Street names reflect history 16 – The lost street names of Potchefstroom

Changing street names has always been a contentious issue. After the Anglo-Boer War – and with a new political dispensation – the town council of Potchefstroom had long discussions on the changing of certain street names. The one that lasted was King Edward Street, formerly Church Street. This was to commemorate the crowning of King Edward VII, who succeeded his mother, Queen Victoria in 1901.

Senex, the columnist of the Potchefstroom Herald, wrote about this in 1976. The article appeared in on 3 August 1976.

TC de Klerk, who researched the origins of the street names of Potchefstroom in the 1960s, quoted a Dr Gösta Langenfeldt, a Swede, who was an expert on place names and explained the reasoning behind the choosing of street names: “Everything had to look well on paper . . . Behind it all were the master builders and their economic interests. At the same time it was thought necessary . . . to rename a lot of old streets – with disastrous consequences from an aesthetic point of view.”

This might resonate with many opposed to the wide-ranging street name changes that were implemented by the city council in 2004. In its newsletter of October 2007 Heritage Potchefstroom Erfenis wrote: “The city council’s renaming of the streets have not been favourably accepted by most of the Potchefstroom residents, to say the least.” In the article Losette Davidson gave background information about the people whose names then graced the streets. This is used here to give more information on the new street names.

With the 2004 changes some of the more important streets of the city was renamed and hence some of the more prominent names of people who played a role in the history of the city fell into oblivion.

Therefore, this discussion about the people behind the lost street names of Potchefstroom.

Botha Street (South) now Chris Hani*
was named after Piet Botha, who died around 1890. In his time he was a fine sportsman in rugby and cricket.

* Chris Hani was the leader of the South African Communist Party and Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC. In 1991 he succeeded Joe Slovo as head of the SACP. He was a forceful opponent of the apartheid government and was assassinated in 19 April 1993 outside his home in Dawn Park, a suburb of Boksburg.

Infamous sureyor

Curlewis Street (Potchindustria) now Ikageng* Road
was named after James Frederick Inglis Curlewis (1862-1944). He was registered as a surveyor in May 1890 and was the state surveyor of the ZAR. After the Anglo-Boer War he was also one of the town councillors elected as such in December 1903. During the last years of the 19^th century he surveyed amongst others the former location in Potchefstroom to the south of town and the Northern Burgher Rights (currently large parts of the Bult). Both went down infamously in the history of the town due to Curlewis’s disregard of instruction and common decency. Although promised by President Paul Kruger that it would not happen, Curlewis ignored the existence of the first cemetery of Potchefstroom and laid out erven over the cemetery when he surveyed the Northern Burgher Rights.

He also surveyed the town of Alberton and passed away in Potchefstroom in 1944.

*Ikageng was proclaimed as a residential area on 9 February 1954. Initially it was 532 hectares in extent. The name means “the place where we ourselves build”. The first designated residential area for people of colour was south of Maherry Street. The town council decided in 1888 to lay it out. By the 1950s the Location, as it was known, became overly crowded and it was decided to develop Ikageng. Unfortunately, in terms of the hated Group Areas Act, the residents of the Location, later known as Willem Klopperville was forcibly removed to Ikageng, Promosa and Mohadin.

Was it the ant king, the salt scraper, the attorney, the farmer or the magistrate?

Gouws Street (Central) now Sol Plaatjie*
“The surname Gouws was common in the Transvaal. Many Gouws’s were salt scrapers and descendants of the Voortrekkers,” wrote Senex. He speculated that the forebears of the Gouws family of Boshoek might have provided the name for the street. This seems to be unlikely since Willem Andries Stephanus Gouws only acquired the farm around 1903.

A Marthinus Gouws practiced law in the early years of Potchefstroom. Some of his colleagues at the time, Messrs Van Eck and Kleyn, had street names named after them, hence him being a likely candidate lending his name to the street.

Another, more interesting, explanation was later provided by Senex. According to him a GH Boardman, who resided at Ventersdorp, wrote to the Herald (date not provided): “I lived in Potchefstroom from 1872 to 1878 and was managing R Schikkerling and Co’s business (De Boerenwinkel). I remember a man named Gouws, about 50-60 years old, who was well known among the older inhabitants as the “Mierkoning” (ant king), his business being the digging out of ant nests (termites) at £1 a time.”

De Klerk names the Gouws after whom the street was named as a former magistrate. Since mostly prominent residents of Potchefstroom were chosen to have their names immortalised by given it to the street, Marthinus Gouws or the former magistrate are the most likely candidates for this honour.

