Pretoria, noun

/prəˈtɔːrɪə/
Origin:
Named for the Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius (1798–1853).
The name of the city (in Gauteng Province) which is the country’s executive and administrative capital.
1. By metonymy: the Government. Also attributive. See also Boer sense 7.
Note:
Quotation 1899 refers to the government of the former Transvaal Republic.
1899 T. Froes Expelled from Randt 14Peddling ‘Peruvian’ Jews were mulcted in sums from £10 downwards..and compelled to contribute to the Pretoria war chest.
1913 M.M. Cleaver Young S. Afr. 2He was reported to Pretoria for having spoken unprofessionally of his Superiors in the Department.
1936 Cambridge Hist. of Brit. Empire VIII. 598Pretoria accused Downing Street of putting forward new terms.
1964 M. Benson Afr. Patriots 128The 4,000 ‘sat down and there were cat calls and threats. Then, acting on instructions from Pretoria (the Government), the police drew their batons and charged.’
1976 Progress Oct. 7If the average company were run the way Pretoria has recently been managing the South African economy, it would have been insolvent long ago.
1979 Cape Times 1 Jan. 6A Pretoria decision to shipwreck the UN plan in South West Africa..would destroy any chance of a new understanding between South Africa and the West.
1985 Financial Mail 18 Jan. 33Is it not time that Pretoria stopped blaming the falling gold price and the weather for the country’s economic ills?
1985 ‘De-Kaffirnated Stan’ in Drum Sept.The wheels of Pretoria are trundling as ponderously as ever in the direction of phasing out discrimination.
1991 S. Macleod in Time 5 Aug. 10As Pretoria quickly admitted, Inkatha and an allied labor union had received more than $600,000. The disclosure caused an uproar.
2. Special Combination Pretoria Minute, an agreement published on 6 August 1990 by the National Party and the African National Congress after talks in Pretoria (now Tshwane), including matters such as the suspension of the ANC’s armed struggle, and an undertaking by the state to dismantle White minority domination, release political prisoners, and allow the repatriation of exiles; also attributive.
1990 Sunday Times 12 Aug. 7We find the office abuzz. This is the first day of the Pretoria Minute and the first day after the suspension of the armed struggle.
1990 Sunday Times 16There is an unfortunate tendency to regard events such as the crafting of the Pretoria Minute as frozen moments in our history...The Minute is only one stage in a long journey...Dries van Heerden calls for the centrists in South Africa to take a stand against the demands of the extremists in the post-Pretoria Minute era.
1990 New African 13 Aug. 6What does the Pretoria Minute really mean? How does it affect the struggle for liberation?
1990 Weekly Mail 14 Sept. 8The expected return of 30 000–100 000 exiles in the wake of the Pretoria Minute.
1991 J. Kane-Berman in Race Rel. News (S.A.I.R.R.) Apr. 23One can only express the hope, the prayer, that the various peace pacts hold: the Groote Schuur Minute, the Pretoria Minute, and..the recent peace pact between the ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party.
The name of the city (in Gauteng Province) which is the country’s executive and administrative capital.
By metonymy: the Government. Also attributive.
Special Combination Pretoria Minute,an agreement published on 6 August 1990 by the National Party and the African National Congress after talks in Pretoria (now Tshwane), including matters such as the suspension of the ANC’s armed struggle, and an undertaking by the state to dismantle White minority domination, release political prisoners, and allow the repatriation of exiles; also attributive.
Derivatives:
So Pretorian  noun, a citizen of Pretoria; Pretorian  adjective, of or pertaining to Pretoria (now Tshwane), to the central government, or (obsolete) to the government of the former Transvaal Republic.
1880 G.F. Austen Diary (1981) 8She carried the bundle triumphantly to its destination, no doubt much to the edification and amusement of the Pretorians.
1896 M.A. Carey-Hobson At Home in Tvl 431Pilfering continually going on in the gardens of the Pretorian erfholders.
1900 ‘One Who Was In It’ Kruger’s Secret Service 6Mysterious talk of some movements to be initiated against the corruption and tyranny of the Pretorian oligarchy.
1975 Sunday Times 27 July 20It has taken 10 years..for Pretorians to reach such a pitch of righteous indignation..and develop an un-Pretorian taste for protest.
1987 Cosmopolitan Dec. 210Pretorians have a reputation for being dedicated ‘ravers’. Many Johannesburgers drive the 50-odd km to party in Pretoria rather than in the Golden City.
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