Polokwane. What to say?
The capital of the Limpopo Province, Polokwane or “Place of Safety” is the largest urban centre in the province. Polokwane is said to have been founded because of the presence of gold in the area, but today Polokwane is primarily an agricultural centre.
In 1867 the Dutch farming outpost of Schoemansdal was attacked and overrun by neighbouring Venda groups. The Dutch beat a hasty retreat to Marabastad where they sought the protection of a local Pedi chief. At that stage their local government was in the hands of the Landdrost, who reported directly to Pretoria. However, the situation of two administrations, Dutch and Pedi, co-existing side by side in the same area could not last and before long, the Dutch were petitioning the Transvaal government for the right to establish a new town in the area. This was put in abeyance during the brief period of British annexation but was renewed after their departure, and approved in principle by the Volksraad on 25 October 1881. On 11 November 1884 the town of Pietersburg was established on the farm Sterkloop, and the seat of its magistracy was formally transferred from Marabastad to Pietersburg on 31 July 1886.
The decision to establish the town was probably motivated to a large degree by the discovery of gold in the district from 1871 onwards, leading to the proclamation of the Lydenburg gold fields on 14 May 1873. However this wealth proved to be illusory, and by the 1890s Pietersburg had retreated to the status of a regional agricultural centre with farming as its primary economic focus.
The establishment of apartheid government in 1948 gave Pietersburg new prominence as its centralised position and close proximity to Venda, North and South Ndebele, Tsonga and Pedi heartlands made it a primary focus for the newly-established Department of Bantu Administration. This was sustained by apartheid’s system of migrant labour, many of whom passed through Pietersburg’s Native Commissioner’s offices on their way south to the gold mines and the Witwatersrand industrial and manufacturing centres.
This was reinforced after the proclamation of a Republic in 1961 and the establishment of democratic governments in Zimbabwe and Mocambique after 1975 led to the expansion of its existing military facilities. This expenditure gave the local economy a much-needed boost and today the city, since renamed Polokwane, is the provincial capital of Limpopo, and a major centre for economic and industrial activity.
While I have visions of me being like this....
It will be more like this...
