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Botshabelo | |
|---|---|
Township | |
 Ndebele Teachers Training | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Free State |
| Municipality | Mangaung |
| Area | |
| • Total | 160.2 km2 (61.9 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| • Total | 900,712 (2,023) |
| Area code | 051 |
Botshabelo, meaning "a place of refuge", is a large township set up in 1979. It is located east of Bloemfontein in the present-day Free State province of South Africa. Botshabelo is now the largest township in Free State.
As many people moved away from the farms in the Free State, they looked for places to stay in the region of Thaba Nchu, another homeland under the old Bophutatswana government. [1] [2]
The policy governing Bophutatswana at the time clearly stated that Bophutatswana belongs to those who are of Tswana tribe. As a result, all other tribes, mainly Sotho and Xhosa, were housed at a squatter camp named “Kromdraai”. Kromdraai was initiated by a man who was only referred to as "Khoza". He was selling a stand for only 50 cents around the year of 1976.
Later on the government of Bophutatswana started to strongly condemn the development of that area and worked hard through their police force during the day and night, striving to dispatch everybody living in the region and who is not a Tswana. As the pressure mounted for the people of Kromdraai, Khoza fled and he was no longer to be seen.
In 1979, the then Prime Minister of QwaQwa, Kenneth Mopeli together with the apartheid government found a place for all the people of Kromdraai at a farm called Onverwacht. All the people who were not Tswana started to move to Onverwacht for free, and later on when they started to settle in the area paid ZAR80 for a stand. Late in 1980 to early 1981 the name Onverwacht started to disappear and people started to call their place by the name of Botshabelo, this name given by Julius Nkoko.
Botshabelo has a large industrial park with large companies located there. The economy of this township is based on production of food, clothing and other goods. The poultry producing company [Supreme poultry Pty (Ltd)] is located here. Capitec Bank and Shoprite has three branches and supermarkets in this township respectively.
Botshabelo is served by 'Interstate Bus Lines' commuter buses and 'Big Sky Coaches', both traveling local and long distances on a daily basis. The township is located on the main railway line between Bloemfontein and Maseru, as well as on the N8, the main road between the two towns. The township still has unnamed streets, but the development of upgrading and naming of streets and roads are underway.[ when? ][ citation needed ] There is also a new taxi rank at the newly built Botshabelo Mall.
Botshabelo has over 65 primary and secondary schools. Motheo FET College has a satellite campus in this township.
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Botshabelo is one of the towns that have produced soccer players for the Premier Soccer League (PSL), especially for Bloemfontein Celtics, players such as James Madidilane, Ditheko Mototo, the late Abram Raselemane, Ntho Moshe, Motseothata November, Ace Gulwa, Lefu Nyapuli, Moeketsi Sekola, Teboho Salemane and others. Kaizer Sebothelo Stadium is the main sporting venue in Botshabelo with a capacity of 20 000 seats, including a sporting arena where indoor sports are played, as well as a newly revamped[ when? ] recreational swimming pool open to the public.
Bloemfontein, also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongside the legislative capital Cape Town and administrative capital Pretoria, although the highest court in South Africa, the Constitutional Court, has been in Johannesburg since 1994.
Bophuthatswana, officially the Republic of Bophuthatswana, was a Bantustan that was declared (nominally) independent by the apartheid regime of South Africa in 1977. However, like the other Bantustans of Ciskei, Transkei and Venda, its independence was not recognized by any country other than South Africa.
QwaQwa was a bantustan ("homeland") in the central eastern part of South Africa. It encompassed a very small region of 655 square kilometres (253 sq mi) in the east of the former South African province of Orange Free State, bordering Lesotho. Its capital was Witsieshoek. It was the designated homeland of more than 180,000 Sesotho-speaking Basotho people.
Phuthaditjhaba, is a town in the Free State province of South Africa. It is located in a section of the Drakensberg mountains. It borders the province of KwaZulu-Natal to the south east and the independent country of Lesotho to the south west. The town was capital of the bantustan, or homeland, of QwaQwa. When apartheid ended, the town became part of the Free State province.
The Tswana are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa. Ethnic Tswana made up approximately 85% of the population of Botswana in 2011.
The Sotho, also known as the Basotho, are a prominent Sotho-Tswana ethnic group native to Southern Africa. They primarily inhabit the regions of Lesotho and South Africa.
Winburg - Makeleketla is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa.
Frankfort is a small farming town situated on the banks of the Wilge River in the Free State province of South Africa. The town was laid out in 1869 on the farm Roodepoort, and named Frankfurt by Albert van Gordon. The town later received municipality status in 1896.
Thaba 'Nchu, also known as Blesberg, is a town in Free State, South Africa, 63 km east of Bloemfontein and 17 km east of Botshabelo. The population is largely made up of Tswana and Sotho people. The town was settled in December 1833 and officially established in 1873. The town grew larger following the 1913 Natives' Land Act that declared the area a homeland for the Tswana people.
Free State Stars Football club is a South African professional football club based in Bethlehem, Free State that plays in the National First Division. Formerly known as Makwane Computer Stars, Fairway Stars and Qwa Qwa Stars, their most significant honour is winning the 1994 Coca-Cola Cup and 2018 Nedbank Cup.
Isabella Winkie Direko was a South African politician born in the Free State province of South Africa. She was a member of the African National Congress and served as Premier of the Free State from 1999 to 2004.
Mabopane is a residential township in South Africa. It is situated in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality, to the north of Pretoria in Gauteng.
Fikile April Mbalula is a South African politician and current Secretary-General of the African National Congress (ANC) since December 2022. He was a cabinet minister between 2010 and 2023, most proximately as Minister of Transport from 2019 to 2023.
The Diocese of the Free State is a diocese in the Anglican Church of Southern Africa.
Dithakong is the name of a place east of Kuruman in the Northern Cape, South Africa, which had been a major destination for several of the earliest nineteenth century expeditions from the Cape to the interior of the subcontinent. In colonial literature the name is often rendered in such ways as Litakun, also Litakoo or Lattakoo.
Maluti-a-Phofung Municipality is a local municipality within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality, in the Free State province of South Africa. It encompasses substantially all of the former bantustan of QwaQwa, except for the small enclave at Botshabelo. The population is almost entirely Basotho. The municipality is named after the Drakensberg mountains. The peak is known as the Sentinel, which is called Phofung in Sesotho.
Roses United is a South African football club based in Bloemfontein, Free State province that plays in the National First Division.
Mosupatsela FM Stereo is a South African community radio station based in c section in Botshabelo, Free State.
Temba is a town in City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in the Gauteng province of South Africa.
Walton Zacharias Fenyang was a South African politician. He was a central figure of the political establishment of Thaba Nchu as an independent reserve in South Africa. He was one of the Barolong members of the Thaba Nchu board.
Media related to Botshabelo, Free State at Wikimedia Commons
Places adjacent to Botshabelo, Free State | |
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Communities of Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, Free State | ||
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Seat: Bloemfontein | ||
| Cities and towns |  | |
| Suburbs of Bloemfontein |
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