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Historical Province and Post 1994 Provinces are added under each place name in the listings.

Q

Queensburgh 1952

Natal (post 1994 KwaZulu-Natal)
The hilly area was settled by people working in Durban who wanted to escape the humidity of the coastal city. In 1924, four residential townships in the area, Malvern, Escombe, Northdene and Moseley combined to form the town of Malvern. In 1952, to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne, Malvern received municipality status and changed its name to Queensburgh.

Queenstown 1853

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
New name - Komani
Queenstown, founded in 1853 under the direction of Sir George Cathcart, who named the settlement, and then fort, after Queen Victoria. Work on its railway connection to East London on the coast was begun by the Cape government of John Molteno in 1876, and the line was officially opened on 19 May 1880. It was officially renamed in 2016. The town is in the middle of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, roughly halfway between the smaller towns of Cathcart and Sterkstroom. The town was established in 1853 and is currently the commercial, administrative, and educational centre of the surrounding farming district.

R

Randburg 1959

Transvaal (post 1994 Gauteng)
Randburg was founded as a town in 1959, as theanuncil. The name Randburg was chosen in a competition, and is derived from the South African Rand currency, which was introduced at around the same time that the new municipality was established in 1959. Randburg was a stronghold of the National Party during the apartheid era.

Rawsonville 1858

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Town in the Goudini region, 16 km south- west of Worcester. It was named after Sir Rawson W Rawson WIKI, Colonial Secretary at the Cape from 1854 to 1864. The farm Aan-de-Smalblaar - Johannes Petrus (Jan) Jordaan on 23 July 1858. Jan Jordaan divided a portion of the farm into 57 residential plots and these were sold at a public auction on 11 June 1859. Today there is a rural suburban area called De Nova and squatter camps called 'Spookytown' and Geelkampies. WIKI

Redelinghuys 1906

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Redelinghuys is a small town in the Bergrivier-municipality, north of Aurora in the Western Cape.

Die dorp het uit die gemeente van die Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk se stigting hier in 1906 voortgespruit. Weens die onbeheerbare grootte van die NG gemeente Piketberg het twee dogtergemeentes twee dae agtereenvolgens afgestig: Aurora op 25 April 1906 en Redelinghuhttps://www.geni.com/project-10223/edit#ys op 26 April 1906.

Reivilo 1927

Transvaal (post 1994 North West
Cathcart West 1883; Klein Boetsap 1890

Town 96 km south-west of Vryburg and 55 km west of Taung. The town was initially established in 1883, at first named Cathcart West (to distinguish it from Cathcart, Eastern Cape).It was laid out on the farm Bruintjes Fontein, and named Klein Boetsap after the Dutch Reformed parish. Renamed Reivilo in 1927. proclaimed in 1941, and became a municipality in 1967. The name is an inversion of the surname of the Reverend A J Olivier, local minister of the Dutch Reformed Church from 1914 to 1921 and 1922 to 1926.

Rhodes 1881

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
A hamlet or small village alongside the wild trout rich Bell River, near Ben Macdhui (at 2561 m the highest mountain in the Cape region) in the Drakensberg mountains of the north Eastern Cape, South Africa. The farm Tintern, owned by Mr J A Vorster, was advertised for sale in 274 erven or lots on 16 September 1891. In September 1894, the erf-holders and residents met to petition the government to proclaim Rhodes as a village under the Village Management Act of 1881. Rhodes was proclaimed a township with municipal rights in 1897. WIKI Cecil John Rhodes

Richmond

Established  in 1843 name Maitland proposed but named Richmond  in October  1845.

The town was established in 1843 in South Africa's inland plateau.  It was founded to meet the religious needs of a growing farming community, but unlike most Karoo towns the church was not built as the physical focal point of the village; rather, the centrepiece is the village square. Unusually for this arid region, it was built astride a river which has been cited as the reason for the irregular street grid.

