Bethlehem is a town in the eastern Free State province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

that is situated on the Liebenbergs river (also called Liebenbergs Vlei) along a fertile valley just north of the Rooiberg Mountains on the N5 road. It is the fastest growing town in the Free state province, with its target of being the third largest city after

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

and

Welkom Welkom () is the second-largest city in the Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein which is the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The cit ...

. It is a

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

growing area and named after the biblical Bethlehem, from he, בֵּית לֶחֶם ("Beit Lechem"), meaning "house of bread". The town lies at an altitude of and this contributes to its cool climate with frosty winters and mild summers. The average annual temperature is around . Bethlehem is situated approximately north-east of

, east of

Kroonstad Kroonstad (Afrikaans directly translated "Crown City") is the third largest city in the Free State (after Bloemfontein and Welkom) and lies two hours' drive on the N1 from Gauteng. Maokeng is an area within Kroonstad, and is occasionally used ...

and west of

Harrismith Harrismith is a large town in the Free State province of South Africa. It was named for Sir Harry Smith, a 19th-century British governor and high commissioner of the Cape Colony. It is situated by the Wilge River, alongside the N3 highway, abo ...

. The town is strategically situated in the heart of the picturesque north-eastern Free State and originally developed as a service centre. Bethlehem is the seat of the

Dihlabeng Local Municipality Dihlabeng Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District of the Free State in South Africa. It was established in terms of Section 12 of the Local Government Structures Act, 117 of 1998, after the first general lo ...

(this municipality is situated within the boundaries of the

Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality Thabo Mofutsanyana is one of the 5 districts of the Free State province of South Africa. The seat of Thabo Mofutsanyana is Witsieshoek. The majority of its 725 932 people speak Sesotho (2001 Census). The district code is DC19 Geography Neighbou ...

in the Eastern Free State). The township associated with Bethlehem is called ''Bohlokong,'' named after the hloko/bohloko grass ''

Diheteropogon filifolius ''Diheteropogon'' is a genus of African plants in the grass family. ; Species * ''Diheteropogon amplectens'' (Nees) Clayton - from Mauritania to Tanzania + KwaZulu-Natal; also Madagascar * ''Diheteropogon filifolius'' (Nees) Clayton - from Niger ...

''.

History

Bethlehem was founded by local residents Henco Cronje with his three slaves Ruandi Steinmann, Tea van de Merve and Kristiaan Klopper who first founded Bethlehem in 1874 and saved the area from a frog plague.

Society and culture

Museums, provincial heritage sites and memorials

A number of

heritage sites A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regist ...

are located in Bethlehem: * 14 President Burgers Street * A B Baartman Wagon House * Loch Athlone Dam Wall * Main Building of the Bethlehem Technical College * Nederduitse Gereformeerde Mother Church * Old Magistrates Court * Old Nederduitse Gereformeerde Mission Church parsonage * Old Nederduitse Gereformeerde Mission Church * St Andrews Presbyterian Church * St Augustine Anglican Church * Strapps Shop * The Seminary * Town Hall * Wooden Spoon Restaurant

Schools

*Villiers Combined High School *Tiisetsang High School *Ntsu Secondary School *Thabo-Thokoza Secondary School *L.K Ntlabathi Secondary School *Jordania Primary School *Truida Kestell Primary School *Graanveld Primary School *Bethlehem Comprehensive School *Bodikela intermediate School *Bethlehem Voortrekker High School *Bohlokong Primary School *Nthute Primary School *Motshepuwa Primary School *Rehopotswe Primary School *New Horizon College *Impumelelo Primary School *Impucuko Primary School *Khanyeng Intermediate School *Witteberg High School

Climate

Shopping

Bethlehem has many shopping centres like any other town in the Free State. Bethlehem is the main center of the eastern Free State where people from other towns do their shopping, the main shopping malls are: *Bethlehem mall *''Dihlabeng'' mall * ''Maluti'' square. Others are: *Village square *Metropolitan life Centre known as Sechaba Mall (since February 2021) *Shoprite Centre. With the shopping in this town also characterized by typical high street shopping with majority of shops situated along the Muller, Cambridge, Louw, Church, High and other surrounding streets.

