Rosebank is one of the Southern Suburbs of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

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, located between the suburbs of Mowbray and Rondebosch.

Geography

Rosebank is located on the lower eastern slope of Devil's Peak, stretching down to the Liesbeeck River, and on the other side of the river up to the edge of Rondebosch Common. On the west it is bounded by the M3 freeway. The historic Mostert's Mill is located just next to the freeway. Much of the land between the M3 and Main Road, which runs north-south through the suburb, belongs to the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

and is used for residences and sports fields. The area around Main Road is a mixture of university residences, shops and blocks of flats. Parallel to Main Road, and one block east from it, the

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Southern Line divides Rosebank in half; Rosebank railway station is the main public transport facility in the suburb. There are no road crossings of the railway in Rosebank; the nearest are the Durban Road bridge in Mowbray to the north and the Belmont Road bridge in Rondebosch to the south. There are, however, several pedestrian subways under the railway. The area east of the railway, as far as Liesbeek Parkway, contains a mixture of blocks of flats and detached houses; many of the residences in this area are occupied by students from the university. The Cape Town offices of the

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

and the South African Bureau of Standards are also located here. Liesbeek Parkway is a dual carriageway which runs north-south through the suburb, running mostly parallel to the Liesbeeck River. East of Liesbeek Parkway and the river is an area of larger houses, with a more affluent population. Also located in this area is Rustenburg Girls' High School.

Population

According to the 2011 Census, the population of Rosebank consisted of 4,963 people in 1,343 households. 45% of the population described themselves as "

Black African Black is a racial classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and ofte ...

", 38% as "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

", 9% as "

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

" and 6% as " Indian or Asian". Of those who were asked about their

first language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

(which excluded those in university residences), 65% spoke English, 9% spoke

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

and 6% spoke isiZulu. Notably, 12% spoke a language that was not one of South Africa's 11 official languages. 50% of residents of the suburb live in institutions (principally university residences), 30% live in flats, and 19% live in houses. Over 99% of residents had

mains electricity Mains electricity, utility power, grid power, domestic power, wall power, household current, or, in some parts of Canada, hydro, is a general-purpose Alternating current, alternating-current (AC) electric power supply. It is the form of electri ...

, piped

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

, a flush toilet and regular

refuse collection Waste collection is a part of the process of waste management. It is the transfer of solid waste from the point of use and disposal to the point of list of waste treatment technologies, treatment or landfill. Waste collection also includes th ...

References

{{Cape Town suburbs Suburbs of Cape Town