The naming of the town originated in the desire of the townsfolk to honour the new Governor of the Cape, Sir Peregrine Maitland, who took office in 1844. Maitland declined, however, suggesting instead that it be named after his father-in-law, the Duke of Richmond. It was officially named Richmond in October 1845.[4] It was a resort town for European aristocratic patients of lung diseases such as whooping cough and tuberculosis in the 1800s due to its clean air and mineral waters.

Richtersveld

Cape (post 1994 Northern Cape)
Region in the loop formed by the Orange River before it flows into the Atlantic Ocean, bounded in the south by the road from Port Nolloth to Steinkopf. Named after the Reverend W Richter of the seminary of the Rhenish Mission in Barmen, Germany

Riebeeck Kasteel 1661

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
One of the oldest towns in South Africa, situated at 80 km north-east of Cape Town in The Riebeek Valley together with its sister town Riebeek West. "They?" set off in the direction of Paardeberg and on 3 February 1661 they ascended a lonely mountain and came upon the fertile vista of the Riebeek Valley. They named it Riebeek Kasteel, in honour of Commander Jan van Riebeck

Riebeek West 1661

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
a.k.a. Riebeek-Wes. A small town situated about 75 km north-east of Cape Town and 5 km north of its twin town Riebeek Kasteel in the Swartland area of the Western Cape, hey named in honour of Commander Jan van Riebeck

Rietbron 1910

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
Village 85 km south-east of Beaufort West and 64 km north-west of Willowmore. The name is Afrikaans and means 'reed source', 'reed fountain'. The village was established in 1910 with the decision of the NG Kerk in Willowmore to establish a new parish for the residents of the far-flung "vlaktes" north-west of Willowmore. In 1913 a new congregation was established and in 1918 the title deed for the Dutch Reformed Church was handed over to the Rietbron congregants.

Riet River

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Rietrivier

Riversdale 1838

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Town on the Vet River, at the foot of the Langeberg, 29 km east of Heidelberg and 88 km west of Mossel Bay. It was founded on the farm Doornkraal in August 1838 and attained municipal status in June 1849. Named after Harry Rivers (1785- 1861), Commissioner and Resident Magistrate of Swellendam from 1834 to 1841

Robertson 1853

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Town in the Breede River Valley, 178 km north-east of Cape Town and 46 km south-east of Worcester. It was established in 1853 on the farm Over het Roode Zand and attained municipal status in 1902. Named after Dr William Robertson (1805- 1879), the first minister of the Dutch Reformed Church in Clanwilliam, and minister of Swellendam from 1834 to 1871. WIKI

Rondebosch 1657

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
One of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with shopping and business districts as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town. Four years after the first Dutch settlement at the Cape in 1652, the first experimental crops were grown along the banks of the Liesbeek River (at that stage called the Amstel or Versse Rivier). On the banks of the river, a circular grove of thorn trees, or Ronde Doorn Bosje, was turned into a kraal. In 1657, the first group of Dutch East India Company employees gained "free burgher" (free citizen) status and were granted land along the river in the area now known as Rondebosch.

Roodepoort 1884-1904

Transvaal (post 1994 Gauteng)
In 1884, brothers Fred and Harry Struben, having discovered gold on the farm Wilgespruit at the western end of the Witwatersrand, were granted concessions to mine the area. When George Harrison's find at Langlaagte came to light and gold fever took hold, the Strubens brothers were joined by a swarm of gold diggers. Though the Struben brothers' Confidence Reef bore little gold and their mine was unprofitable, the ramshackle town that grew around it became the Roodepoort Municipality in 1904. Incorporating the towns of Hamburg, Florida and Maraisburg, Roodepoort became a city in 1977, and has since developed as one of Johannesburg's most prominently-Afrikaans-speaking districts.

