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33-719: The Waterkloof Air Force Base , as well as the Swartkop Air Force Base (which includes the South African Air Force Museum ), are in Centurion. Fossils discovered at the Sterkfontein Caves show that hominids lived in the vicinity of Centurion between 2 and 3 million years ago. The Sterkfontein Caves, a World Heritage Site , is less than 50 km from Centurion, near Mogale City and Krugersdorp . However,

66-575: A bookmaker and offered money to stop the match ending in a draw. Further controversy occurred in 2001, when the scheduled third Test between South Africa and India at Centurion was declared to be an "unofficial" Test after the Board of Control for Cricket in India refused to accept the International Cricket Council 's match referee, Mike Denness , who had disciplined several Indian players in

99-423: A megalopolis by 2015. The Centurion Aerospace Village (CAV) was formally established in 2006 to create an aerospace supplier park where anchor firms are at the centre of the aerospace cluster and are supported by small and medium-sized producers. The supplier park is modelled on the local automotive industry and mirrors similar international parks, such as Silicon Valley, California, and Toulouse, France. The CAV

132-450: A serious hailstorm has not happened for many years. Summer temperatures range from the mid-20s to the mid-30s (°Celsius). Centurion's weather tends to follow the slightly warmer Pretoria , when compared to that of Johannesburg . The Hennops River flows through the heart of Centurion, and causes occasional flooding when heavy rainfall has occurred. AFB Waterkloof and AFB Swartkop are in Centurion. Other military support services, like

165-530: Is Acquirit Qui Tuetur (He Obtains Who Defends). The base was officially opened on 1 August 1938 as Waterkloof Air Station. Since that time it has always been in the service of the SAAF. It was upgraded to Air Force Base during World War II. On 30 April 2013 a flight full of Indian citizens who had come to attend a wedding of the Gupta family landed at Waterkloof airbase. This was in contravention of South African law since

198-558: Is a cricket ground in Centurion in South Africa . It is also known as SuperSport Park since television company SuperSport bought shares in the stadium. The capacity of the ground is 22,000. The Titans cricket team have played most of their home games here since 2004. The ground was home to the Titans' predecessor team Northerns (previously Northern Transvaal ) since 1986. It is also

231-723: Is in Pierre van Ryneveld Park, Tshwane, on state-owned land, adjacent to Aerosud Holdings, and along the eastern boundary of the Waterkloof Air Force Base. Aerosud was selected by the South African Department of Trade and Industry to be the industry driver and catalyst for this development. The CAV development was made possible with the financial support of the European Union and the South African government, through

264-558: Is situated on the outskirts of Pretoria , and is the SAAF's busiest airbase. The base's name means "water ravine" in Afrikaans and in Dutch. Despite the name, this base is not located in the suburban town of Waterkloof , Pretoria , but lies to the south of Pretoria, 4.34 nmi (8.04 km) to the northeast of Centurion, Gauteng and 3.37 nmi (6.24 km) from AFB Swartkop , at an elevation of 1506 metres (4940 ft). The base motto

297-520: The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy and hosted the final on 5 October 2009. The 2009 Indian Premier League was held in South Africa, and Centurion was one of eight grounds used. It hosted twelve matches, including one of the semi-finals. Supersport Park also hosted a domestic and continental Sixes tournament, where home side, the Titans , came out on top in the domestic competition, and South Africa winning

330-468: The Indian township of Laudium and surrounding suburbs including Erasmia and Claudius , which were formerly a part of Pretoria, were made part of Centurion. A black township, called Olievenhoutbosch , was established in Centurion at around the same time. In 2000, the Centurion local government became part of the newly created City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality , which also includes Pretoria , and

363-722: The Pretoria Garrison. After the cornered British garrison tried to escape to Natal to join General George Pomeroy Colley , the Boers entrenched themselves behind a stone wall surrounding the animal stockade, and wounded the colonel in the backside, who was standing upright in his stirrups. During the Second Boer War the Irene Concentration Camp was established in 1901 on the farm Doornkloof, as part of

