Oct
2014
Potchefstroom is regarded by many as an academic town since this is home to North West University.
Potchefstroom is located on the banks of the Mooi River in the Tlokwe municipality of the North West Province. Potchefstroom takes up a total of 185.4km2 of land.
The town, Potchefstroom is reputed to be founded in 1838 by the Voortrekkers. Some controversy surrounds the exact history as to which is the oldest town in the former Transvaal. Some say it is Klerkskdorp and others claim it is Potchefstroom. Potchefstroom was the first to develop into a functional town of the Transvaal province.
In 1852 Potchefstroom became the capital of the ZAR, in a convention named the Sand River Convention. The parties which were in the convention were the Boers, represented by Andries Pretorius and the British were represented by Major W S Hogge and Mr C M Owen.
The terms of the convention allowed the Boers to govern themselves to form a republic. The capital of the Zuid Afrikaanse Republic was of course Pretoria.
In 1909 Jan Smuts opened the city hall of Potchefstroom and when he was asked to consider making it the capital he replied it would never happen. Instead he stated that Potchefstroom should focus on becoming an academic centre.
Needless to say, Potchefstroom has a large academic backbone in secondary and tertiary education with a whole host of disciplines catered for.
The history of Potchefstroom is old and the history of Christianity in Potchefstroom dates back just as far with The Nederduitsch Hervormde Kerk being in use in 1859, as well as St Mary's Anglican Church dating back to 1890.
Potchefstroom is dotted with museums and historical sites.
Potchefstroom has a large steel industry which it services along with agriculture and chemical processing.
Investing in property in Potchefstroom is a sound investment as this is still an expanding city and there are, as in all other major cities the diverse suburbs.
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