Edenvale is a small city on the

East Rand The East Rand is the urban eastern part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation in South Africa. The region extends from Alberton in the west to Nigel in the east, and south down to Nigel. It includ ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The greater Edenvale area has an estimated population of 70,000, including Greenstone, Harmelia, Highway Gardens, Buurendal and Croydon. Edenvale is part of the

Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng. The municipality itself is a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. The name ''Ekurhuleni'' m ...

. It lies about halfway between the

O.R. Tambo International Airport O. R. Tambo International Airport is an international airport situated in Kempton Park, Gauteng, South Africa. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to/from South Africa and since 2020, it is Africa's second ...

and the

Johannesburg city centre The Central Business District, commonly called Johannesburg CBD, is one of the main business centres of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is the densest collection of skyscrapers in Africa, however, due to white flight and urban blight, many of the b ...

and is located 12 km by road from

Sandton Sandton is an upscale commercial and residential district north of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The name of the city came from the combination of two of its suburbs, ...

and about 9 km from the closest

Gautrain Gautrain is an higher-speed express commuter rail system in Gauteng, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kempton Park and O.R. Tambo International Airport. It takes 15 minutes to travel from Sandton to O.R. Tambo International ...

station.

History

It started out in 1903, after the

Anglo Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

as a small settlement named Rietfontein which sprung up around the Rietfontein

Gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

Mine. It was made a municipality in 1942. It was initially populated by Cornish mineworkers.

Suburbs of Edenvale

Residential suburbs include: Clarens Park De Klerkshof Dowerglen Dunvegan Eastleigh (part residential) Edenglen Elma Park Hurlyvale Illiondale Isandovale (part residential) Marais Steyn Park Rietfontein (part of Rietfontein 61-ir) (Rietfontein 63-ir) Industrial suburbs include: Sebenza Eastleigh (part industrial) Isandovale (part industrial)

Demographics

Edenvale is a busy city that ranges from middle-class areas such as Edenvale Central, Eastleigh and Illiondale, to the more upper-class areas such as Dowerglen and Edenglen. Edenvale Central (locally referred to as The Avenues) has seen high investment over the past few years in the form of upper-income clusters and townhouses. This has resulted in small-scale

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

and hence an increase in coffee shops and streetside cafes. There is also a trend in Eastleigh and Illiondale to purchase derelict properties and renovate them, which has also benefitted the area. Much of Edenvale widely diversified by immigration to other parts of Africa, notably:

Zambians This article is about the demographic features of the population of Zambia, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and others aspects of the population. Ethnic ...

and Malawians. It also hosts a large population of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

and

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

Economy

Retail

In the last ten years, the area to the north of Edenvale (Modderfontein) has expanded significantly. Five malls have been erected
Greenstone
an
Stoneridge mall
Eden Meadows, Stonehill Crossing and Green Valley as well as an array of complexes and townhouses, in an area now called

Greenstone Hill Greenstone Hill is a suburb on the East Rand of Gauteng Province in the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in South Africa. It has only recently been developed although much of the surrounding areas such as Edenvale and Modderfontein ...

and Greenstone Park, just west of Illiondale. This recent, yet the rapid influx of infrastructure and added commercial business has bankrupted businesses in Lungile Mtshali Road (formerly Van Riebeeck Road; the main thoroughfare through the Edenvale City Centre) forcing numerous store owners to liquidate their capital investments.

Law and government

Government

In 1995, after the local government elections, Edenvale was amalgamated with some surrounding areas, including Modderfontein, Rabie Ridge Extensions 4 and 5, Chloorkop and the western part of

Tembisa Thembisa, formerly Tembisa (Dindela), is a large township situated to the north of Kempton Park on the East Rand, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1957 when black people were resettled from Alexandra and other areas in Edenvale, Kem ...

to form the Lethabong municipality, as part of the short-lived transitional Khayalami Metropolitan Council,http://allafrica.com/stories/199810200131.html which also included

Midrand Midrand is a former municipality in central Gauteng, South Africa. It is situated in-between Centurion and Sandton and now forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History Midrand was established as a municipality in 1 ...

and Kempton Park/

. This arrangement ended in 2000, and Edenvale is now part of the

, which includes much of the

, while Modderfontein and Rabie Ridge became part of the

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

References

External links

* http://www.edenvale.za.net Edenvale * https://web.archive.org/web/20111026121254/http://www.greenstonemall.co.za/contact.htm Greenstone * http://www.stoneridge.co.za/ Stoneridge mall * http://www.countryroads.co.za/content/edenvale.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20100528140204/http://www.edenvale.za.net/history/background.htm {{Authority control Germiston Populated places in Ekurhuleni