Thaba Tshwane

Thaba Tshwane is a military base (or military area), in Pretoria, South Africa. Founded around 1905 by the British Army, and called Roberts Heights^[1] after Lord Roberts. It was renamed Voortrekkerhoogte ("Voortrekker Heights") in 1939 by the government of the Union of South Africa, following the beginning of the building of the nearby Voortrekker Monument, at a time of growing Afrikaner nationalism.

The oldest building in the complex is the South African Garrison Institute, what is now known as the Army College. Lord Kitchener laid the cornerstone on 12 June 1902.^[2]

On the 19 May 1998, following the end of apartheid, it was renamed again, getting the name Thaba Tshwane.^[3] Today the installation is home to the South African Army College, the South African National Defence College under Rear-Admiral Laura Jansen van Vuuren (), the National Ceremonial Guard and Band, the Military Police School, 1 Military Hospital, 2 Parachute Battalion, 44 Parachute Engineer Regiment, 44 Parachute Anti-Aircraft Regiment, 1 Military Printing Regiment, Tshwane Regiment (Motorised Infantry), 18 Light Regiment (Artillery Formation) and 4 Survey and Map Regiment.

Thaba Tshwane should not be confused with the much larger City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, that was created in 2000, which includes Pretoria (including Thaba Tshwane).

References

External links

• The 1998 speech by South Africa's Minister of Defence on the renaming of Voortrekkerhoogte to Thaba Tshwane
• Experiences at Voortrekkerhoogte Military base in 1984