With the lilac splendour of jacarandas as its trademark, Tshwane has grown into a metropolis that encapsulates the rainbow nation. It is here where people of all races, colours and creeds gather. Tshwane resembles Africa with a touch of Europe and a pinch of oriental spice. Hooting taxis, cars old and new, buses and trains drive past hawkers selling an array of fresh fruit and other articles of interest.

Tshwane lies in the smallest of the country's nine provinces, Gauteng (the Sotho word for 'the place of gold'). Tshwane's neighbouring provinces are the North West Province, Mpumalanga, and the Limpopo Province. Gauteng encompasses an area of 17 010 km2 (making up 1,4% of South Africa), while Tshwane covers an area of 2

198 km² (approximately 65 x 50 km). It includes Pretoria, Centurion, Laudium, Eersterust, Akasia and Soshanguve, as well as the surrounding areas of Atteridgeville, Crocodile River, Ga-Rankuwa, Mabopane, Winterveld, Hammanskraal, Temba, and Mamelodi