Odendaalsrus

Odendaalsrus
Street in downtown Odendaalsrus.
Odendaalsrus Odendaalsrus
Coordinates: 27°52′S 26°41′E
Country	South Africa
Province	Free State
District	Lejweleputswa
Municipality	Matjhabeng
Established	1912
Area
• Total	42.1 km2 (16.3 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	63,743
• Density	1,500/km2 (3,900/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	93.1%
• Coloured	0.3%
• Indian/Asian	0.3%
• White	6.1%
• Other	0.1%
First languages (2011)
• Sotho	68.8%
• Xhosa	13.4%
• Afrikaans	7.7%
• Tswana	2.5%
• Other	7.7%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	9480
PO box	9480
Area code	057

Odendaalsrus is the oldest gold mining town in the Lejweleputswa District Municipality in the goldfields of the Free State province in South Africa.

History

It started out in 1912 as a ramshackle collection of farms and a central church that became a town. In April 1946 gold was struck on the farm Geduld near the town. This discovery was mentioned in Alan Paton's novel Cry, the Beloved Country.

On 5 December 2000, Odendaalrus was incorporated into the Matjhabeng Local Municipality along with the city of Welkom and the towns of Allanridge, Hennenman, Ventersburg and Virginia.

Odendaalsrus celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2012. It is a town located on the Goldfields close to a couple of mines, and a large Harcos farm producing chickens and eggs.

Kutlwanong

Kutlwanong Location is a township located about 10 km outside Odendaalsrus, between Welkom and Allanridge, established to house black people during the apartheid era. Kutlwanong is divided into 16 sections, namely: k1, k2, k3, k4, k5, k6, k7, k8, k9, k10 and block 1, block 2, block 4, block 5, block 6, and block 7. The first people to live there were a group of Black people from Hospital Park; 2 km from Odendaalsrus. Where they were evicted and forced to live in separate sections according to their ethnicity creating conflict between tribes. Reason for eviction is said to be the closeness of the black suburb to the town. It falls under the Municipality of Lejweleputsa. It is known for political activist such as Sipho Mutsi, and producing soccer stars such as Kamohelo Mokotjo, Khotso Moleko, Abram "Wire" Nteo, Vuyisile Wana as well as the musical artist Lebohang Matooane popularly known as Dray Rsa, Neo Matla popularly known as Snaker Da Ray and many more

External links

• Media related to Odendaalsrus at Wikimedia Commons