The West Rand District Municipality is one of the districts

Districts of South Africa

South Africa is divided into 52 districts . The 12th amendment to the Constitution reduced this number from 53. Another effect of this amendment is that each district is now completely contained within a province, thus eliminating cross-border districts. The districts also cover the entire area of...

 of Gauteng

Gauteng

Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. It was formed from part of the old Transvaal Province after South Africa's first all-race elections on 27 April 1994...

 province of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, that covers the West Rand

West Rand

The West Rand is the name of the urban western part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation. This area became settled by Europeans after a gold-bearing reef discovered in 1886 and sparked the gold rush that gave rise to the establishment of...

 area, with the exception of Roodepoort. The seat of the district municipality is Randfontein. The most spoken language of its 744 168 people is Setswana (2001 Census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

). The district code is CBDC8.

Neighbours

West Rand is surrounded by:

• Bojanala Platinum
  Bojanala Platinum District Municipality
  Bojanala Platinum is one of the 4 districts of North West province of South Africa. The seat of Bojanala Platinum is Rustenburg. The majority of its 1 185 325 people speak Setswana...
  
   (DC37) to the north
• Tshwane (Pretoria) to the north-east
• Johannesburg
  Johannesburg
  Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
  
    to the east
• Sedibeng
  Sedibeng District Municipality
  Sedibeng is one of the districts of the Gauteng province of South Africa. The administrative seat of Sedibeng is Vereeniging. The most widely spoken language among its 794,605 inhabitants is Sesotho .-Geographic location:...
  
   (DC42) to the south-east
• Dr Kenneth Kaunda (DC40) to the south-west

Local municipalities

The district contains the following local municipalities

Local municipality (South Africa)

In South Africa, a local municipality or Category B municipality is a type of municipality that serves as the third, and most local, tier of local government...

:

Local municipality	Population	%
Mogale City Mogale City Local Municipality Mogale City Local Municipality is a local municipality in West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng, in South Africa.According to the 2007 community survey, the municipality had 319,633 inhabitants of these 69,4% were black african, 25,1% white, 0,6% coloured and 4,9% asian...	289 714	38.93%
Merafong City Merafong City Local Municipality Merafong City Local Municipality is a local municipality in West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. Its boundaries enclose some of the richest gold mines in the world...	210 484	28.28%
Randfontein Randfontein Local Municipality Randfontein Local Municipality is a local municipality in West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng, in South Africa.Randfontein Local Municipality is characterized by high levels of unemployment and poverty and low levels of education and income...	128 848	17.31%
Westonaria Westonaria Local Municipality Westonaria Local Municipality is a local municipality in West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa.The mining industry represents the largest employment sector in the municipality. The unemployment rate is approximately 30%. In 2007, 34% of households had access to piped water inside...	109 324	14.69%
District Management Area	5 783	0.78%

Demographics

The following statistics are from the 2001 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

.

Language	Population	%
Tswana Tswana language Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi...	215 507	28.96%
Afrikaans Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...	126 338	16.98%
Xhosa Xhosa language Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said...	123 501	16.60%
Sotho	86 236	11.59%
Zulu Zulu language Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...	63 541	8.54%
Tsonga Tsonga language The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.- Classification :Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger–Congo languages...	38 410	5.16%
English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...	35 811	4.81%
Northern Sotho Northern Sotho language Northern Sotho , also inaccurately known by the name of a major dialect, Pedi or sePedi, is one of the official languages of South Africa, and is spoken by 4,208,980 people — in the South African provinces of Gauteng,...	22 618	3.04%
Other	10 587	1.42%
Swati Swati language The Swazi or Swati language is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa by the Swazi people. The number of speakers is estimated to be in the region of 3 million. The language is taught in Swaziland and some South African schools in Mpumalanga and KaNgwane areas...	9 918	1.33%
Venda Venda language Venda, also known as or , is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa. The majority of Venda speakers live in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo Province, but about 10% of speakers live in Zimbabwe. The Venda language is related to Kalanga which is spoken in Botswana...	8 927	1.20%
Ndebele Southern Ndebele language The Southern Ndebele language is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the amaNdebele . There are two dialects of Southern Ndebele in South Africa:* the Northern Transvaal Ndebele or Nrebele...	2 759	0.37%

Gender

Gender	Population	%
Male	400 157	53.77%
Female	344 011	46.23%

Ethnic group

Ethnic group	Population	%
Black African	586 665	78.84%
White	132 849	17.85%
Coloured	17 531	2.36%
Indian/Asian	7 123	0.96%

Age

Age	Population	%
000 - 004	63 062	8.47%
005 - 009	55 983	7.52%
010 - 014	55 746	7.49%
015 - 019	58 721	7.89%
020 - 024	72 868	9.79%
025 - 029	82 601	11.10%
030 - 034	77 616	10.43%
035 - 039	76 425	10.27%
040 - 044	65 412	8.79%
045 - 049	46 479	6.25%
050 - 054	31 153	4.19%
055 - 059	19 826	2.66%
060 - 064	14 459	1.94%
065 - 069	9 058	1.22%
070 - 074	6 526	0.88%
075 - 079	4 177	0.56%
080 - 084	2 561	0.34%
085 - 089	897	0.12%
090 - 094	395	0.05%
095 - 099	130	0.02%
100 plus	73	0.01%

Election results

Election results for West Rand in the South African general election, 2004

South African general election, 2004

Legislative elections were held in South Africa on Wednesday, 14 April 2004. The African National Congress of President Thabo Mbeki, which came to power after the end of the apartheid system in 1994, was re-elected with an increased majority....

.

• Population 18 and over: 535 436 [71.95% of total population]
• Total votes: 267 225 [35.91% of total population]
• Voting % estimate: 49.91% votes as a % of population 18 and over

  Party	Votes	%
  African National Congress African National Congress The African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...	196 513	73.54%
  Democratic Alliance	41 008	15.35%
  Inkhata Freedom Party Inkatha Freedom Party The Inkatha Freedom Party is a political party in South Africa. Since its founding, it has been led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi. It is currently the fourth largest party in the National Assembly of South Africa.-History:...	6 748	2.53%
  Freedom Front Plus	4 235	1.58%
  United Democratic Movement	4 093	1.53%
  African Christian Democratic Party	3 301	1.24%
  Independent Democrats	3 076	1.15%
  Pan African Congress	2 481	0.93%
  New National Party	1 645	0.62%
  United Christian Democratic Party	1 244	0.47%
  Azanian People's Organisation	1 215	0.45%
  UF	350	0.13%
  CDP	338	0.13%
  SOPA	258	0.10%
  NA	242	0.09%
  PJC	182	0.07%
  TOP	82	0.03%
  EMSA	64	0.02%
  KISS	61	0.02%
  Minority Front	59	0.02%
  NLP	30	0.01%
  Total	267 225	100.00%