Winterveld

Winterveld (also spelled Winterveldt) is a large township in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. It lies at the north-western corner of Tshwane adjacent to the townships of Mabopane and Soshanguve. The community covers about 104.5 km² and had a population of 120,826 according to the 2011 census, making it one of the larger townships in northern Gauteng. The area is approximately 40 km north-northwest of Pretoria by road. Winterveld is located on the Highveld plateau at the boundary with the Bushveld grassland and lies on ancient Bushveld granite; the locality is normally classified as having a hot semi-arid (Köppen BSh) climate.

== History == The name Winterveld comes from Afrikaans meaning "winter field", a reference to the area's use as grazing ground in the cooler, dry months. The locality was originally farmland prior to large-scale settlement. Under apartheid-era spatial policies the area and surrounds were linked administratively to the Bophuthatswana homeland and from the 1960s and 1970s Winterveld expanded as a site for relocated black South Africans; between circa 1968 and 1975 the area received many displaced rural and urban migrants and developed large informal/squatter settlements. After the end of apartheid Winterveld was incorporated into the City of Tshwane metropolitan municipality (c. 2000–2001) and since then has been the focus of phased state investment in housing, electrification, schools and other municipal infrastructure.