Rustenburg (meaning "town of rest" or "resting place") was proclaimed a township in 1851. The large town of Rustenburg is situated some 112 km northwest of Johannesburg, at the foot of the Magaliesberg.
On 10 February 1859, the Nederland Gereformeerde Church was founded at Rustenburg. The Rustenburg parish was only the second Nederland Gereformeerde parish established north of the Vaal River.
Rustenburg is one of the oldest towns in the North West Province of South Africa. For some years, it was a frontier post and a resort for hunters, explorers and prospectors who used it as a base from which to venture into the far northern interior.
The Rustenburg area features numerous holiday resorts, private game farms, national game parks and reserves have been a a favourite getaway for Gauteng residents for decades. Rustenburg lies in a malaria-free and relatively crime-free area and is less than an hour's drive from both Johannesburg and Pretoria.
Rustenburg falls under the administration of the Rustenburg Local Municipality and the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality. The Rustenburg Tourism Bureau can be contacted at telephone number (014) 597 0904 or fax number (014) 597 0907.
"Rustenburg" name
The name "Rustenburg" could have come from the peace that the Voortrekkers found, when they settled here and began working their farms, after their Great Trek through South Africa and their defeat of Mzilikazi's Ndebele. But another explanation for the name is that the Reverend D.E. Faure of Wynberg suggested naming the town after Rustenberg farming estate in the old Cape Colony, which Voortrekker leader Andries Pretorius accepted the suggestion.
Rustenburg Vegetation
The Rustenburg area is covered in the natural bushveld vegetation, including Acacia, Boekenhout and Syringa trees, with the Magliesberg Mountain Range overlooking it all.
Rustenburg Economy
Rustenburg lies on the edge of the bushveld igneous complex, one of the most heavily mineralised districts in the world. And the two largest platinum mines in the world lies just outside of Rustenburg, on land owned by the Royal Bafokeng people.
Granite, marble, asbestos, chrome, tin, lead and slate are also mined in the Rustenburg area. Despite being an industrial and mining area, the town of Rustenburg is green and lush, with streets lined with jacaranda trees and poincianas.
Rustenburg is the administrative centre for a fertile farming area producing citrus fruit, cotton, Virginia tobacco, groundnuts, sunflower seeds, maize, wheat and beef cattle.
There are three irrigation dams in the region. Two of these dams, Olifantsnek and Bospoort, were built on the Hex River, a tributary of the Elands River, which flows into the Crocodile River 50 km north of Brits.
The third dam, Vaalkop, was built in the 1960s at the confluence of the Elands and Hex rivers 50 km northeast of Rustenburg, to supplement supplies from Bospoort for the platinum mines just outside Rustenburg, for irrigation and for the town itself.
Rustenburg Climate
The Rustenburg climate is delightfully warm to hot and sunny, with temperatures a good four or five degrees warmer than in Gauteng.
Paul Kruger
One cannot really mention Rustenburg without referencing http://www.nfi.org.za/KM/khkruger.htm Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (10 October 1825 - 14 July 1904), who became a prominent Boer resistance leader against British rule and was President Paul Kruger of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (Transvaal Republic) from 1880 to 1898. Paul Kruger was also affectionately known among the Boer people simply as "Oom Paul" (Afrikaans for "Uncle Paul").
Paul Kruger was born to Casper Jan Hendrik Kruger and Elsie Francina Steyn, on the farm Bulhoek in the Steynsburg district, Cradock, which belonged to his grandfather. The Kruger Family was of Prussian descent.
The young Paul Kruger received only three months' formal education from one Tielman Roos. So, Paul Kruger was functionally literate The rest of Paul Kruger's education came from life on the South African veld and his parents' religious instruction from the Bible.
Casper Kruger, who joined the trek party of Hendrik Potgieter when the Great Trek started in 1836, was among the first Voortrekkers to settle in the well-watered subtropical area of Rustenburg, on the northern slopes of the Magaliesberg. He acquired the farm Buffelsfontein (meaning 'buffalo spring') in 1842, near current day Rustenburg.
