Klerksdorp

Klerksdorp is located in the North West Province, South Africa. Klerksdorp is located southeast of Mahikeng, the provincial capital. Klerksdorp was also the first capital of the then Transvaal Republic and used to be the home of the first Stock Exchange in the region. It became an important trading town linking Kimberley to Johannesburg. It became home to a mix of farmers, miners and immigrants servicing the two industries. It was then located there because of availability of water and climate change.

History

Beginnings (1837/38 and on)

The city was founded in 1837 or 1838 when the Voortrekkers settled on the banks of the Schoonspruit, which flows through the town. Klerksdorp is the oldest European settlement north of the Vaal River, and thus of the former Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek, also known as the Transvaal Republic.
The most prominent of the first settlers was Hendrik Grobler who claimed a farm of about, called it Elandsheuwel. He gave plots of land and communal grazing rights on this farm to other Voortrekkers in return for their labour in building a dam and an irrigation canal. This collection of smallholdings was later given the name of Klerksdorp in honour of the first landdrost of the area, Jacob de Clercq.

City status

Although Klerksdorp was officially proclaimed a town only in 1888, long before that it was considered a town not only by its residents, but also by visitors and even by authorities.
In 1850 the Rev. A. Murray mentioned the "town on the Schoonspruit" during his trip through the Transvaal. In the same year, an official document, an inspection report, spoke of the "town of Klerksdorp" when the residents requested additional pieces of land.
Seven years later, in 1857, state attorney J. H. Visagie wrote to government secretary C. Moll that it was desirable that regulations be drawn up for Klerksdorp. President M. W. Pretorius then issued regulations for Klerksdorp and Skoonspruit in 1859.
In a letter to the President, magistrate Cornelis Johannes Bodenstein of Potchefstroom in 1863 also designated Klerksdorp as a town.
The Executive Council had a sketch map of the town drawn up in 1871 and according to article 196 of the minutes dated 18 January 1872 the town regulations were approved.

Gold rush of 1885

In November 1885 gold was discovered in the Klerksdorp district by M. G. Jansen van Vuuren as well as on the Witwatersrand, which lies about to the east. As a consequence, thousands of fortune-seekers descended on the small village, turning it into a town with 70 taverns and even a stock exchange of its own. This stock exchange opened its doors in 1888 and soon did a roaring trade, selling as much as the equivalent of R20,000 in one day.
However, the nature of the gold reef demanded expensive and sophisticated equipment to mine and extract the gold, causing the majority of diggers to move away in the late 1890s and leading to a decline in the gold mining industry. This also led to an early demise for the Stock Exchange that stood empty for many years, were converted to a cinema in 1912 and finally being demolished in 1958. The amalgamation process used to extract the gold from the crushed ore was relatively inefficient and largely contributed to decline. By 1893 the new MacArthur–Forrest process used for gold extraction brought a short-lived revival in the Klerksdorp gold mining industry, but uncertainty created by the Jameson Raid of December 1895 as well as transport problems created by the rinderpest of 1896 soon led to a near collapse of the industry.

Second Boer War (1899–1902)

During the Second Boer War, heavy fighting occurred in the area, which also housed two large concentration camps, one for Whites and a separate one for Africans.
The most famous of the battles around Klerksdorp, is that of the Battle of Ysterspruit, in which the Boer general Koos de la Rey achieved a great victory. The battle is one of the most celebrated of the general's career, being the battle in which the Boer soldiers pioneered the art of firing from horseback. On April 11, 1902, Rooiwal, near Klerksdorp, saw the Battle of Rooiwal, the last major engagement of the war, where a Boer charge was beaten off by entrenched British troops.
The graves of the victims of both the concentration camps can still be visited today in the Old Cemetery Complex just outside town, numbering just below a thousand.

Desmond Tutu and Boer heritage

Today Klerksdorp is celebrated as the birthplace of Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu on October 7, 1931. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his work towards "a democratic and just society without racial divisions". The life work of Desmond Tutu has been to heal the scars left among the descendants of the many battles for control of South Africa. There is an irony of his birthplace set amidst Boer monuments and old battlefields, early settlements by those same Boers, among them famous leaders like Jacob de Clerq, even close to Witwatersrand where gold was discovered. He somehow managed to rise beyond pettiness and division to bring all these forces together with displaced native peoples in places such as this creating an international role model. He was later awarded multiple worldwide honours for his achievements in the reconciliation of the ethnic and cultural divisions in the history of his country.

