The original name of the farm on which the town was established was Sefatlhane/Sebatlani (meaning dusty place) belonging to Casper Hendrik Coetzee who bought it in 1858. The farm was later renamed Hazenjacht, and after that Hazia/Hazeah.
Casper Coetzee contracted Walter Seymore to build a church and a fort on this farm, but Casper died before this was completed. In 1866, the farm then came into the hands of Diederik Jacobus Coetzee, who saw the potential of developing a town on the farm. He measured out some erven with the idea of starting a town, using "Ox riems" to measure out the plots instead of the accepted surveyors chains.
On 20 March 1867, the first erven of the newly established Coetzee-Rust were sold per public auction in Potchefstroom, before official recognition of the request to start a town was granted. The village gained official recognition in 1868, and later gained a landdrost (magistrate) in November 1871.[2]:237
The name Coetzee's Rust was later abbreviated to Zeerust.[3] Municipal status was obtained on 18 March 1936. Zeerust however wasn't the first town in this area. That honour belongs to Jacobsdal, a small village about 10km south of Zeerust situated on the farm Vergenoegd, near the Lucerne station. The popularity of Zeerust as trading centre, caused the demise of Jacobsdal, and now it does not exist as a town anymore.
Natural features
Two rivers flow through Zeerust, the Klein-Marico and the Karee spruit. Irrigation farming just outside the town relies on these water bodies.
In Zeerust there is also a small suburb named Olienhout Park, which is located before another suburb named Sandvlakte, with a population of about 250 residents, a few shops, a bar, Lutheran church, and a school. There is a township nearby named Ikageleng with about 1000 people.
Shopping
A mall exists named Autumn Leaf, and a few complexes are in the towns CBD
Mining
The Zeerust Chromium Mine was first developed in 1942. Today this mine is a surface and underground operation, consisting of four distinct surface and underground workings extending 750 hectares. The ore mined is composed of chromite and magnetite. [4]
Access to Madikwe Game Reserve
Madikwe Game Reserve can be accessed through Zeerust about 90 kilometres north of the town.
Access to Botswana
Botswana can be accessed through Zeerust at the Tlokweng Border Control Post, a further 106km northwest and through Skilpadshek border located 52 kilometres (32 mi) north-west.
References and external links
Pieter de Jager (2001). Die Korannafonteiners. Verlag: Privately published, Ottosdal, 2001.
The Limpopo River rises in South Africa and flows generally eastward through Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. The term Limpopo is derived from Rivombo (Livombo/Lebombo), a group of Tsonga settlers led by Hosi Rivombo who settled in the mountainous vicinity and named the area after their leader. The river has been called Vhembe by local Venda communities of the area where now that name has been adopted by the South African government as its District Municipality in the north, a name that was also suggested in 2002 as a possible name to be adopted for the Province but was voted against. The river is approximately 1,750 kilometres (1,087 mi) long, with a drainage basin 415,000 square kilometres (160,200 sq mi) in size. The mean discharge measured over a year is 170 m3 per second at its mouth. The Limpopo is the second largest river in Africa that drains to the Indian Ocean, after the Zambezi River.
North West is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Mahikeng. The province is located to the west of the major population centre of Gauteng and south of Botswana.
Chromite is a crystalline mineral composed primarily of iron(II) oxide and chromium(III) oxide compounds. It can be represented by the chemical formula of FeCr2O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. The element magnesium can substitute for iron in variable amounts as it forms a solid solution with magnesiochromite (MgCr2O4). A substitution of the element aluminium can also occur, leading to hercynite (FeAl2O4). Chromite today is mined particularly to make stainless steel through the production of ferrochrome (FeCr), which is an iron-chromium alloy.
Uvarovite is a chromium-bearing garnet group species with the formula: Ca3Cr2(SiO4)3. It was discovered in 1832 by Germain Henri Hess who named it after Count Sergei Uvarov (1765–1855), a Russian statesman and amateur mineral collector. It is classified in the ugrandite group alongside the other calcium-bearing garnets andradite and grossular.
