Nathan Kirsh – the richest man from Potchefstroom
The sale of Nathan Kirsh’s company, Jetro Restaurant Depot Business, for R500 million was recently announced. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index noted this as his biggest asset. After the sale, he was regarded as richer than the well-known Johann Rupert. The Bloomberg...
First time from the Cape to Cairo
After discovering letters written to the Herald in 1912 about the first successful trip by motor vehicle across the Drakensberg, I wrote an article for Weg/Go! about it. I later discovered the tale about an attempt to travel by car from Cape Town to Cairo, which ended...
CV Bate – founder of the Potchefstroom Herald and owner for half a century
This article is dedicated to Mr Richard Bate, great-grandson of CV Bate, who resides in the United Kingdom and who contacted me in November 2025 with a request for information on his great-grandfather. He, however, provided me with information that I have been wanting...
Sports Village – Olympic medal champ
Sports Village – Olympic medal champ This article was compiled as a commission from the NWU, Records, Archives and Museums and is published here with their permission. The Sports Village, built in 2010, stands next to the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds of the...
St Mary’s Anglican Church – The first English church across the Vaal
This article first appeared on the website theheritageportal.co.za on 10 November 2015 and was reprinted in my book Stories of Potchefstroom that was published in 2018. This is an article in the series on the declared heritage sites of Potchefstroom. About two decades...
Landdrost-, Post- en Telegraafkantoor – most beautiful magistrate’s court of all
Arguably one of the most beautiful heritage buildings in Potchefstroom is the Landdrost-, Post- en Telegraafkantoor (Magistrate, Post and Telegraph Office) in Greyling (OR Tambo) Street next to the Church Square. Although nowadays defaced by unsightly security...
Boskop Yacht & Aquatic Club – a place of pleasure and peace
Imagine a place where you can experience the immediate effect of all possible feel-good hormones. The Boskop Yacht & Aquatic Club epitomises this. It is a place of outstanding natural beauty, but moreover, it is a club where generations of families have...
Potchefstroom Dam – many activities, many memories
Potchefstroom Dam – many activities, many memories Today the tranquil body of water that is the Potchefstroom Dam presents many beautiful vistas. Over many years it had been a very popular recreational resort. During the lockdown its grassy picnic spots remained...
Water for Potchefstroom
Water was the reason why Potchefstroom was founded where it still is now. When Andries Hendrik Potgieter, the Voortrekker leader, visited the area 1835, he was impressed by the abundant water supply of the Mooi River, which he named as such. (See my article: What is...
Physics Building – a dream come true after many hard years
Nowadays students on the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University can walk into well-appointed, state-of-the-art laboratories, doing world-changing research and take the facilities for granted. This was not the case when the campus was established on the site...