Edenvale is a small city on the

East Rand The East Rand is a major urban area located in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is the urban eastern part of Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. The region extends from Alberton in the west to ...

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 ...

. It 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, a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. ''Ekurhuleni'' means "place of peace" in ...

. It lies about halfway between the O.R. Tambo International Airport and the Johannesburg city centre and is located 12 km by road from

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 about 9 km from the closest

Gautrain Gautrain is an Higher-speed rail, higher-speed Express train, express commuter rail system in Gauteng, South Africa, which links Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kempton Park, Gauteng, Kempton Park and O. R. Tambo International Airport. It takes 15 minu ...

station.

History

It started out in 1903, after the

Anglo Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

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

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

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 whereby the character of a neighborhood changes through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents (the "gentry") and investment. There is no agreed-upon definition of gentrification. In public discourse, it has ...

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 and Malawians. It also hosts a large population of Portuguese,

Greeks Greeks or Hellenes (; , ) are an ethnic group and nation native to Greece, Greek Cypriots, Cyprus, Greeks in Albania, southern Albania, Greeks in Turkey#History, Anatolia, parts of Greeks in Italy, Italy and Egyptian Greeks, Egypt, and to a l ...

and

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

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 and Greenstone Park, just west of Illiondale. This recent, yet 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, is a large Township (South Africa), township situated to the north of Kempton Park, Gauteng, Kempton Park on the East Rand, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1957 when black people were resettled from Alexandr ...

to form the Lethabong municipality, as part of the short-lived transitional Khayalami Metropolitan Council, which also included

Midrand Midrand is a town in central Gauteng, South Africa. It is situated in-between Centurion, Gauteng, Centurion and Sandton. Formerly an independent municipality, Midrand now forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. History ...

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, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite se ...

Notable people

* Tyla (born 2002), singer and songwriter *

Kyle Stolk Kyle Stolk (born 28 June 1996) is a Dutch competitive swimmer who specializes in freestyle events. He won a silver medal in the boys' 200 m freestyle at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics in Nanjing, and finished seventh as a member of the Dutch swi ...

(born 1996), competitive swimmer * Tasmin Pepper (born 1990), race driver *

Jordan Pepper Jordan Lee Pepper (born 31 July 1996) is a South African racing driver, currently competing in the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup. He is the son of former South African Touring Car driver Iain Pepper and younger brother of W Series (champions ...

(born 1996), race driver * Jessica Pengelly (born 1991), swimmer * Marnus Schoeman (born 1989), rugby union player *

Jayde Kruger Jayde Kruger (born 24 February 1988 in Edenvale, Gauteng) is a racing driver from South Africa. He won the 2014 British Formula Ford championship and also numerous titles in South Africa. Racing career Kruger started his auto racing career in ...

(born 1988), race driver * Mahomed Navsa ( born 1957), judge * Chris Williams (born 1959), golfer *

Clinton Whitelaw Clinton John Whitelaw (born 24 December 1970) is a South African professional golfer. Career Whitelaw was born in Johannesburg. In 1990, he turned professional. Whitelaw has competed predominantly on the Southern Africa-based Sunshine Tour sin ...

(born 1970), golfer * Tamara Reeves (born 1982), former cricketer *

Panyaza Lesufi Andrek "Panyaza" Lesufi (born 4 September 1968) is a South African politician who was appointed the seventh Premier of Gauteng in October 2022. He was previously Executive Council (South Africa), Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Educat ...

(born 1968), politician

References

External links

Edenvale

Stoneridge mall

{{Authority control Germiston Populated places in Ekurhuleni