Johannesburg is where the money is. And the action. It's the most powerful commercial centre on the African continent. It is an African city that works: the phones dial, the lights switch on, you can drink the water, there are multi-lane freeways, skyscrapers, conference centres, golf courses. If you should get lost, ordinary people on the street speak English. Cellphones are everywhere. You can send e-mail from your hotel room, you can bank any foreign currency, you can watch CNN, and should you fall ill, the hospitals have world-class equipment and doctors who can be trusted with a scalpel.
Johannesburg is the capital of South Africa's smallest - and richest - province, called Gauteng, a Sesotho name meaning "Place of Gold". Gauteng makes up just 1,4% of South Africa's land area, but it is home to more than a fifth of the population and produces a third of the country's wealth. Gauteng is predominantly urban, consisting chiefly of industrial and mining satellite towns surrounding the twin cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria. Pretoria, South Africa's administrative capital (the legislative capital is Cape Town) is itself merging into Johannesburg's outer suburbs.
