TEMBISA... WHAT IS TEMBISA?

Tembisa is the second largest township in Gauteng after Soweto. A township that boasts itself with the surplus of talent, expertise, excellence, and a legendary ancestral lineage. Where the township is today is a true reflection of what the blood, sweat, and tears of its first settlers believed it to be or represented, a place of "hope". This sense of hope has echoed through the ages, thus with it the spirit of hope is born and maintained through the generations. Tembisa, a harbor of untold stories and a land where legends unfold.

History:

Tembisa started in the 1957 at the request of the then Minister of Bantu Administration and Development. The purpose was to establish a single regional township to serve the needs of the industrial areas between Pretoria and Johannesburg. This area consists of Kempton Park, Kelvin Power Station (Croydon), Modderfontien, Bedford, Edenvale, Irene, Germiston, Isando, Elandsfontien and Lyttleton.

Tembisa is/was a place that many of its residents relocated to in search of job opportunities brewing due to the then current industrial age. in 1952 As the industrialization of the neighboring was taking shape more people began to flock to the area which prompted the then minister appointed a committee to investigate and report on the possibility of establishing a regional townsip, Tembisa, which presented opportunities and the resurrection of "hope" - direct English translation.

Municipality:

Tembisa was originally administered by the City Council of Germiston and later by the East Rand administration Board. It was granted a municipal status after an enactment by Parliament in terms of the Black Authorities Act of 1982 and subsequently there were elections of the council in 1983. 

The current Local Authority is the Kempton Park Tembisa Metropolitan Local Council (a Trading Entity of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council) established in terms of the Transitional Local Authority Act. This Local Authority Council is a product of an amalgamation of the former Tembisa City Council and Kempton park Council.

Location and division:

The size of the township is approximated to be 28.31 hectares, including its extensions and demarcated areas.Tembisa is situated approximately 17 kilometers north of Kempton Park, between Johannesburg and Pretoria. The township is divided into sections that throughout the planning has been made of natural features, while each neighborhood of 400-500 stands was planned as a self contained unit of its own quota of schools, shops, churches and open spaces; the name or surbub also indicates broadly the ethnic grouping of its ethnic groups of its present, or at then future, residents thus the formation of:

Tembisa -"Hope"                                                      
Ecaleni - " The beginning"
Enhlanzeni - "Where the trees are"                            
Elidinga - "Placeof promise"
Emfihlweni - "Hiding/burial place"                              
Emkhathini - "The middle"                                
Emmangweni - "Up hill"                              

                                       
Emoyeni - "the windy place"
Endayeni - "a place of trade"                                      
Endulwini - "On the Rise'
Entshonalanga - "Where the sunset"                            
Esangweni - " the entrance"
Esiqongweni - "on to of the hill'                                    
Esiziba - "where  we fetch water"
Ethafeni - "in the open fields"                                        
Gahlanso - "the junction"
Ibaxa - "a fork (in the road)"                                        
Ibazelo -"wood cutting"
Ililiba - "where the graves are"                                      
Igqagqa - "the winds"
Inxiweni - "ruins of a mud hut"                                    
Isekelo - "borrowed word for circle"
Isiphetweni - "The End"                                              
Isithame - "where we sit"
Isivana - "The Orchard"                                              
Jiyana - Surname of the first relocated family
Khatamping - "Clay hole"                                            

Kopanong - "the meeting place"
Leboeng - "To the North"                                            
Lekaneng  - "they are equal"
Lifateng - "where the trees are"                                    
Makhulong - "pastures"
Maokeng - "Thorn trees"                                              
Mashemong - "where we've  ploughed"
Moedi - "stream"                                                          
Moriting - "by the shade"
Moteng - "downhill"                                                      
Motsu - "arrow head or sharpness"
Mpho - "gift"                                                                
Mqantsa - "On the rise"
Sedibeng - "at the fountain"                                          
Seotlana - "fire screen wall''
Sithebe - "the eating mat"                                              
Sethokga - "at the trees"
Temong - "Where we plough"                                      
Thiteng - "uncultivated land"
TlamaTlama - "Tied Tightly"                                          
Tsenelong - "revelation/view"
Tshepo -"hope/trust"                                                    
Umfuyaneng - "small stream"
Umnonjaneni - " by the river side"                                  
Umthambeka - "steep descent"
Vusimuzi -"home starter, (usually a first born son)"          
Welamlambo - "across the river"
Xubeni - "the mix"


Our forefathers  started it for us. Now we need to promise to take care of it by changing the present to benefit the future.