When Paul was 16, he received his own farm at the foot of the Magaliesberg near present-day Rustenburg and named it Waterkloof, where he settled in 1841.
Royal Bafokeng of Rustenburg
The Royal Bafokeng, one of the richest tribes occupying its own land in South Africa, comprise a population of 3 million people. The Royal Bafokeng are members of the seTswana-speaking indigenous community and rose to some prominence during the 1980s when they demanded compensation and royalties from mining companies who were mining platinum in the area.
Known as the "People of the Dew", the Bafokeng nation currently spans 44 farms extending over 70 000 hectares on the mineral-rich Merensky Reef in the Rustenburg area. The kingdom is sub-divided into 72 traditional dikgoro (wards), each of which is regulated by a hereditary dikgosana (headman) and mmadikgosana (headman's wife).
The Bafokeng were originally the BaKwena people. It is thought that the BaFokeng people originated in central Africa, from whence they migrated southwards. According to oral tradition, the Bafokeng came upon an area that boded well for agriculture and animal husbandry, as the valleys captured heavy overnight dew. In honour of their settlement in the Rustenburg area, they took the name Bafokeng, literally meaning 'people of the dew' in seTswana.
The Bafokeng kingdom has an abundance of chrome reserves and the world's second-largest platinum deposits. An agreement between several mining companies and the Royal Bafokeng administration resulted in the Bafokeng people receiving compensation payments and annual royalties (huge amounts) from the mining companies that extract minerals from the land.
The Bafokeng have used their income from mining to build schools, roads, clinics and other infrastructure such as a sports complex incorporating a soccer stadium with an athletics track, an Olympic-size swimming pool, tennis courts, basketball courts and a gymnasium. Almost all the infrastructure has been planned, designed and funded by the Royal Bafokeng.
The Royal family of the Royal Bafokeng is also kept in luxury fit for...well...a king.
The current Royal Bafokeng king is Kgosi Leruo Tshekedi Molotlegi, the 36th paramount ruler of the Bafokeng people, who holds a degree in architecture and urban planning from the University of Natal.
Indian Residents of Rustenburg
Among the first residents of Rustenburg, were early settlers of Indian Origin. One of the first families of Indian Origin was the Bhyat family, whose contribution to the City's history was marked by the renaming of a major street to "Fatima Bhyat Street".
Fatima Bhyat and husband Abubakr Ahmed Bhyat, the first residents of Indian origin owned a hardware store that supplied equipment on credit to Paul Kruger for use during the Anglo-Boer War and for which they were later rewarded with in gold.
Suliman Ahmed, Ismail Mohammed and Mahmood Ahmed, three brothers from the Bakharia family, settled on a farm in Rustenburg, after arriving in South Africa from India more than 100 years ago. President Paul Kruger of the Transvaal, who allowed them to live and trade there, owned the farm.
During the Second Anglo-Boer War, the Bakharia brothers also helped the Boer troops with food and shelter. And Paul Kruger gratefully gave the Bakharias the farm Kookfontein.
And this is where this story becomes rather interesting:
The land was later expropriated under the apartheid laws. And during an insolvency hearing of Mahmood Ahmed Bakharia's grandson from Rustenburg, Suliman Bakharia, who was declared insolvent in 1998 when his general dealer business ran into difficulties, details of this claim of ownership emerged.
This is one of the biggest land claims on South African property worth more than R150-million, spanning 72 hectares of land in the platinum-rich area of Rustenburg in the North West Province of South Africa. The property includes buildings currently belonging to the Bafokeng nation, which has made a fortune from the area's platinum mines. Among the properties are the Royal Bofokeng Sports Palace, Bafokeng Plaza shopping complex, a police station and a service station.
The Commission on Restitution of Land Rights has confirmed the claim. The complex land claim had apparently led to a rift in the Bakharia family, but the members had ultimately united in the fight to have the land returned to them.
