This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2009) |
Mamelodi | |
---|---|
Mama | |
Coordinates: 25°42′08″S28°19′39″E / 25.70222°S 28.32750°E | |
Country | South Africa |
Province | Gauteng |
Municipality | City of Tshwane |
Established | 1945 [1] |
Area | |
• Total | 45.19 km2 (17.45 sq mi) |
Population (2011) [2] | |
• Total | 334,577 |
• Density | 7,400/km2 (19,000/sq mi) |
Racial makeup (2011) | |
• Black African | 98.9% |
• Coloured | 0.4% |
• Indian/Asian | 0.2% |
• White | 0.1% |
• Other | 0.3% |
First languages (2011) | |
• Northern Sotho | 42.3% |
• Zulu | 12.2% |
• Tsonga | 10.7% |
• S. Ndebele | 8.8% |
• Other | 26.0% |
Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
Postal code (street) | 0122 |
PO box | 0101 |
Area code | +27 (0)12 |
Website | www.powerfulone.webs.com |
Mamelodi is a township northeast of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. A part of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, it was set up by the then apartheid government in 1953.
"Mamelodi" is the name derived from the Sepedi word with the prefix being "ma" meaning mother, and the suffix "melodi" meaning melodies. Its meaning can be translated to mean Mother of Melodies.
The township was established when 16 houses were built on the farm Vlakfontein in June 1953 [3] and later the name changed to Mamelodi. The Group Areas Act designated Mamelodi as a blacks-only area, though this became moot with the fall of Apartheid in 1994. In the 1960s black citizens were forcefully removed from the suburb of Lady Selbourne in Pretoria to Mamelodi, Ga-Rankuwa and Atteridgeville. Anti-apartheid activist Reverend Nico Smith preached in Mamelodi from 1982 to 1989, and obtained permission to live there himself from 1985 to 1989. During that period, he and his wife Ellen were the only whites legally allowed to live in Mamelodi. [4] The township still has vastly more blacks than any other group as of 2010.
Since 2001 Mamelodi has had a large AIDS outreach program helping several thousand orphans in the community. Mamelodi is home to the largest AIDS Hospice Center in South Africa with 140 beds available free of charge.[ citation needed ]
Tshwane North TVET College has 6 campuses, one of which is based in the east of Mamelodi in the section called BufferZone, next to Mamelodi Day Hospital. It used to be called Thuto Matlhale, then changed to Mamelodi College and now known after the merge as TNC Mamelodi Campus.
The University of Pretoria operates a campus in Mamelodi. The campus in Mamelodi was incorporated from Vista University into the University of Pretoria on 2 January 2004 as part of a government reshuffle of smaller institutions into larger ones.
The U.S. Embassy operates the Mae Jemison Science Reading Room in Mamelodi. This stand-alone building on the University of Pretoria campus has a small library, computers, and an auditorium. It is used for after-school reading, tutoring, and other activities by students in Mamelodi.
There are different organisations and groups that are working towards improving the standard of living and education levels within the township. One of them is Tateni Community Care Services, funded in 1995, which operates 10 Drop-in Centres, mostly in primary schools, to support young children. Furthermore, they have a youth development program to support youth in-and-out-of-school to work towards their "Breaking the Cycle of Poverty" approach. Another organization The Mamelodi Trust operates within five schools in the area. The Mamelodi Initiative, was founded in 2007 by Richard Kelly and Seikanelo Sedibane and it was launched in 2010, it focuses on providing after-school and out-of-school time programming to Mamelodi residents through winter and summer holiday programmes, year-round computer courses, youth mentoring, and other opportunities for youth.The Itsoseng Clinic was established in 1995 and continues to deliver a comprehensive psychological service to the local residents. [5] The Historical Society of Mamelodi aim to capture the history of Mamelodi digitally. [6]
The township is home to the Mamelodi Sundowns of the ABSA Premier League and the Mamelodi Bees Basketball of the South African Women's Basketball League.
The HM Pitje Stadium is located in Mamelodi.
Mamelodi is also home to Mamelodi Sundowns star George Lebese and Lucky Mohomi of Mamelodi Sundowns.
Mamelodi is also home to the 2003 Miss South Africa Joan Ramagoshi.
There are a lot of informal settlements in Mamelodi. The housing problem is so great in the area, but it is proving impossible to keep up with the demand. [7] The rates of youth unemployment and drug use are high.
Crime is also a major problem facing the community with poverty, unemployment and social issues being the major contributors. The community has been in the news for all the wrong reasons, like looting during strikes and destruction of public properties with the aim to get the attention of the government to speed up service delivery.
One major outreach program in Mamelodi is the Viva Foundation. Viva works to support orphans and vulnerable children, as well as giving community members business and skills training. Viva's Mamelodi compound is host to a preschool, small store, kitchen, and safe house for orphans. Viva has also worked to produce a "living art gallery" by painting several homes surrounding the compound.