Roodezand 1743

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Roodezand kerk

Roodezand is a region between the Ubiqua Mountains in the west and the Witsenberg in the east. The name is Dutch and means 'red sand', referring to a range of hills consisting mainly of red sandstone separating this region from Drakenstein. The name was changed to Land van Waveren by W A van der Stel in 1699; at present the region coincides with the Tulbagh district. The church was built in 1743. A village developed and this eventually became Tulbagh in 1804.

Rustenburg 1851

Transvaal (post 1994 North West
Rustenburg was established in 1851 as an administrative centre for an Afrikaner farming area that produced citrus fruit, tobacco, peanuts, sunflower seeds, maize, wheat and cattle. On 10 February 1859, the Reformed Churches in South Africa was founded under a Syringa tree, now commemorated with a memorial. WIKI

Rynse

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Rynse churches in Stellenbosch (post 1994 - Western Cape) Also Rhenish Church - Windhoek, Namibia

S

St. Lucia

Natal (post 1994 KwaZulu-Natal)
Dukuduku
A settlement first named in 1554 as Rio dos Medos do Ouro (alternatively Rio dos Médãos do Ouro — River of the Gold Dunes) by the survivors of the Portuguese ship São Bento. On 13 December 1575, the day of the feast of Saint Lucy, Manuel Peresterello renamed the mouth area to Santa Lucia. In 1822, St Lucia was proclaimed by the British as a township. In 1895, St Lucia Game Reserve, 30 km north of the town, was proclaimed. Since 1971, St Lucia Lake and the turtle beaches and coral reefs of Maputaland have been listed by the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Convention). In December 1999, the park was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Sabie 1880

Transvaal (post 1995 Mpumalanga)
Sabie information - Phillipp Weyers
A forestry town in the Pilgrim's Rest district, situated on the banks of the Sabie River in Mpumalanga ("place of the rising sun"). It developed from a gold-diggers camp on the farm Grootfontein. The founding of the modern town of Sabie can be dated to 1880, when H.T. Glynn and J.C. Ingle found gold and formed the Glynns-Lydenburg Gold Mining Company. They changed the status of Grootfontein from a camping site to that of a residential area when they built the first permanent homes. A health committee was instituted in 1916, and a village council in 1924. The name is from the Sabie River, a tributary of the Incomati River which rises in the Drakensberg south-west of Sabie and flows mainly east to join the main stream east of the Lebombo Mountains, in Mocambique. Derivations vary -

• from Shangaan to mean 'sand (river).
• from "Sabilala", which means "Sabi, the resting place",
• from "Saba", meaning fear.
• from the Tsonga word "Ulusaba" which means "fearful river" because the river was once teeming with Nile crocodile. The word Ulusaba was modernised by the Afrikaner settlers who changed it from Ulusaba (Tsonga) into the Afrikaans "Sabie". Alternatively "Sabie" is derived for "Sabilala", which means "Sabi, the resting place", or from "Saba", meaning fear.

Saldanah 1601

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
aka Saldanha Bay,

A seaside village that lies in the northern most corner of Saldanha bay located 110 kilometres (70 mi) north of Cape Town. Saldanha Bay’s history is strongly associated with early European exploration and the development of Table Bay (Cape Town). It was named after António de Saldanha, the Portuguese captain of a ship which visited the Cape in 1503. The Bay has a good natural deep harbour which is well sheltered from storms, but early attempts to develop the harbour were aborted due to the inhospitable and unproductive land and lack of fresh water. For a long time, Saldanha Bay was of interest only to whalers and fishermen. In 1601 the present Saldanha Bay was passed by Joris van Spilbergen and he, presum- ing he had reached Agoada de Saldanha, applied the name to it. Modern-day Saldanha was founded on a lucrative fishing industry, and more recently developed further around the iron ore brought here via the 800km-long Sishen-Saldanha railway line. The port has developed into a modern harbour with a deepwater jetty to facilitate the export of iron ore and steel. Nearby, beautiful Langebaan Lagoon is the centre of a growing ecotourism industry and has become popular as a retirement destination for the well-heeled classes.