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396-632: The African continent (including a helipad) and is part of the Netcare group. Technology companies like Aerosud , Accenture , Denel Dynamics , Siemens , SAAB Grintek Technologies , Telkom and others such as GMC Aircon are in Centurion. The Gautrain has a station in Centurion. Established in 1983 as Verwoerdburgstad ("Verwoerdburg City"), the Centurion Mall was constructed around the Centurion Lake (on

429-1074: The Army Engineer Formation. It also houses the Technical Service Training Centre, and units from the SAMHS and the SAAF . The base's TEK appellation may be derived from "Tegnies Basis Werkswinkel". It has a housing complex for active members. In addition, separately, the reserve force 3 Parachute Battalion is also headquartered in the town. Cricket is the most popular sport in Centurion. It has hosted many cricket tournaments like 2003 Cricket World Cup , 2005 Women's Cricket World Cup , 2007 ICC World Twenty20 , 2009 IPL and 2009 ICC Champions Trophy . Boxing Day Test are played at starting from 2013/14 season. The Railway Safety Regulator (RSR) previously had its head office in Lake Buena Vista Building in Centurion. Centurion has one of

462-467: The British scorched earth policy, where Boer women and children were housed under extremely poor conditions. At its peak the camp had 5,500 inhabitants, mostly women and children. Between February 1901 and the end of the war in 1902, 1,249 lost their lives here, about 1,000 of them children. The Irene Camp Cemetery is well preserved and contains 576 of the original slate tombstones that were carved by hand in

495-534: The Hennops River) and was the only shopping centre with the standard big-name retailers of that time in Centurion until the 21st century. In 2003, the mall underwent its first major revamp which was estimated at around 250 million ZAR. 29,760 m of retail space was added to the mall bringing the mall's total size to 105,000 m, making it the second largest shopping centre in the Tshwane metropolitan area. The mall

528-543: The Peri Urban Board in Pretoria. Centurion was granted City Council status in 1962 as Lyttelton. It was formed by combining the areas of Doornkloof, Irene and Lyttelton . Lyttelton was renamed Verwoerdburg in 1967, after Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd , the former prime minister of South Africa who was assassinated the previous year. The surrounding areas, as they grew, came under the same name and Lyttelton became known as one of

561-474: The Sector-Wide Support Enterprise, Employment and Equity Programme (SWEEEP). Today Centurion features modern shopping malls (Centurion Mall, Mall@Reds, Forest Hill City Mall), several entertainment spots, a theatre, golf courses and a driving range. Several hotels including Irene Country Lodge as well as a plethora of smaller guest houses. The Unitas hospital is the largest private hospital on

594-627: The airbase is classified as a National Key Point; in theory not available to be used for personal air travel by unaffiliated private individuals. It was later alleged that former president Jacob Zuma is the one who ordered the flight to land. The incident would later earn the moniker " Guptagate " in the South African media. In April 2023 the President of the United Arab Emirates , Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan , and his family landed at

627-446: The airport carrying an unknown cargo. The landing further strained South African-United States relations by increasing American skepticism of South Africa's self-proclaimed neutral stance in the conflict. This military aviation article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This South African military article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . SuperSport Park Centurion Park

660-590: The base during their vacation to a South African game lodge in the Eastern Cape. This resulted in comparisons with the landing of Gupta family members at the base 10 years before whilst also closely following the unsuccessful extradition of the Guptas from custody in the UAE to face trail for corruption in South Africa. In May 2023, a year after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine , a US-sanctioned Russian transport plane landed at

693-423: The camp. The town of Irene was established in 1902 when 337 plots were laid out on the farm Doornkloof. Jan Smuts later owned this farm, and died there in 1950. The original Smuts House is a museum today. Centurion developed from the initial Lyttelton Township that was marked out on the farm Droogegrond in 1904. Lyttelton Manor Extension 1 was established in 1942. These two townships initially resorted under

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726-457: The earliest evidence of modern human habitation in the Centurion area does not go this far back. It dates back to 1200 AD when black African communities settled in this area. They cultivated lands, grazed their cattle, made earthenware containers and melted iron. In 1841 the Erasmus family arrived and settled in the area. Daniel Jacobus Erasmus settled on the farm Zwartkop , Daniel Elardus Erasmus on