* Solomon Tshekisho Plaatjie (1876-1932) was an accomplished South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator and writer. While he grew up speaking Tswana, Plaatjie was fluent in at least seven languages. As a writer Plaatjie was the first black South African to publish a novel in English-Mhudi. He worked as a court interpreter during the Siege of Mafikeng and translated works of William Shakespeare into Tswana. In 1998 an honorary doctorate was conferred on him by the University of the North West.

Berg Street (Central) later Van Riebeeck, now Peter Mokaba*
Due to the flat topography of the city most current residents of Potchefstroom find it incongruous that a street in the town should ever have been named Berg Street (Mountain). However, the street at the time when the town was first laid out, was the most westerly and nearest to the hills like Witrand, Picnic Poort (Promosa) and Ikageng, hence “Berg Street”. Its opposite was Rivier Street, nearest to the river.

When the 300^th anniversary of the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck at the Cape was celebrated in 1952, the town council decided the change Berg Street to Van Riebeeck Street.

According to a report in the Herald, the street was so named when the Van Riebeeck coach was in the street passing through Potchefstroom on its way to the Cape. The name change was later confirmed by the Administrator of the Transvaal. This was met with much resistance from the residents of the street. The Herald of 1952 reported: “Over a hundred property owners and residents in the street, some life-long, protested against the change of name to the town council before it was finally decided upon.”

This resonated down to 2004 when the name was changed again, this time from Van Riebeeck to Peter Mokaba Street. Of all the 2004 street name changes, this one was opposed the most. Many residents had name plates made indicating that they live in Van Riebeeck Street.

One of the name plates that a resident of the former Van Riebeeck Street put up to indicate that he still acknowledges the old street name as opposed to the new one, Peter Mokaba.

* Peter Mokaba (1959-2002) was the first leader of the ANC Youth League. Mokaba was an activist who clearly expressed the militancy of the ’76 young freedom fighters’ generation. Mokaba was also famous for the slogan: “Kill the Boer, kill the farmer.”

Greyling Street (Central) now OR Tambo*
Greyling Street was so called after Daniel Jacobus Greyling, who died around 1888. The family lived near the North Bridge. This is according to Fritz Kan, in the now lost 1932 article in the Herald, as quoted by Senex.

According to TC de Klerk, who researched the origins of the street names of Potchefstroom with a view to complete a master dissertation, Greyling Street was named after Commandant Barend Greyling, one of the commandants of Potchefstroom during the Anglo-Boer War. Greyling Street, however, existed almost 60 years before the Anglo-Boer War. Senex’s explanation is thus the more plausible one.

* Oliver Reginald Tambo (1917-1993), along with Mandela and Sisulu, was a founding member of the ANC Youth League in 1943, becoming its first national secretary. In 1955 he became secretary general of the ANC, in 1958 he became deputy president of the ANC. He was also the longest serving president of the ANC until his death. In 2006 the Johannesburg International Airport was named after him.

Kerk Street (Central), later King Edward Street, now Walter Sisulu*
Kerk Street or Church Street was the main street of Potchefstroom and dissected the original town from north to south creating a thoroughfare. The original town planners placed the church square next to this street, hence the name.

The Senex column at the top of this article explains how the name was changed to King Edward Street.

Before and after the symbolic Ossewatrek of 1938 local cultural bodies petitioned the town council to restore the name Kerk Street.

Appeal by the council to the provincial authorities brought no solution as they felt that the matter should be left in abeyance obviously because of the existing strained feelings due to World War II.

After the cessation of hostilities renewed approaches were made, but a letter emanating from the Executive Council dated 11 March 1946, recommended that the matter be left in abeyance, probably because of the impending visit of the royal family in 1947.

After a further period of ‘wrangling’ the provincial authorities finally informed the council on 16 June 1949 that the original name, Kerk Street, could be restored. Notably this was after the Nationalist Party came into power in 1948.

* Walter Max Ulyate Sisulu (1912-2003) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and member of the ANC. He was made secretary general of the ANC in 1949 and was also deputy president of the ANC. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on June 12, 1964 and spent the majority of his sentence on Robben Island.

Church Street scenes from Retief to Wolmarans Streets

State president honoured

Kruger Street (Central) now Beyers Naudé*
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (1825-1904) is regarded as one of the dominant political and military figures in South Africa during the 19^th century. He was appointed as state president of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek in 1877 shortly before it was annexed by Great Britain and named the Transvaal. He was a member of the triumvirate created to overthrow British rule. In 1884 he became president again and headed the deputation that brokered the London Convention of 1884, under which Britain recognised the ZAR as an independent republic.