Economic revival since 1932

The gold mining industry was revived by large mining companies in 1932 during the Free State Gold Rush, causing the town to undergo an economic revival, which accelerated after World War II.

Newspaper

The first local newspaper, The Klerksdorp Pioneer, was published in 1887. In November 1888 it was replaced by George Vickers's newspaper The Representative. This in turn was replaced by H.M Guest's Klerksdorp Mining Record in August 1899. It still exists as the Klerksdorp Record.

Economy

Economic History

In 1865, twenty-eight years after Klerksdorp had been founded, James Taylor opened the doors of the dofF's first trading store. During 1871 he was joined in a partnership by Thomas Smith Leask, a retired elephant-hunter and trader. The store, known as "Taylor and Leask", was the only one at Klerksdorp and became the centre of the town's activities and the rendezvous of hunters and traders who brought ivory and skins from the "interior" and refitted for their next expedition. Both Taylor and Leask were on friendly terms with the majority of the hunters and F.C. Selous, a prolific letter-writer, visited the town several times. In one of his letters he mentioned that it had cost him £1 600 to outfit at the Klerksdorp store. When Taylor died of fever in 1878, Thomas Leask bought out Mrs Taylor and re-established the firm on his own account, as "Thomas Leask and Co.

Mining

The introduction in April 1890 of a new gold recovery process by Mr John S. McArthur and Dr Forrest made it possible to recover most of the gold contents which had hitherto been lost. This process signalled a new era of prosperity and brought about a revival, since advantage was taken of the newly-discovered methods and cyanide plants were built on several local mines.
Though the depression in the town was bad, several mines continued in production, and, coupled with agriculture, the slump was survived. Subsequent periods of depression and slumps have since hit the Klerksdorp district, but they have been mild in comparison with the dreadful experiences of 1889 and 1890. During December 1892 Thomas Leask, Managing Director of the Nooitgedacht mine, brought a glimmer of hope to some 200 people whom he addressed at the mine. He told the crowd that one thousand ounces of gold had been extracted. His daughter Lulu started the engine of the newly-installed five-stamp battery. The conventional bottle of champagne was broken and refreshments were served.
After several mines had installed the new cyanide process, the gold output, which was merely about 7 000 ounces in 1890, increasesd to 10 967 in 1892 and 12 780 in 1893. By the end of 1895 there were 25 companies in existence and the gold output soared to a phenomenal 71 776 ounces -it now appeared as if the gold industry in Klerksdorp was firmly established and the depression of the late eighties was finally shaken off.

Geography

Climate

Klerksdorp has a semi-arid climate, with warm to hot summers and cool, dry winters. The average annual precipitation is, with most of the rainfall occurring during summer.

Suburbs

Klerksdorp is divided into 35 suburbs
List of suburbs

Suburb	Suburb	Suburb
Adamayview	Alabama	Campbelldorp
Collerville	Dawkinsville	Doringkruin
Elandia	Elandsheuwel	Ellaton
Flamwood	Flimieda	Freemanville
Irenepark	Jouberton	Lahoff
Meiringspark	Matlosane	Manzil Park
Neserhof	Oudorp	Pienaarsdorp
Randlespark	Roosheuwel	Songloed
Uraniaville	Wilkeville	Wilkoppies

Jouberton

Klerksdorp's black residential area was laid out in 1907 south of the town where the residential areas of Neserhof and Ellaton are today. Already in 1924, there was talk of moving the blacks, but it was decided to let it stand until the financial problems associated with such a move were resolved.
In 1935 and 1936, the city council once again decided to move them, but this was not carried out either.
With a view to the southward expansion of the town, the then city council was finally obliged to undertake the relocation. In 1949, construction began on the first 32 houses in the new black residential area, Jouberton. Originally it would be the name Joubertina, named after councilor Jan Joubert. Because there was already a town with this name in the Cape Province, it was changed to Jouberton to avoid confusion.