A spokesman for the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, Congress Mahlangu, said that the claim had been approved and a "restitution award" would be given on the 55-hectare portion covered by the mentioned properties in Bafokeng ownership. The commission was considering the claim on the balance of the 72 hectares of land.
Places of Interest
Pilansberg National Park
The Pilansberg National Park, north of Rustenburg, is situated in one of the strangest of Southern Africa's geological features: the crater of a huge extinct volcano formed over 1300 million years ago, around which the Pilanesberg Mountains rise skywards from the flat Highveld plain. The so-called "Big Five" can be viewed in the Pilansberg National Park. Overnight camps, walking trails and hunting trips are also available.
Sun City Resort
The Pilansberg National Park is home to the Sun City pleasure resort and casino, the Lost City Palace Hotel and its enormous recreational complex, near the rural settlement of Ledig (which means "idle", "doing nothing", or "to empty" in Afrikaans). Sun City is hailed as "the most remarkable destination in all of Africa", and "Africa's kingdom of pleasure". But I've always taken heed to the name "Ledig" and made sure that my pockets don't get "emptied" there!
Rustenburg Nature Reserve
Rustenburg Nature Reserve, which was proclaimed in 1967, lies southwest of the town, on the northern slopes and summit of the Magaliesberg Mountains. The vegetation on the summit is extremely lush and varied and the views are spectacular.
The Waterkloof River has its source here and runs through a reed basin in the Rustenburg Nature Reserve. Extraordinary rock formations combine with the lush vegetation to form a natural rock garden. Game thrives in the area as do a large variety of birds.
Rustenburg Nature reserve offers scenic hiking trails on the northern slopes of the Magaliesberg Mountains with its abundant bird life, 115 different types of tree and shrub, including some rare species, and rich fauna. Visitors can take a circular game-viewing tour of the Rustenburg Nature Reserve. There are a number of.
Rustenburg Museum
The Rustenburg Museum exhibits in the Rustenburg Town Hall depict the local history and archaeology.
The Dutch Reformed Church
Construction of the Dutch Reformed Church in Rustenburg began in 1898, but was only completed in 1903, after the Anglo Boer War, during which it served as a British military hospital. The Dutch Reformed church is today a South African national monument.
Anglican Church
The Anglican Church in Rustenburg, first built in 1871 and rebuilt on its present site in Van Staden Street in 1967, is also a national monument.
Alongside the Anglican Church is a small cemetery with graves of British soldiers who were killed in the Anglo-Boer War battles at Buffelspoort, Moedswil, Koster River and Olifantsnek.
Historical Lutheran Church - Kroondal
Built in 1896, this church was restored between 1979 and 1982, at which time it was proclaimed a national monument.
Saulspoort
North of Rustenburg lies the Saulspoort Mission Station, one of the oldest Dutch Reformed mission stations in the former Transvaal area.
Hervormende Church Square
The historical reconciliation between the Voortrekker leaders, Andies Hendrik Potieter and Andries Pretorius, which averted a civil war, took place on the Hervormende Church Square between Plein and Pretorius Streets in Rustenburg.
A delicate statue of Voortrekker Girl, opposite the Hervormde Church, symbolises the light of Christianity in South Africa.
In Church Street is a granite replica of the trunk of the Syringa tree under which the Gereformeerde (Dopper) Church of the Transvaal was founded on 11 February 1859.
Statue of President Paul Kruger
In front of the Rustenburg Town Hall, a statue by French sculptor Archard depicts President Paul Kruger during his last days of exile.
Rustenburg Ramble
The Rustenburg Ramble has many eating venues, craft galleries, farm stalls, delightful curios and gift shops to browse through.
Historical places of Rustenburg
Many past battles have been fought in the districts of Koster, Swartruggens and Rustenburg during the Anglo Boer War and other ethnic wars. The British built several forts on and around the Magaliesberg during the Anglo-Boer War for defence and signalling purposes. Most of these forts have withstood the ravages of time and prominent battlefields and memorial graves are scattered throughout the Rustenburg area.
The Rustenburg area is also an archaeological treasure trove of Iron Age and Stone Age sites.