SJP (Paul) Kruger as he appeared about the time he visited Potchefstroom during the Civil War of 1861-62. Photo: Transvaal Archives Depot

Born in the Steynsburg district, his family joined the Voortrekker leader, Andries Hendrik Potgieter (founder of Potchefstroom), and his group to relocate north. Kruger therefore must have experienced the founding and first years of the fledgling town of Potchefstroom. The farm Krugerskraal later became famous due to the fact that the holiday home of Prof JD du Toit (Bible translator and the poet Totius) was on the farm. It was so named due to the fact that Paul Kruger, as a young child with his family had lived for six months on the farm.

At the age of sixteen Paul Kruger was entitled to receive a farm himself and settled in the Rustenburg district on the farm Waterkloof. This is according to WJ Badenhorst, in Potchefstroom 1838-1938, who quoted the Gedenkscriften van Paul Kruger.

In 1842 Kruger married his first wife Maria du Plessis in Potchefstroom. He was 17 years old at the time. The exact date of the wedding is not known, but the ceremony was performed by a magistrate. Kruger mentions this himself. In that year the first visit of a minister to Potchefstroom took place in March 1842. Rev Daniel Lindley conducted services, including communion, baptisms and marriages, on 26 and 27 March. It is said that 190 ox-wagons gathered in Potchefstroom for the event. Kruger was not married at this event.

Tragedy struck in 1846 when Maria and their infant son died due to a fever, probably malaria. The next year he married Maria’s cousin, Gezina. This marriage produced 16 children and she died only three years before him in 1901.

In September 1861 Kruger was again in Potchefstroom, as the leader of the commando who wanted to oppose Stephanus Schoeman, who usurped the presidency of MW Pretorius. See my paragraphs on Vegkoppie Street.

When the railway line between Johannesburg and Potchefstroom was inaugurated, also in 1897, President Paul Kruger, did the honours. Shortly afterwards, when plans were made to extend the railway line to Klerksdorp, it was proposed to build it over the site of the Fort, where more than 300 soldiers and civilians were besieged in 1880-81 for three months during the first Anglo-Boer War. The fort is a stone’s throw away south of the station. Kruger refused permission and the railway line was built to curve in a rather tight turn around the Fort. When the railway line was later electrified, this tight turn caused many problems for the engineers.

Kruger also laid the corner stone of the new church of the Dutch Reformed Congregation on 10 March 1896. He was back on 23 January 1897 to deliver the first sermon in this church.

* Rev Beyers Naudé served the Potchefstroom congregation of the Dutch Reformed Church from 1955 to 1959. He is the only person with a direct link to Potchefstroom who had a street named in their honour when the street name changes were made in 2004. See my article on Naudé.

Lombard Street (Central) now James Moroka*
According to Geoffrey Jenkins, AH Lombard was the second magistrate of Potchefstroom, most likely the person after whom the street was named.

Senex is of the opinion that it was named after a Fanie Lombard, who had three most sought-after daughters. He was probably Hermanus Stephanus Lombard, a prominent resident of Potchefstroom during the 19^th century. In 1848 he was a member of a commission who was tasked to find a permanent spiritual leader for Potchefstroom. In 1857 he acted as president. In 1863 he was a member of the committee who had to constitute municipal regulations for Potchefstroom. Genealogical Internet sources named him as a Commandant and a member of the Volksraad. He was born at Somerset East in the Cape Colony in 1800 and according to the gravestone of his wife, Katrina Lourina Lombard in the Alexandra Park Cemetery, she was his widow when she passed away in April 1863.

In a letter of a JPJ van Vuuren, written in 1977 about the correct spelling of the name of Maree Street, the writer quoted a letter written by “landdrost HS Lombard”. Thus this prominent resident of Potchefstroom, might as well have been the landdrost Jenkins had mentioned.

* Dr James Moroka was the famous former president of the ANC who spearheaded the move of the ANC toward militancy in the early 1950s. He was a medical doctor who studied in Scotland and was the chief of the Barolong tribe.

Scenes from early Lombard Street

Mooirivier Drive (Van der Hoff Park and Central) now Govan Mbeki Street*
Mooirivier Drive, which connects MC Roode Drive with the road to Schoemansdrift, was built in the 1980s and replaced Church Street as the main mostly north-south thoroughfare. The origin of the name is obvious, since it crosses the Mooi River twice and runs parallel to it for most of the way.

*Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki (1910-2001) was a South African politician and father of Thabo Mbeki, a former president of South Africa. He was named in honour of Edward Govan, a Scottish missionary who founded Lovedale College, the school Mbeki attended. He completed a degree in Politics and Psychology. He was a leader of the ANC and after the Rivonia trial, was imprisoned with Mandela, Sisulu and other ANC leaders.

Founder of Potchefstroom

Potgieter Street (Central) now Nelson Mandela Drive*
The street was named after Andries Hendrik Potgieter (1792-1852), leader of the group of Voortrekkers or emigrants, as they called themselves, who settled next to the Mooi River in 1838. They arrived in the area in November 1838.

Potgieter was, however, on a mission to get as far away from any possible British rule and left Potchefstroom, with some of his followers in 1845.

He was over six feet tall (1,8 m), was well-muscled with a dark brown beard and lively blue eyes, which gave him a commanding presence. He was well-respected in the Tarka district where he lived before moving north. Although friendly and affable, he knew how to have his subordinates obey him. He was rather cantankerous and intolerant towards weakness and those who differed from him in opinion.

He did not co-operate well with other Voortrekker leaders. Gerrit Maritz, one of the other Voortrekker leaders, who was known for his diplomacy, refused to speak Potgieter after a difference of opinion about the division of the cattle after the raid against Mzilikazi. He warned another Voortrekker leader, Piet Uys, who disregarded his advice and was trapped by the Zulus at Italeni, where he and his son, Dirkie lost their lives.

Potgieter married four times. His first wife was Elizabeth Botha, whom he married in 1812. She passed away in Potchefstroom He then married the widow Johanna van der Merwe, néé Bronkhorst, the same year. She died in 1842 during the birth of their daughter, Dorothea, the first child to be baptised in Potchefstroom. In 1843 he married Catharina Erasmus, who passed away in 1852. His fourth wife was also a widow, Susanna van Emmenes, néé Le Grange. She died four days after Potgieter in December 1852, like him at Schoemansdal near Pietersburg.

(A more comprehensive article on Potgieter appeared in my book Stories of Potchefstroom. Click on the “Books” tab at the top of the homepage for more information on how to acquire the book.)

Andries Hendrik Potgieter and his wife, Susanna. This photo was taken in 1852, probably in Lourenco Marques (Maputo) or at Schoemansdal, the year they both passed away. The photo was given by a descendant to the War Museum in Bloemfontein and was later used to make a bust of Potgieter.

* Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (1918-2013) was the first president of South Africa to be elected in fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency he was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the ANC. He spent nearly three decades in prison on Robben Island for his struggle against apartheid. Mandela received more than a hundred awards over four decades, most notably the Noble Peace Prize in 1993, which he shared with FW de Klerk.

Magistrate and town treasurer

Tom Street (Bult) now Steve Biko*
was named after the last magistrate before the Anglo-Boer War, Dirk Tom (1859-1915).

He passed away in 1915 and the Herald published this obituary on 13 August 1915:

Potchefstroom was greatly shocked on Thursday when the news of the sudden death of Mr Dirk Tom, the town treasurer became known.

It appears that Mr Tom, who celebrated his 56^th birthday on Wednesday, spent the evening socially at a friend’s house, in spite of the fact that he was not feeling up to the mark, but as he was far from well when he returned home, Dr Friel was at once sent for and medical attention was given. Mr Tom, however, passed quietly away shortly after midnight from heart failure.

The late Mr Tom had been associated with the life of Potchefstroom for many years and was generally respected and esteemed. His genial manner and cheery disposition won him a host of friends and left him no enemies. In “the old days” Mr Dirk Tom was public prosecutor at Potchefstroom and subsequently acted as landdrost under the Republican regime. After the war, Mr Tom secured an appointment in the town treasury department, where he earned the goodwill of all who came into contact with him by his invariably obliging manner and tactful way of dealing with the public. On the resignation of Mr Day, he was promoted to the position of town treasurer, in which office he gave entire satisfaction to council and ratepayers alike. The efficiency of his work was only equalled by the assiduity (diligence) with which he applied himself to the duties of the Department, and by his death the municipality loses one of the most conscientious and capable of its officials.

Expressions of regret were general throughout the town by all sections and we tender sincere sympathy to the bereaved widow and family in their sad and sudden loss.

Mr Dirk Tom was one of those kindly souls speaking ill of none and always ready to do a good turn, which Potchefstroom can ill afford to lose. Only recently he was elected at the top of the poll for the Library Committee by a big majority, a fact which gave him much satisfaction.

Tom was appointed as magistrate (landdrost) in 1878. On 14 May 1889 the municipal management of Potchefstroom ceased to exist and from then on Tom served to manage the town throughout the Anglo-Boer War, until it was taken over by British forces in 1900.