Salem 1820

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
Settlement about 20 km south of Grahamstown and 20 km north of Alexandria. It was founded as a settlement of the Sephton party of 1820 Settlers. The name is of biblical origin (Gen. 14:18) and means 'peace'; the local application refers to a reconciliation between sects. It was founded as a settlement of the Hezekiah Sephton party of 1820 Settlers. The name is of biblical origin (Genesis 14:18) and, proclaimed the Sunday after their arrival by the Reverend Shaw, means 'peace'; the local application refers to a reconciliation between sects. A church built from mud blocks and thatch was consecrated in 1824, and replaced by a stone structure in 1832. The church often served as a refuge for women and children during the Frontier Wars. Several settler houses, built in the Georgian style, have been preserved.

Salisbury Island 1824

Natal (post 1994 KwaZulu-Natal)
Island in the Bay of Natal at Durban. It was named after the brig Salisbury, in which British explorers had visited the island in 1823 and which brought them, under the leadership of F G Farewell, H F Fynn and J S King, to establish a station at Port Natal in 1824

Salpeterkop

Cape (post 1994 Northern Cape)
Peak 20 km south-east of Sutherland. It consists of a volcanic plug richly impregnated with minerals. The name is Afrikaans and means 'saltpetre hill'. It was visited by Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon in 1778

Sarepta 1829

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
A suburb of Cape Town, In 1829, the first Congregation of the Rhenish Mission was established in Stellenbosch with Reverend Paul Daniel Luckhoff serving as its first minister. Many of the Congregants were former Slaves who had been freed in 1838 and lived in the dunes surrounding Kuils River. According to Stephen Fortuin, a Church Member and the author of a booklet on the Church and co-author of the anniversary book which was published last year, written with Phil Robinson and Derrick Pieterse, one of the former slaves was ‘’’Jana van den Berg’’’, who, like many others, converted to Christianity. “She became one of the first members of the New Congregation and travelled the distance to Stellenbosch, often taking more than five hours to walk to the Town as there was no other Church in Sarepta. Jana, or Moeder Jana as she was known, helped the Missionaries and accompanied them on Home Visits,” said Mr Fortuin. See SA History Online

Saron 1848

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Mission station at the foot of the Saronsberg in the Tulbagh district, about 20 km south of Porterville. The Mission Station was established by the Rhenish Missionary Society in 1848 by Johannes Heinrich Kulpmann. It was later taken over by the Dutch Reformed Church in 1945. The name, Afrikaans for Sharon, is of biblical origin (1 Chron. 27:29, Song of Solomon 2:1), and means 'a plain'.

Schweizer-Reneke 1888

Transvaal (post 1994 North West
(before 1885 called Mamusa )
Founded on 1 October 1888, the town is situated on the banks of the Harts River. The town is named after Captain C.A. Schweizer and Field Cornet C. N. Reyneke. Both men were amongst the ten soldiers killed while storming the stronghold of the Khoekhoe Korana and their chief David Massouw on the nearby Mamusa Hill on 2 December 1885 (During the first Anglo-Boer war Kpt Massouw supported the British). The remains of the stone fortifications of Chief David Massouw can still be seen on Mamusa Hill.

Sidbury 1820

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
Founded by Lieutenant Richard Daniell, R.N., leader of the Daniell party of the British 1820 Settlers to the Cape which came to South Africa on the ship the Duke of Marlborough. He named the village after his home town of Sidbury, Devonshire.

Sidwell

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
The district Sidwell of Port Elizabeth in Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (Eastern Cape) about 586 mi south of Pretoria, the country's capital city.