759-549: The farm Doornkloof and Rasmus Elardus Erasmus developed the farm Brakfontein. Several of the suburbs like Erasmia , Elardus Park , Zwartkop and Doornkloof were named after these 19th-century owners of the land and their properties. In 1849 Rev Andrew Murray visited the farm Doornkloof and christened 129 babies, heard the profession of faith of 29 new members of the Reformed Church and the next day, 29 December 1849, celebrated communion . In 1889 Alois Hugo Nelmapius bought

792-588: The former Military Medical Institute (now the Institute for Aviation Medicine), and the former Base Workshops and Vehicle Reserve Park (4VRP) were based in Centurion. It appears that 101 Air Supply Unit SAOSC is in Lyttelton, Gauteng . There is also a South African Army installation in the area. Technical Base Complex Centurion is home to the 2 Parachute Battalion (a reserve force unit), 44 Parachute Engineers, 1 Military Printing Regiment, 4 Survey and Map Regiment, and

825-559: The home ground of the Pretoria Capitals . The town of Verwoerdburg was renamed Centurion at the end of apartheid , with the politically neutral new name of the town coming from that of the cricket ground. The first Test match at Centurion was held in November 1995, as the opening match of the first post-apartheid tour of South Africa by the England cricket team ; however, the match

858-565: The most secure golf estate in South Africa. The Centurion Golf Estate is about 2 km from Supersport Park . There are many other secure estates close by such as the Irene Estate and the Southdowns Estate. Places such as Irene Farms and Supersport Park are the main tourism attractions. Centurion has come a long way from being a large town south of Pretoria, with smallholdings and large open spaces. Having experienced growth since 1994, like

891-532: The northern and north-eastern portions of the farm Doornkloof and named it after his daughter Irene (who died in 1961). As part of the First Boer War , the battle for Rooihuiskraal (Afrikaans for "Red House Kraal ") took place in 1881 here. A Boer commando under the leadership of D.J. Erasmus Jr defeated Colonel Gildea, or "The Blasted Colonel" as they called him, the British Officer Commanding of

924-454: The previous match at Port Elizabeth. In December 2010, India batsman Sachin Tendulkar scored his 50th Test century at Centurion in the first Test of the 2010–11 Indian tour of South Africa . From the summer of 2018/19, the ground usually hosts a Boxing Day Test . Centurion was a venue for the 2003 Cricket World Cup which took place in South Africa. It was also selected as a venue for

957-450: The rest of urban South Africa, many businesses have relocated there, and property development is boosting the ever-expanding city limits. This development has meant there is now little break between the outskirts of Pretoria to the north, and Midrand and Johannesburg to the south. The Gauteng Provincial Government predicted that, according to growth trends, much of the Gauteng province would be

990-469: The suburbs of Verwoerdburg. Others included Clubview , Eldoraigne , Kloofsig , Wierdapark , Zwartkop and their extensions. The name Centurion was chosen by residents in 1995 (without the option to retain the existing name), soon after the end of apartheid , to match the name of the Centurion Park (now called SuperSport Park ) cricket stadium which is in the area. Following the end of apartheid,

1023-470: The town ceased to have its own Town Council. Centurion is on the Highveld like Johannesburg and Pretoria and has a similar climate, with dry, sunny winters (max. daytime temperature around 20 °C dropping to an average minimum of 5 °C), and warm to hot summers (October – April) tempered by late-afternoon showers often accompanied by spectacular thunder and lightning. Hailstorms are not uncommon, but

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1056-485: Was also known for its man-made colour water fountain amenity, which was in the centre of the lake, on the north side of the mall (known as the 'bay' area). This water feature has been used as a 'logo' for the former Centurion town council, seen at many of the entrances of the previous municipality. AFB Waterkloof Air Force Base Waterkloof {AFB Wklf} is an airbase of the South African Air Force . It

1089-470: Was drawn after being severely affected by rain. Centurion was the venue for the notorious fifth Test match of the next England tour in 2000 , when (after three days' play were lost to rain) South African captain Hansie Cronje forfeited his team's second innings to allow for a result on the final day of the match, which England won. It was later revealed that Cronje had done so after being approached by

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