Bedfordview is an affluent suburb in western

Ekurhuleni The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ; ) is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng, a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. ''Ekurhuleni'' means "place of peace" in Xi ...

, sharing an administrative boundary with the

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

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

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Bedfordview has been part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since 2000. The Eastgate Shopping Centre, one of the biggest in Africa when first built, is also located here.

History

The site of Bedfordview was largely taken up by the farm ''Elandsfontein'', created in 1853 by Gerhardus van der Linden and was administered as part of the District of

Potchefstroom Potchefstroom ( ; ), colloquially known as Potch, is an college town, academic city in the North West (South African province), North West Province of South Africa. It hosts the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Potchefstro ...

in the

South African Republic The South African Republic (, abbreviated ZAR; ), also known as the Transvaal Republic, was an independent Boer republics, Boer republic in Southern Africa which existed from 1852 to 1902, when it was annexed into the British Empire as a result ...

. The coat-of-arms of Bedfordview features an Eland holding a fountain as a tribute to the early

rural history In historiography, rural history is a field of study focusing on the history of societies in rural areas. At its inception, the field was based on the economic history of agriculture. Since the 1980s it has become increasingly influenced by socia ...

of the town. The

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand (, ; ; locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, w ...

Gold Reef had a huge impact on the area. ''Elandsfontein'' was purchased for the mineral rights, and was later divided into smaller farms and small-holdings, many of which were settled by retired miners. The entire area became known as Geldenhuis Estates Smallholdings. One of these farms was owned by Sir George Herbert Farrar, a randlord who played a prominent role in planning the infamous Jameson Raid, one of the main causes of the Second Anglo-Boer War. His farm, Bedford, purchased in 1893, was located in the present-day suburb of St Andrews, and parts of the original farm can still be seen in St Andrews' School. The farm itself was named after Sir Farrar's home-town of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

in England. Apparently the raid itself was planned in a small house close to the farm. Sir George is buried on Milner Ave, close to the school, the only official grave in the town. British cavalry was based in Bedfordview during the war and apparently planted the oak trees along Van Buuren Ave. There is also a legend that an Indian Rajah-based with the unit died and was buried somewhere in Bedfordview in full regalia, including his jewel-encrusted sword. The name "Bedfordview" came about as the result of a competition. A young lady, Daisy Dollery, won the competition and thought there was a nice view from Bedford Farm. "Bedford View" (two words) was then registered. Over the years the name has contracted to one word. On 24 February 1926, the suburb officially obtained its name. By 1932 the small-holding had developed into a small village. The 1st Bedfordview Scout Troop opened its doors on 26 July 1928, and there was a government school and a post office. However, there were major health concerns. Bill Stewart, the headmaster at the school, recalled that sewage would run down Van Buuren Road from Malvern East and that the piggeries and other farms caused swarms of flies. There was talk that the area should become part of a municipality in order to deal with the matter, and residents were asked whether they would prefer to join

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

Germiston Germiston, also known as kwaDukathole, is a city in the East Rand region of Gauteng, South Africa, administratively forming part of the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality since the latter's establishment in 2000. It functions as the m ...

. Joining a municipality would mean rates and taxes though, so the residents elected instead to set up a health committee to sort out the problem. This later developed into the Bedfordview Village Council and then the Bedfordview Town Council. Bedfordview was joined with

and Palm Ridge to form the Transitional Council of Greater Germiston, after the institutition of democracy. This was in turn merged with other East Rand towns to form the City of

, which incorporated the old municipalities of Alberton, Bedfordview, Benoni,

Boksburg Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, Willem Eduard Bok, W. Eduard Bok. The R29 (South A ...

, Brakpan, Edenvale, Germiston, Kempton Park, Nigel, and Springs.

Listings

The sit
Bedfordview.co.za
is a dedicated listing for business, malls, shops, jobs and property in the Bedfordview area.

Economy

TAAG Angola Airlines has an office in Bedfordview.TAAG Offices
." TAAG Angola Airlines. Retrieved on 23 January 2010. "South Africa - Johannesburg 3rd Riley Road, Bedfordview Office Park Building 11A/ Stand 10 Bedfordview" Murray and Roberts has its head office in Bedfordview

Securities and Trading Technology (STT) has its head office in Bedfordview

Mochachos has its head office in Bedfordview

Suburbs

The following suburbs form part of Bedfordview: * Bedford Gardens * Bedford Park * Essexwold * Morninghill * Oriel * Senderwood (ex Johannesburg) * St Andrews * Malvern, Gauteng, Malvern East Ext 1,3,7,9 (ex Germiston)

Malls

* Eastgate Shopping Centre * Bedford Centre

Schools

* Bedfordview High School * Bedfordview Primary School * Bishop Bavin School * Elandspark School * Leeuwenhof Akademie * New Crawford School * Reddam House School * SAHETI School *St Andrew's School for Girls * St Benedict's College

Transport

Bedfordview is located at the interchange between the N3, N12 and R24 highways named the George Bizos Interchange (previously Gilooly’s Interchange). The N3 connects

and

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

to the south with

Sandton Sandton is a financial, commercial and residential area, located in the northern part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. Formerly an independent municipality, Sandton's name came from the combination of two of its suburbs, Sa ...

and

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

to the north; the N12 connects

and eMalahleni to the east with

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

to the west; and the R24 connects

to the west with Edenvale and Kempton Park (including O.R. Tambo International Airport) to the north-east. The main route through the Bedfordview

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

(CBD) is Van Buuren Road ( M52) which connects Bedfordview to the neighbouring suburbs of Wilbart and Wychwood.

Notable residents

* Janet Semple, former MPL and senior Democratic Alliance politician *

Johnny Clegg Jonathan Paul Clegg, (7 June 195316 July 2019) was a South African musician, singer-songwriter, dancer, anthropologist and Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. He first performed as part of a duo - ''Johnny & Sipho'' - ...

, singer-songwriter

References

{{Authority control Germiston Populated places in Ekurhuleni