Perhaps the most plausible explanation so far, however, is described in this talk by Prof. LJ Louwrens. According to this, the name "Tshwane" comes from the Setswana word "tshwana" meaning "black cow". During a time of drought, a black cow was used as a central part of a rainmaking ceremony whereby water was fetched from the (not yet so-named) Tshwane river and sprinkled on the cow. The cow was then allowed to graze freely, and, it was believed, rain would fall wherever the cow grazed. The story goes that the drought was broken in this way, and the river thereafter was named "Tshwane", derived from "tshwana" and meaning "place of the black cow". When the city of Pretoria began to develop around the Apies river, the name Tshwane was carried over to the city.

Another explanation that has been put forth is that the river was named in honour of Tshwane, the son of Chief Mushi, who settled in the area about a century before the arrival of the Voortrekkers in the early 1800s. From tshwane.gov.za/faq.cfm: "Chief Mushi and his tribe had moved from Zululand and first settled at Mokgapane (Mooiplaas, east of Pretoria). He later moved from Mooiplaas to what is now the Pretoria area, on the banks of the Tshwane River, named after his son Tshwane (today called the Apies River). Tshwane is the authentic African name for Pretoria."

A third explanation commonly put forth, that is promoted in particular by the city municipality, is that "tshwane" means "we are the same" or "we are one because we live together". Although the word is similar to a Setswana word of which the stem has roughly that meaning, this explanation is unlikely, and is probably promoted only for its "feel-good" political value. In fact, as a reader pointed out, "tshwane" would actually mean "we are not the same": "You're right. Tshwane, if anything, would mean NOT THE SAME in Setswana. A fuller sentence would be 'ga re tshwane' meaning we're not the same." - Sam

Another reader to the site has submitted the following: "the closest meaning for the word Tshwane is the word Tshwaana or Tshwaane which is a word to refer to colour for the colour white. When a bull is pure white it is called Tshweu and when it is a cow it becomes Tshwana or Tshwaana"

NOTE: The "h" of "Tshwane" is not really pronounced, it indicates aspiration, so for non-mother tongue speakers, a closer approximation is to pronounce the name as if it was spelled "Tswane". (In Tshivenda, it is in fact spelled "Tswane".)

Pretoria was founded in 1855, and is named after Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius.

The Pretoria name change has been the subject of much discussion and debate; Chris Roper has some insightful and humorous commentary on the issue: 'Pretoria' reflects an evil past. To quote: "... there's no arguing the fact that many of our place names reflect an evil past. Whether Andries Pretorius was evil or not doesn't matter - we turned the word Pretoria into a byword for oppression, so it needs to change." One argument against the name change is the huge estimated cost (over R1.5bn); there are no doubt far more useful ways to spend the money, e.g. better schools and libraries for the poor areas of Pretoria.

^* The name of Pretoria has not yet been officially changed to "Tshwane"; the name change was scheduled to occur in October 2005 but appears to have been delayed. When/if the name change takes place, the name "Pretoria" will subsequently refer only to the city center.

^** The word "apies" is an Afrikaans word meaning "small monkeys". Although "Tshwane" superficially resembles the Setswana word "Tshwene" (meaning baboon), the name "Tshwane" is not derived from this and does not mean "ape(s)" or "monkey(s)", contrary to misinformation that is going around. The confusion probably originates from the translation of the name "Apies Rivier" vs. the name "Tshwane" also referring to the river.

From Ben Goslin: "The verb "boloka = preserve, save, put away with care, bury, store, file, keep in safety, protect, observe a law or custom". A deverbative noun is formed from this verb stem in Class 9, thus n-bolok-o > poloko + diminutive -ana/ane > Polokwane. The capital indicate the name of a place. I don't recall the source, but in the vicinity of Pietersburg there is place called "Bewaarkloof" which would share the same significance in meaning. It seems as if the name Polokwane could be an equivalent of this Afrikaans name. There is a river near Pietersburg known as Umbhulungwane which is the Northern Ndebele equivalent of Polokwane. So it might be that Sindebele is the source language. Note that the diminutive -ana/-ane, apart from expressing 'small size' may also express 'endearment". The variant -ane normally occurs in proper names. Polokwane could have the following meaning "cherished, beloved (place) of safety". I hope this will shed some light, or cause more confusion as to the source."

Phuti Kgatla doesn't agree: "A person who said Polokwane means a "little storage space" was actually referring to Seshego Township, Seshego is a silo: "a pit or airtight structure in which green crops are stored" for future use especially when there is famine. As for place of safety I think someone was taking chances, place of safety would be Polokong which does not necessarily mean place of safety but place of rest or burial(grave yard). Polokwane just like most of our surnames Kgatla, Semenya, Mamabolo Matlala does not have a descriptive meanings. Most places in Pedi were named after their chiefs, rivers and mountains, e.g Modimolle in which the whole area was named after the little mountain. ... In conluction, I'm not disputing that there were names that had meaning however not all had clear cut meaning. For now Polokwane has no meaning."

Another Venda-speaking reader also wrote that Musina simply means "copper".

Another reader writes: "I was told whilst on a tour of the area that the name Musina, misspelt Messina, much like Mafeking Mafikeng meant The Spoiler, this from the fact that the ancient coppersmiths were finding that their copper was being adulterated by iron ore of which I believe there is a lot in the area." - Ian

For more details, see this site: Brief history of the name of the Province, Mpumalanga

Note that Soweto does not really "exist", as such, but actually consists of a number of smaller townships, such as Diepkloof, Naledi and Senoane.

Soweto is home to approximately four million people.

Links:
http://www.soweto.co.za/
Soweto in Pictures Photography by Jurgen Schadeberg.

"I was told that the name comes from Dzudzanani which means "living together in harmony". The ancient capital of the Venda Kingdom was in Dzudzanani before King Muzhedzi Ramabulana (King Thohoyandou's son) moved it to Makhado (former Louis Trichardt) in the late 1700s or early 1800s. Makhado is 30 km south-west of Dzudzanani. Dzudzanani was later referred to as Dzanani (the "Dzu" part of it was discarded).

When colonialists conquered Venda in 1898 King Mphephu Tshilamulela's palace was at mount Swongozwi (Hanglip) in Makhado. King Mphephu was King Makhado's son. The Royal Family was forcibly relocated to Dzudzanani (Dzanani) after Makhado was declared a "white area" under the 1913 Land Act." - Pfanani

Another reader also writes: "I was told that the name Tzaneen came from the name Dzanani. This was the place where the vha-Venda lived many years ago; it is said that the whole area from Limpopo (Vhembe) river to the now called Olifants river was occupied by vha Venda to the side of Madzivhanombe (around Giyani). Near Tzaneen is Bolobedu (where some Venda-origin people are still staying)"

An alternate and most probably incorrect explanation is also floating around, namely: ".. the name Tzaneen originated from the Sepedi word tsaneng, which loosely translated means "the place where people gather."" (Source).