In her memoirs, Mrs Daphne Hurndall mentioned that Dirk Tom was a Hollander “who came out to South Africa on the same ship as our father.” This was about 1883.

His wife, Anna, néé Stiemens, (1862-1944) lived in the family residence on the corner of Wolmarans and the then Berg Street until she passed away in 1944. Their property stretched along Berg Street from Wolmarans to Du Plooy Street, with a large garden. The Tom family were all keen tennis players and Mrs Hurndall wrote that they acquired the property across from theirs in Du Plooy Street and built a tennis court there.

The Tom residence still stands in Peter Mokaba Street between Wolmarans and Du Plooy Street. It was later converted to flats and was damaged by fire in 2012. Currently it serves as offices.

Dirk Tom served as magistrate and town manager before the Anglo-Boer War and was the town treasurer when he passed away in 1915. Photo: Potchefstroom Museum

* Steve Bantu Biko (1946-1977) was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and early 70s. He later founded the Black Conscious Movement (BCM). In spite of repression of the apartheid government, Biko and the BCM played a significant role organizing the protest which culminated in the Soweto Uprising of 16 June 1976. Biko controversially died in 1977 in police custody.

Van der Hoff Avenue (Bult) now Thabo Mbeki Street*
was named after the Reverend Dirk van der Hoff (1814-1881). He was the first permanent spiritual leader in Potchefstroom. Van der Hoff came to Potchefstroom in 1853 and served the congregation of the Nederduitsh Hervormde Church (NH) until his death in 1881.

The Van der Hoffs arrived five months prior to coming to Potchefstroom in Cape Town where he was legitimised in the Dutch Reformed Church. They sailed by ship to Durban and then travelled for three weeks before arriving in Potchefstroom on a bitterly cold day on 27 May 1853. Almost no preparations were made for their arrival. Their house was almost unliveable with no windows and a mud floor so wet that chair legs sank into the floor.

Although Van der Hoff was initially in favour of the congregants living across the Vaal River to join the Dutch Reformed Church, or as it was known at the time, the “Kaapse Kerk”, he soon became sympathetic to their situation and after coming to Potchefstroom he supported the founding of a separate church, which later became the NH Church.

Apart from this some members also parted ways with the church in 1859 to join the newly founded Reformed Church (Gereformeerde Kerk). The fact that many of his congregants were almost illiterate caused many concerns.

Although Van der Hoff was highly regarded as a preacher, worker and organiser, he was an overbearing and uncomprising person who often came into conflict with especially some of the earlier teachers. He was, however, tolerant towards the founding of the Reformed Church and kept good relations with the founder, Rev Dirk Postma.

Van der Hoff Street was only named after Rev Dirk van der Hoff when the town council was lobbied at the time of the centenary of his arrival in Potchefstroom in 1953. It was previously known as Noordbrug Road.

Van der Hoff Road was, for many years, a country lane, then known as Noordbrug Road with the MW Pretorius residence and a few mills the only buildings along the way. Photo: Potchefstroom Museum

* Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki, son of Govan Mbeki, was the second president after the democratic elections of 1994. Before this he spent 28 years in exile in the United Kingdom, earning a master’s degree in Economics from the University of Sussex.

Von Wielligh Street (Bult) now Chief Albert Luthuli*
was named after the surveyor general, Gideon R von Wielligh, who also was a pioneer Afrikaans writer, a contemporary of Preller, Marais, Totius and other.

* Albert John Luthuli (1898-1967) was ANC president general from 1954 to 1967 and was awarded the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the first South African and the second black man to win the prize (after Max Thieler in 1951 for Medicine).

The original source of and inspiration for these articles is a series of 13 columns written by “Senex” for the Potchefstroom Herald on the origins of the street names of Potchefstroom, published from 17 December 1974 to 24 June 1975. Senex was the pseudonym of Mr Jurgens Smith, a long-time teacher at the Potchefstroom High School for Boys. Smith’s primary source of information was the research of Mr TC de Klerk, who studied the origins of the street names of Potchefstroom to write a master’s dissertation in the 1960s. He sadly passed away before completing his studies. Some of De Klerk’s research is kept in the Archives of the Potchefstroom Museum, which otherwise also provided a rich source of information.

The last article in this series will touch on some of the street names not included in previous articles.

I have omitted these names solely because I did not have any information on their origin at the time I wrote the specific article. Some of this information has now come to light and I will do an article on the missed streets. The last article in the series about the streets will be about Potchefstroom legends who deserved it to have streets named after them.