Archistori

Built: 1903 Architect: Karl Heyne Location:  Fatima Bhayat St (Kerk St), Rustenburg. Aerial view showing Derdepoort Monument in front of church. Image source: NG Moedergemeente Rustenburg on FB. Timeline The Reformed (Hervormde) and Dutch Reformed (NG) Church in the old Transvaal merged in 1885 to form the 'Dutch Reformed or Reformed Church' (Nederduits Hervormde of Gereformeerde Kerk), but barely seven years later, the new church split again. The court ordered the NG Church in Rustenburg to transfer its property to the Reformed (Hervormde) Church. Fortunately, the ZAR government donated 4 erven in the town to the impoverished NG congregation to help them get back on their feet. Following the runderpest (1896) and malaria (1897) epidemics, construction on the church began early in 1898. General Piet Joubert laid the cornerstone on 23 April 1898. The building was nearly completed when the Second Anglo-Boer War broke out in 1899, instantly halting any final completion or offici...

Aka: Derdepoort Gedenknaald Erected: 1920 Sculptor: Anton van Wouw Location: Fatima Bhayat St (Kerk St), Rustenburg. Image source: NG Moedergemeente Rustenburg on FB. Photo c.1969.¹ The memorial at the entrance of the NG Kerk Rustenburg was erected a number of years after the end of the Second Anglo-Boer War and commemorates the names of those killed and murdered at Derdepoort. In the neighbourhood of Mochudi the Marico River is the boundary between the Bechuanaland Protectorate and the Transvaal. On the British side of the river was a native town, Sekwane, and over against it, on the other side, was a Boer laager at a place called Derdepoort.² Derdepoort Massacre The Derdepoort attack took place on 25 November 1899, early in the Second Anglo-Boer War (also known as the South African War). It occurred at a location on the border of the ZAR with the British Bechuanaland Protectorate (in present-day North West Province, near the Botswana border, east of Gaborone). A small group of Bo...