Welkom is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about 140 kilometres (90 mi) northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The city's Sesotho name, Matjhabeng means 'where nations meet', derived from the migrant labour system, where people of various countries such as Lesotho, Malawi and Mozambique etc. met to work in the mines of the gold fields.
Jacobsdal is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa with various crops under irrigation, such as grapes, potatoes, lucerne, and groundnuts. The town was laid out in 1859 by Christoffel Jacobs on his farm Kalkfontein, and its last recorded population was 3,504.
Lichtenburg is a town situated in North West Province, South Africa. It is the administrative centre of Ditsobotla Local Municipality.
Jan Kempdorp is an agricultural town situated in the centre of the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated 96 kilometres (60 mi) north of Kimberley, the provincial capital, and 43 kilometres (27 mi) west of Christiana in North West province.
The R49 is a provincial route in North West, South Africa that connects Mahikeng with the Botswana border at Kopfontein near Gaborone, via Zeerust.
The Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC) is the largest layered igneous intrusion within the Earth's crust. It has been tilted and eroded forming the outcrops around what appears to be the edge of a great geological basin: the Transvaal Basin. It is approximately 2 billion years old and is divided into four different limbs: the northern, southern, eastern, and western limbs. The Bushveld Complex comprises the Rustenburg Layered suite, the Lebowa Granites and the Rooiberg Felsics, that are overlain by the Karoo sediments. The site was first publicised around 1897 by Gustaaf Molengraaff who found the native South African tribes residing in and around the area.
The Madikwe Game Reserve is a protected area in South Africa. Named after the Madikwe or Marico River, on whose basin it is located. It comprises 750 km² of bushland north of the small town of Groot-Marico up to the Botswana border. It was opened in 1994.
The N4 is a national route in South Africa that runs from Skilpadshek on the Botswana border, past Rustenburg, Pretoria, eMalahleni and Mbombela, to Komatipoort on the Mozambique border. It forms the South African section of the Trans-Kalahari Corridor, which runs from Walvis Bay to Maputo, meaning that it links the east and west coasts of Southern Africa.
The North West Division of the High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law with general jurisdiction over the western part of North West province of South Africa. The division sits at Mahikeng.
The Marico River or Madikwe is a river in Southern Africa. There are a number of dams in its basin. Groot Marico town is named after the Marico River. After it is joined on its right bank by the Crocodile River it is known as the Limpopo River.
The Kemi Mine is owned by Outokumpu Chrome Oy, a subsidiary of Outokumpu Oyj. It is located in Elijärvi, in the municipality of Keminmaa, to the north of Kemi. The Kemi Mine is the largest underground mine in Finland, with an annual production capacity of 2.7 million tonnes of ore. It is also part of the integrated ferrochrome and stainless steel manufacturing chain owned by Outokumpu in the Kemi-Tornio region. The Kemi Mine has approximately 400 employees every day, both employees of Outokumpu and contractors.
Skilpadshek is a border checkpoint on the South African border with Botswana, located 52 kilometres (32 mi) north-west of Zeerust in North West province. The corresponding checkpoint on the Botswana side of the border is called Pioneer Gate. The Trans-Kalahari Corridor passes through Skilpadshek, and it is the western end of the N4 road, which continues in Botswana as the A2.
Jacobsdal was a hamlet in South Africa 13 km south of Zeerust and 18 km north-east of Ottoshoop. It was laid out on the farm Vergenoegd 46 and named after its owner, David Jacobs. It declined after the establishment of Zeerust a short distance away.
Kaditshwene aka Gaditshweni or Karechuenya, was a South African Iron Age settlement some 25 kilometres (16 mi) northeast of the town of Zeerust, North West province.
The Zeerust Solar Power Station is a 75 MW (101,000 hp) solar power plant in South Africa. It is a grid-connected, privately owned and privately funded solar power station.
General Jacobus Philippus Snyman was one of the dominant military figures in the South African Republic during the 19th century. He was the District Commissioner, Native Commissioner, and Commandant for the Marico district and led the Rustenburg and Marico commandos during the Second Boer War. Nicknamed Hamerkop, Snyman came to international prominence as the military commander at the Siege of Mafeking from November 1899 to May 1900.
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