Simondium

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Simondium is a hamlet 8 km south of Paarl named after Pierre Simond (1651-1713), Huguenot minister at the Cape

Simonstad/Simon's Town

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
(Afrikaans: Simonstad), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town located on the shores of False Bay, on the eastern side of the Cape Peninsula. For more than two centuries it has been a naval base and harbour (first for the British Royal Navy and now the South African Navy). The town is named after Simon van der Stel (1639-1712) early governor of the Cape Colony. Aslo known as Simonstad.

Smithfield 1849

Orange Free State (post 1994 Free State)
Sir Harry Smith This is one of three towns named after SIr Harry Smith. See WIKI

Somerset East 1825

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
A town in the Blue Crane Route Local Municipality. It was founded by Lord Charles Somerset , owner of Somerset Farm on which it was laid out. Municipal status was attained in February 1837.in 1825. Lord Charles Somerset initiated a plan for an experimental farm in the area. American botanist, Dr. Joseph Mackrill, was given orders to find a suitable farm, and was told to look at three places, the Gamtoos Valley, the Swartkops Valley and Boschberg. He chose the latter. The farm was established in 1815, for the purpose of improving stockbreeding in the Cape Colony and providing produce for the soldiers at the Frontier. It was named "Somerset Farm". In 1825 the project was cancelled, a new Drostdy (the office or residence of a landdrost), was declared, and the town of Somerset was established. The "East" suffix was only added on 30 years later in order to differentiate it from Somerset West, a town in the Western Cape.

Somerset West 1822

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Town 45 km south-east of Cape Town. It was founded in 1822 on part of the historic farm, Vergelegen, and named after Lord Charles Somerset (1767-1831), Governor of the Cape Colony from 1814 to 1826. It is the oldest municipality in the country, having attained this status in January 1822. The suffix 'West' was added after 1825 to differentiate it from Somerset EastA cattle post was established here by Dutch soldiers in 1672.

Sonop

Transvaal (post 1994 North West

Soweto 1930s

Transvaal (post 1994 Gauteng)
Complex of townships south-west of Johannesburg. The name is derived from an abbreviation for South Western Townships. Soweto was created in the 1930s when the White government started separating Blacks from Whites, creating black "townships". Blacks were moved away from Johannesburg, to an area separated from White suburbs by a so-called cordon sanitaire (or sanitary corridor) which was usually a river, railway track, industrial area or highway. This was carried out using the Urban Areas Act of 1923. William Carr, chair of non-European affairs, initiated the naming of Soweto in 1959. He called for a competition to give a collective name to townships dotted around the South-west of Johannesburg.

Standerton 1878

Transvaal (post 1995 Mpumalanga)
Commercial and agricultural town lying on the banks of the Vaal River 156 km south east of Johannesburg and 64 km south of Bethal. It was laid out in 1878 on the farm Grootverlangen and attained municipal status in 1903. Named after Commandant Adriaan Hendrik Stander (1817-1896), original owner of the farm. Standerskop, a hill west of the town, is also named after him. During the First Boer War a British garrison in the town was besieged by the Boers for three months.

The Steenkampsberg

Cape (post 1994 Northern Cape)
A mountain range situated south of Fraserburg in the Northern Cape, South Africa. It was named for Willem Steenkamp, an early settler in the area. The mountain constitutes a section of the central Nuweveldberge in the Great Escarpment. Its highest point is Salpeterkop (not identical with Salpeterkop near Sutherland), which reaches 1,852 metres, and overlooks the Teekloof Pass. Salpeterkop is composed of prominently inclined sheets of dolerite. The Steenkampsberg and Klipkraal-se-Berg enclose a basin which is drained by the Soutrivier.

