About
Gauteng is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana means "place of gold". Situated in the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province in South Africa, accounting for only 1.5% of the land area. In Sotho, "Gauteng" means "where gold is". It is possible that the province got its name because of gold mines found within the province. It is highly urbanised, containing the country's largest city, Johannesburg, its administrative capital, Pretoria, and other large areas such as Midrand and Vanderbijlpark. As of 2019, Gauteng is the most populous province in South Africa with a population of approximately 15 million people according to estimates.Gauteng is home to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the largest stock exchange in Africa. Some of the largest companies in Africa and abroad are based in Gauteng, or have offices and branches there, such as Vodacom, MTN, Neotel, Microsoft South Africaand the largest Porsche Centre in the world.Although Gauteng is the smallest of South Africa's nine provinces—it covers a mere 1.5% of the country's total land area,the province is responsible for a third of South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP).Gauteng generates about 10% of the total GDP of sub-Saharan Africa and about 7% of total African GDP.