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| Dutch Reformed Church | |
|---|---|
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| 33°54′30″S18°23′45″E / 33.90833°S 18.39583°E | |
| Location | Cape Town |
| Country | South Africa |
| Denomination | Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk |
| History | |
| Founded | 1891 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Church |
The Dutch Reformed Church in Rondebosch is a historically important congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church in the eponymous, southern suburb of Cape Town. [1] The congregation boundaries, after the incorporation of part of Die Vlakte in 1989 and of the whole of Keurboom in December 1990, encompass Rondebosch's only two daughter congregations, the suburbs of Rondebosch, Newlands, Rosebank, Claremont, Mowbray and Rondebosch East – a huge area for a suburban congregation. [2] [3]
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Rondebosch began in 1891 as a very small and mainly English-speaking congregation, [4] but over the years the membership increased sharply as more and more Afrikaans speakers came to live in the Southern Suburbs. [5] The membership peaked at around 1,700 around 1965 and then, despite the incorporation of both daughter congregations, decreased more than sevenfold until 2015. [6] [7]
Many reasons can be given for this decline. [8] The southern suburbs have always been a non-Afrikaans environment in which Afrikaans speakers have always been a small minority. [9] People who want to live in an Afrikaans environment among Afrikaans speakers will therefore prefer to settle in the northern suburbs. [10] [11] Rondebosch and the surrounding area are also a sought-after residential area with expensive property, which makes it difficult for young families to settle here. This has led to the Anglicization of the two Afrikaans and one bilingual school within the municipality boundaries, which serves as an additional deterrent to younger members who would like to have their children educated in Afrikaans. [12] Also, the small but important source of income from the Groote Schuur estate, where cabinet ministers live, was lost to Rondebosch around 1994 when the composition of parliament changed drastically. [13]