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Information on Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa

Conference Venues South Africa brings you information on Sandton situated in the Gauteng Province of South Africa including information on location, history, tourism culture, attractions, facilities.

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Sandton is a wealthy area in the City of Johannesburg, South Africa in the Gauteng Province. The name comes from the combination of two suburbs, Sandown and Bryanston, both of which were named after places in the United Kingdom. In 1969 Sandton was promulgated as a municipality in its own right, but lost its status as an independent town after the re-organisation of South African local governments following the demise of apartheid.

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One of the main attractions in Sandton is Sandton City, which ranks among the largest shopping centres in Africa. Together with Nelson Mandela Square, the centre, with some 144,000 m2 of shopping space, is one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, larger than Sydney's Westfield Parramatta or Melbourne's Southland Shopping Centres. Much of Johannesburg's business tourism is centred on Sandton, which has a string of 5-star hotels.

Nelson Mandela Square, formerly known as Sandton Square, was renamed in March 2004, after the unveiling of a 6-metre bronze statue of the former president, one of South Africa's greatest statesmen. Perhaps ironically, Liliesleaf Farm, where Nelson Mandela lived in the early 1960s and where many leading political activists were arrested in 1963 and tried as part of the now infamous Rivonia Trial, is just north of Nelson Mandela Square, close to the N3 Highway, off Rivonia Road.

The Sandton area is one of the most populent in Johannesburg and South Africa, and therefore in Africa but not far away from Alexandra, one of the poorest former black townships. Sandton covers an area of approximately 156 km² while Alexandra is just over 8 km². It is estimated that the population of Alexandra is the same as that of Sandton itself.

Due to the shortage of available land, the trend in new developments is to go skyward. This is evidenced by the new 140-metre tall Michelangelo Towers, which purports to offer Manhattan-style living in Johannesburg. The new apartment block will be the fourth-tallest building in Johannesburg and local newspaper the Sunday Times reports that the top-selling penthouse apartment was sold for R28 million (around $4 million).

History of Sandton

The municipality was established as an extension of the city in 1969, after Johannesburg began to expand northwards. Its initially was very much a residential area consisting mostly of small holdings. This rural "horsey" lifestyle of Sandton gave it the image of being a smart address. It was dubbed the "mink and manure" belt of Johannesburg.

After the demise of apartheid and the manifestation of the new political dispensation, Sandton became part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality following new demarcations put forward by the government, and it no longer has a separate municipal government.

It has become the new financial centre of South Africa and Johannesburg's premier business centre. Much of the financial focus of Johannesburg has shifted from the Central Business District to Sandton, especially in the last 15 years. However, three of South Africa's four largest banks have kept their head offices in downtown Johannesburg, along with Transnet, the transport parastatal. The other bank, Nedbank, has its headquarters in Sandton.

But much of the "new money" has moved north to Sandton, including investment banks, financial consultants and the like. A considerable amount of the city's A-grade office space is to be found in Sandton. The JSE Securities Exchange, Johannesburg's stock exchange, relocated its offices to Sandton from the Central Business District in the late 1990s. Sandton's gain was the central business district's loss: it resulted from urban blight of the downtown Johannesburg area.

Sandton is home to the Sandton Convention Centre, one of the largest convention centres on the continent and primary site of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development (also known as "Rio + 10"), which Johannesburg hosted. The convention centre also hosted the African National Congress' victory celebrations after the party won the 2004 elections. Hewlett Packard's main Southern Africa and South Africa office is in Rivonia, Sandton.

Towns and Suburbs of the Gauteng province of South Africa

Arcadia , Bedfordview , Benoni , Boekenhoutskloof , Boksburg , Bruma , Bryanston , Centurion , De Wagensdrift , Dinokeng , Edenvale , Fourways , Johannesburg , Germiston ,Glenvista , Hartbeespoort , Hatfield , Kameeldrift , Kempton Park , Kromdraai , Krugersdorp , Lanseria , Linden , Lonehill , Lynnwood , Magaliesburg , Menlyn , Meyerspark , Midrand , Modderfontein , Mondeor , Montana , Muldersdrift , Murrayfield , Northcliff , Pretoria , Pretoria East , Randburg , Rivonia , Roodepoort , Rosebank , Rust de Winter , Sandton , Springs , Vereeniging , Vanderbijlpark , Walkerville , Wapadrand , Waterkloof , Weltevredenpark , Woodmead