN BOJANALA

ALSO IN BOJANALA

NORTH WEST REGIONS

THE PROVINCE