Tshwane and spaces of power in South Africa

South Africa has multiple national capitals. The largest arm of the government – the executive and administration – is seated in Pretoria whose municipal authority has adopted the name City of Tshwane since the regime change of 1994. Founded in 1855, the city now has 3 million inhabitants: it is also part of a much larger ‘city region’, including Johannesburg, with a population over 12 million, concentrating the major part of economic power in the country. The city has witnessed, indeed to some extent hosted, remarkable changes in South African society over the past two decades. Most obviously, the composition of the government has altered greatly. Yet these signs of change are not unilateral; beside the persistence of older forms, there exist obvious elements of symbolic change. The ways the city looks, is laid out, and functions are elaborated. This paper considers the national and global positioning of the city.