Vanderbijlpark

In 1920, Dr HJ van der Bijl, a young South African electrical engineer working in the United States at the time, was called back to South Africa by the then Prime Minister Jan Smuts to advise the government in the planning of South Africa's industrial development.[2] Van der Bijl oversaw the Iron and Steel Corporation's first plant at Pretoria, but with the increased demand after World War II, 100 km² was bought to build a large steel works and model town. The steel works began operating in 1947 and the town was proclaimed in 1949.[3] The town attained municipal status on 29 October 1952 when Governor General Dr EG Jansen opened ISCOR's second steel works.[3]^:302 The founder of the town, Hendrik van der Bijl, had his old house situated in Grieg street, in the affluent SW 5 proper suburb.

Vanderbijlpark is situated on the Highveld of South Africa, at 1500 masl on the banks of the Vaal River. Summers in the city are warm to hot with an average high between 31 and 35, and an average low between 15 and 22. Winters in the city are cool to warm with an average high of between 18 and 23 and an average low of between −1 and 5 .

Vanderbijlpark has been designed in a circular design, which differs from the traditional grid design of towns. The town is divided into four distinct residential blocks, namely:

• CE (Central East)
• CW (Central West)
• SE (South East)
• SW (South West)

Vanderbijlpark CBD on Wikimapia

A map showing the suburbs of Vanderbijlpark.

The different suburbs are then named as follows:

• CE1
• CE2
• CE3
• CE4
• CW1
• CW2
• CW3
• CW4
• CW5
• CW6
• SE1
• SE2
• SE3
• SE4
• SE6
• SE7
• SE8
• SW1
• SW2
• SW5

The other suburbs of Vanderbijlpark are:

• Boipatong
• Bophelong
• Bonnane
• Flora Gardens

There are also a number of small holdings in Vanderbijlpark:

• Theoville
• Lamont Park

The steel mill at Vanderbijlpark, owned by ArcelorMittal.

About 60% of the town's workforce are employed in factories. The rest work for the Government, private businesses, shops or in the service sector. Rossini Boulevard used to be a residential area, but in recent years most of the homes have been turned into informal businesses.

Since 2015 the town has had a gradual negative economic growth, to such a degree that the local council was declared bankrupt in November 2019 due to billions of property tax proceeds to the municipality were stolen by local government officials.

Most of the town's houses were built by ISCOR during the 1947–1964 period, these homes are all built in exactly the same format. About 60% of the town's population lives in these homes. A few suburbs close to the Vaal River are modern and have wealthy areas. There are large and modern buildings and apartment buildings in the open areas around the CBD.

The suburb area SW5 houses some of the most extravagant and sought after houses in the Vaal triangle. Dr. HJ van der Bijl and Aldridge had built their private estates in this area during the 1920s, and these homes are now privately owned and still preserved in the area. Some of the stands in the area range between 2–4 acres. The stands used to be much bigger in the day of Dr van der Bijl, however, further development of the town increased the use of subdivided stands.

Another part of the Vaal's wealth lies on the Marlbank of the Vaal River towards Loch Vaal, west of the CBD. Some of these houses sized up to 2,000 square meters and more. The area is often also referred to as "millionaires bend" and houses some of the most expensive homes in South-Africa, ranging into the R10 million for an estate.

Vanderbijlpark has major influences of French, German and Italian architecture, due to the settlement of foreigners in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The building industry used to be owned by a select group of wealthy developers in the early 1900s up until the late 1980s by companies such as Visser Properties, Dias Family, Storm Family to name a few. Construction and design companies thrived during these times, such as van der Merwe & Associates Engineering, Stutco structural engineers, DOS Gwendolyn van Wyk, Leslie van Wyk and Riscali who was renamed to Riscali from DOS in 2012 now owned by Jean Marx-Ubbink and Charl Marx-Ubbink. In 2018 a furniture and decor design company; Vinostein, was launched as a spinoff of the already established Riscali brand.

The town center also consists of many old houses showcasing beautiful homes built during the early 1900s, these houses have fallen to dramatic decay during the years, however continuous efforts exist by individuals and companies in order to restore these classic homes to their former glory.

SW5 Proper and Vaal riverfront properties remain to this day some of the most extravagant and largest homes in the country, however, the value of these properties has dramatically declined since 2015 due to corruption in local government. The 2019 bankruptcy of the local government was due to billions of unpaid accounts to Rand Water and Eskom, late 2019 investigations led to findings that 800 million rand was stolen by the current Mayor of the town within a short period of 8 months. This has caused a significant collapse in industries and in turn; building development in the town.

There are over 60 primary and secondary schools within the Vaal Triangle area. Of these, 20 primary and 8 secondary schools are located in Vanderbijlpark. There are about 4 Private Schools in Vanderbijpark, Namely: El Shaddai School, Emmanuel Christian School, Vaal Primary School and Santa Maria Junior School.

Vanderbijlpark is home to the Emerald Casino Resort, Emfuleni Golf Course, and the recently constructed Vaal Mall and with the Pont de Vaal wine estate, hotel and restaurant right around the corner. There are public swimming facilities in the suburbs of SE 2 and CW 6. The Vaal Horse Race Course is about 3 km from the city.

According to the 2011 Census, Vanderbijlpark occupied an area of 178 km². The population was 95,840, which can be broken down as follows: 54.44% White, 42.52% Black, 1.27% Coloured and 0.89% Asian. The population density was 539 persons per km² (1,400 persons per mi²).[6]

Ray Jennings, former coach of the South African cricket team, was born in Vanderbijlpark. Behati Prinsloo, Namibian supermodel, was also born in Vanderbijlpark and lived there briefly before moving to Namibia. Shaun Sowerby, former Springbok rugby and Natal Sharks captain, was from Vanderbijlpark. He attended Oliver Lodge Primary school from 1985–1991, then attended Sasol High from 1992–1996. Francois Pienaar, captain of the 1995 IRB World Cup winning Springbok rugby team, was from Vanderbijlpark. Diaan Lawrenson (known for her role as Paula in local soapie "7de Laan", is also from Vanderbijlpark.

Vanderbijlpark is town twinned with:

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vanderbijlpark.

• Sedibeng District Municipality
• Emfuleni Local Municipality
• North-West University
• More information on Vanderbijlpark