Another major outreach project situated on the University of Pretoria Mamelodi Campus is the Itsoseng Clinic, a psychological clinic providing free psychological services to the community of Pretoria. The Clinic is a project of the University of Pretoria's Department of Psychology and is in operation since 1994. The clinic collaborates with other helping services, i.e. policing services, hospitals, crisis centers, orphanages, hospices, etc. in the community to address issues related to poverty, crime, unemployment, such as substance and alcohol abuse, domestic violence, HIV/Aids related issues and learning and other difficulties. This is the only psychological facility in the community offering free services to the community. Services are provided by volunteers, students, interns and professional university staff.
Solomon Mahlangu is commemorated in the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom Square in his hometown of Mamelodi, Pretoria. The square is focused on a bronze statue of Mahlangu. [8] It is located in well maintained parklands on the corner of Maphalla Drive and Tsamaya Avenue.
Pretoria, is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa.
Laudium is an Indian township southwest of central Pretoria, in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality. Claudius is a residential suburb that is effectively an extension of Laudium.
The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, also known as the City of Tshwane, is the metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of northern Gauteng in South Africa. The metropolitan area is centred on the city of Pretoria with surrounding towns and localities included in the local government area.
Atteridgeville is a township located to the west of Pretoria, South Africa. It is located to the east of Saulsville, to the west of West Park; to the north of Laudium and to the south of Lotus Gardens. The settlement was established in 1939, and is named after Mrs MP Atteridge, chairwoman of the Committee for Non-European Affairs on the Pretoria City Council at the time. The Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium is located in Atteridgeville.
Khayelitsha is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for New Home. It is reputed to be one of the largest and fastest-growing townships in South Africa.
Soshanguve is a township situated about 30 km north of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, just east of Mabopane. The name Soshanguve is an acronym for Sotho, Shangaan, Nguni and Venda, thus showing the multi-ethnic composition of the population. The major African languages of South Africa are heard in Soshanguve.
Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football league system. Founded in the 1970s, the team plays its home games in the Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
Ga-Rankuwa is a large settlement located about 37 km north-west of Pretoria. Provincially it is in Gauteng province, but it used to fall in Bophuthatswana during the apartheid years, and under the North West province until the early 2000s.
Mabopane is a residential township in South Africa. It is situated in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, to the north of Pretoria in Gauteng.
Eersterust or "First Rest", often incorrectly spelled "Eersterus", is a formal South African township within the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and is located just about 15 km east of the Pretoria city centre. It is also referred to by locals as "Poort". Eersterust is situated west of Mamelodi.
Pretoria Central Prison, renamed Kgosi Mampuru II Management Area by former President Jacob Zuma on 13 April 2013 and sometimes referred to as Kgosi Mampuru II Correctional Services is a large prison in central Pretoria, within the City of Tshwane in South Africa. It is operated by the South African Department of Correctional Services.
Pretoria Taal, or Pretoria Sotho, is the urban lingua franca of Pretoria and the Tshwane metropolitan area in South Africa. It is a combination of Sepedi-Tswana and influences from Tsotsitaal, Afrikaans and other Bantu languages of the region. It is spoken by most black residents of all ages and levels of education in Tshwane. Though it is most commonly used in informal situations, it is also used in schools and at political events in which people have different language backgrounds. Standard Setswana and Northern Sotho are not commonly used in schools except in SeTswana and Northern Sotho lessons. Pretoria Taal is mutually intelligible with SeTswana and Northern Sotho.
Temba is a town in City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in the Gauteng province of South Africa.
Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu was a South African freedom fighter, struggle activist and operative of the African National Congress (ANC) militant wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). He was convicted of murder and hanged in 1979.
The following is a timeline of the history of Pretoria, in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng province, South Africa.
Kalushi is a 2016 South African film about Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, a nineteen-year-old hawker from the streets of Mamelodi, a township outside Pretoria in South Africa. He was born in Pretoria on 10 July in 1956, the second son of Martha Mahlangu. His father left him in 1962, and from then on only saw him infrequently. His mother was a domestic worker and took sole responsibility for his upbringing. The film is based on a true story.
Mamelodi High School, also called Mamelodi Secondary School, is a high school in Mamelodi township, Tshwane, South Africa. The school was founded in 1956 under the Department of Bantu Education of the Apartheid regime. In the 1960s it was one of only two post-primary schools in Mamelodi. The medium of instruction was Afrikaans, until the Soweto uprising in 1976, when it changed to English.
The M10 road is a long metropolitan route in the City of Tshwane in Gauteng, South Africa. It connects Sunderland Ridge with Mamelodi via Lyttelton and Garsfontein.
The M8 road is a metropolitan route in the City of Tshwane in Gauteng, South Africa. It connects Capital Park with Mamelodi via Gezina, Villieria and Eersterust.
Alphina Anna "Gogo" Ndlovana is a South African politician who has represented the African National Congress (ANC) in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature since 2019. A teacher by training, she was formerly a local councilor in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and, before that, a public servant in the Mpumalanga Department of Education.