Stellenbosch 1679

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
The town was founded in 1679 by the Governor of the Cape Colony, Simon van der Stel, who named it after himself. Stellenbosch means "(van der) Stel's forest or bush" Close to Cape Town, South Africa, and surrounded by the magnificent mountain scenery of the Jonkershoek valley lies the historic town of Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch, the country's second oldest town, after Cape Town, was founded in 1679, during the period of control of the Dutch East India Company. Situated 111 metres above sea level on the banks of the upper reaches of the Eerste River. Here the river flows out of the mountains and into a shallow, alluvial and fertile valley. Stellenbosch has become known as 'the town of oaks'. These trees being abundant. Some of the oaks have been proclaimed national monuments. When Governor Simon van der Stel first visited the area in November 1679 he was much taken by its beauty. The name Stellenbosch ('Van der Stel's bush') was given to the site of the governor's camp, and by the following year the first settlers had arrived from Cape Town. Each year on his birthday Simon van der Stel visited Stellenbosch and presided over a fair with shooting competitions, feasting and games.

Sterkstroom 1875

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
Village on the Hex River, at the southern foot of the Stormberg, 272 km north-west of East London. It was founded in 1875 and became a municipality in 1878. Afrikaans for 'strong current or stream', the name refers to the Hex River

Steynsburg 1874

Cape (post 1994 Eastern Cape)
Town 64 km south-west of Burgersdorp and 48 km north of Hofmeyr. It developed around the Dutch Reformed Church established in 1872 and has been administered by a village management board since 1874. Named after Douwe Gerbrandt Steyn, grandfather of President Paul Kruger

Stilbaai

Transvaal (post 1994 North West
Stilfontein

Gold-mining town 13 km east of Klerksdorp and 37 km south-west of Potchefstroom. Established in 1949 as a mining residential centre. Named after the Stilfontein Gold Mine, which started production in 1952. The name is Afrikaans and means 'still fountain', ie one which does not bubble or flow. The other mines being Hartebeesfontein and Buffelsfontein.

Sutherland 1855

Cape (post 1994 Northern Cape)
Sutherland was founded in 1855 as a church and market town to serve the area's sheep farmers. By 1872 the town had a population of 138 registered citizens living in 19 houses. The large Dutch Reformed church in the centre of Sutherland was built in 1899.
During the Anglo Boer War the church was used as a fort by garrisoned British soldiers, and a number of engagements between British and Boer forces occurred in the town. he ruins of a fort can be found on the outskirts of town on the hill called Rebelskop, which was named after this engagement.

Swartland 1701

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Consists of the area between the towns of Malmesbury in the south, Darling in the west, Piketberg in the north, and the Riebeek West and Riebeek Kasteel in the east. Jan van Riebeeck called this softly undulating country between the mountain ranges "Het Zwarte Land" (the Black Land) because of the endemic Renosterbos (Elytropappus rhinocerotis). First encountered in August 1701, the name, Afrikaans for 'black country' or 'black land', does not refer to the colour of the soil, which is generally yellow, but to the renosterbossies and bakkerbossies growing there; these shrubs are greyish-black, and pitch black when wet.

Swellendam

Cape (post 1994 Western Cape)
Swellendam was declared a magisterial district in 1743 and was named after Governor Hendrik Swellengrebel and his 1st wife, Helena Wilhelmina ten Domme Swellendam is the fourth oldest town in the Republic of South Africa, a town situated in the Western Cape province. The town has over 50 provincial heritage sites most of them buildings of Cape Dutch architecture. Early travellers and explorers who visited the Cape in the 16th century traded with the Khoikhoi people who lived on these shores and in the interior. When the Dutch East India Company established a replenishment station at the Cape in 1652, trade continued inland as far as Swellendam. This outlying settlement soon became a gateway to the interior, and was visited by many famous explorers and travellers including François Le Vaillant (1781), Lady Anne Barnard (1798), William John Burchell (1815) and Thomas William Bowler (1860). In time, a village was established beyond the Drostdy, where artisans including numerous wainwrights and traders settled. To travellers and explorers, the services of the village folk were indispensable, as Swellendam was the last outpost of civilisation on the eastern frontier.Swellendam WIKI

• Born in Swellendam Regter Francis William Reitz, President of the OFS

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