Carletonville is a town in

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 ...

and the seat of the Merafong City Local Municipality in the

West Rand District Municipality The West Rand District Municipality (; ; ; ) is one of the districts of the Gauteng province of South Africa, that covers the West Rand area, with the exception of Roodepoort. The seat of the district municipality is Randfontein. As of 2011, the ...

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 ...

, just north of the richest gold-mining area in the world. At 3,749 m, Western Deep Levels holds the record for the world's deepest gold mine.

History

Developed by various mining companies from 1937 onwards, Carletonville was named after the long-serving mining director of

Consolidated Gold Fields Consolidated Gold Fields was a British gold-mining company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Hanson in 1988. History Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa was fo ...

, Guy Carleton Jones, but was not officially incorporated until 1959. Upon reaching a population of 2000 1967, (mostly white inhabitants of the apartheid era) it became officially recognised and celebrated as a provincial town. There are several privately owned gold-mining township villages and contractor labour quarters established on mining ground owned by the various mining houses which operate in the area. The villages are located to the South of the R501 provincial road which forms the southern boundary of Carletonville. While the mining companies themselves have changed hands, or amalgamated and changed names, the mine villages situated to south are known as Blyvooruitzicht, (the oldest) Western Deep and Elandsrand. To the west and south-west is Doornfontein and Deelkraal and to the east is East Village at East Driefontein. The Town of Carletonville serves as the major shopping centre for the mine village townships. Mines are only permitted tuck shops for basic necessities, which are usually located at mine recreation centres, or on privately owned farm boundaries close to contractor labour quarters. The site of a 3 October 2007 collapse at Elandsrand mine, is located some 11 km south of Carletonville. In 1964, a sinkhole in the former mining village township of Westdene, Blyvooruitzicht, buried the entire Oosthuizen family and their helper, alive. Situated some 5½ km south of Carletonville and being one of four village townships at the Blyvooruitzicht Gold Mine, Westdene, was consequently abandoned and then later demolished. The subsequent housing shortage was quickly normalised by extending the Southdene village township with pre-fabricated asbestos housing. Approximately 170 families were housed in caravans at the once lovely, but now derelict, Blyvooruitsicht Recreation Centre. Some of the prefabricated houses in the extensions to Southdene were erected at a distance of only 400 meters south of the sinkhole, while some pre-existing housing in Southdene and Northdene are situated even closer to the sinkhole than that. Unknown at the time, on 28 March 2008 all asbestos products would be banned in South Africa as an extreme health hazard, but many asbestos prefabricated houses in Southdene and houses containing asbestos products in ceilings and roofs all around South Africa and the World, are still occupied today.

Geography

The town of Oberholzer is situated in the constituency of Carletonville & there are no distinct boundaries separating Oberholzer from Carletonville. Together, they make one city.http://www.merafong.gov.za/datafiles/pdf/MSDF%25202016-21%2520Annexure%2520C%2520Local%2520Spatial%2520Development%2520Directives.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwi07aGhi6bnAhWiQEEAHcMOBe0QFjATegQIAxAB&usg=AOvVaw2P-u6o9TVMF-zXSCus4q7v

Law and government

Government

Carletonville is the seat of the Merafong City Local Municipality and is situated in the

Province.

Economy

* The economy of the town is dominated by the villagers who live on property owned by the large gold mines surrounding the town. #It is also the home to one of the world's deepest mines.

Retail

Carletonville Mall, a 25,000m² shopping complex, opened its doors in 2015 with over 85 stores. The mall is anchored by Choppies, Pick n Pay, and Woolworths. Carletonville is well known as the home of EDURA, a super popular Discount Megastore which attracts customers from across Southern Africa. The new EDURA Megastore was opened in 2024. https://www.citizen.co.za/carletonville-herald/local-news/2024/09/18/edura-south-africas-favourite-discount-megastore-has-recently-opened-their-new-megastore-in-carletonville-merafong-city/?amp

Notable people

Brian McMillan Brian Mervin McMillan (born 22 December 1963) played 38 Test matches and 78 One Day Internationals for South Africa from 1991 to 1998. He was rated by many as the best all-rounder in the world in the mid-1990s, and won South African Cricket A ...

, South African cricketer * Jaque Fourie, South African

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

footballer *

Joseph Dweba Joseph Dweba (born 25 October 1995) is a South African professional rugby union player for in the United Rugby Championship competition. He previously played for in the Pro14 and the in the Currie Cup. His regular position is hooker. Clu ...

, South African

footballer * Jorrie Muller, South African

footballer * Pietman van Niekerk, South African

footballer * Zethan Nell, South African

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Twin Towns

Carletonville is twinned with: *

Broomhedge Broomhedge is a small village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, near Lisburn, approximately 12 miles (19 km) southwest of Belfast. It lies within the Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council area, and the Maghaberry electoral ward. Demograp ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

References

External links

CNN.com
* Blyvooruitzicht
Blyvoor enviro
{{Authority control Populated places in the Merafong City Local Municipality Mining communities in South Africa West Rand