Sport

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

and

National First Division The National First Division (NFD), officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African club association football, football after the South African Premier Division. Both t ...

clubs

Free State Stars Free State Stars Football club is a South African professional football club based in Bethlehem, Free State that plays in the National First Division. Formerly known as Makwane Computer Stars and Qwa Qwa Stars, their most significant honour i ...

and Super Eagles F.C are based in Bethlehem and plays its home games at

Goble Park Goble Park is a multi-use stadium in Bethlehem, Free State, Bethlehem, South Africa. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches. It is used as home venue by both Free State Stars F.C. and Super Eagles F.C. in the Premie ...

. Bethlehem is also the birthplace of notable rugby union players including Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis and Frans Steyn. One of the greatest rugby players in history, Tom van Vollenhoven who played rugby union for South Africa and rugby league for St Helens in England was born in Bethlehem. 2019 Japan Rugby World Cup winning team player of Springboks, Bongi Mbonambi was born in ''Bohlokong''.

Economy

The Saulspoort Dam receives water from the Lesotho_Highlands_Water_Scheme_.html" ;"title="Lesotho Highlands Water Project">Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme ">Lesotho Highlands Water Project">Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme Bethlehem is a retail, medical, and educational hub for the Eastern Free State. It has three private hospitals and four star Frontier hotel, Casino and Entertainment Centre located near the beautiful Dihlabeng Mall and Bethlehem Aerodrome.

Industry

Bethlehem hosts several industries including

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

South African Breweries South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-Bus ...

and

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

, as well as petroleum and engineering companies.

Health

* ''Dihlabeng'' Regional Hospital (public) * ''Phekolong'' Hospital (Public) * Hoogland Medi-Clinic (Private) * Bethlehem Medical Centre (Semi-Private) * Nurture Corona Hospital (Semi-private) * Bethlehem Diere Hospital (Private) * Du Pisani Biokineticists (Private) * Several government clinics also in the townships of ''Bohlokong, Thorisong,'' ''Vuka, Phumlamqasha'', Old Location, ''Giyani'' and Bakenpark.

Transportation

Road

Bethlehem is located on the N5 road to the provincial capital

via

Senekal Senekal is a town situated on the banks of the Sand River in the eastern part of the Free State province of South Africa. It was named after Commandant FP Senekal. It is the second largest town in Setsoto Municipality after Ficksburg, the lar ...

and

Winburg Winburg is a small mixed farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. It is the oldest proclaimed town (1837) in the Orange Free State, South Africa and thus along with Griquastad, one of the oldest settlements in South Africa lo ...

to the N1. Other regional roads in the town are

R76 road The R76 is a provincial route in Free State, South Africa that connects Orkney with Bethlehem via Kroonstad. Route The R76 begins at a junction with the R30 road 5 kilometres south of the R30 bridge on the Vaal River, which provides access to t ...

(north), the R26 road to Reitz and

Fouriesburg Fouriesburg is a small town situated at the junction of the R711 and R26 routes in the eastern Free State, South Africa. It is near the Maluti Mountains and only 10 km from Caledon's Poort border post, which gives access to Lesotho. H ...

(north east and south) respectively.

Rail

Bethlehem is located on the main railway line between

and

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. This railway line transports passengers and freight.

Air

Bethlehem is served by a small airport (

Bethlehem Airport Bethlehem Airport is an airport serving Bethlehem, a town in the Free State province in South Africa. Facilities The airport resides at an elevation of above mean sea level. It has two runways: 11/29 has an asphalt surface measuring and 13 ...

) with chartered daily flights to

and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

Coats of arms

Municipal (1)

By 1931, the municipal council had assumed a coat of arms.The arms were depicted on
cigarette card
issued in 1931. The arms were registered with the Orange Free State Provincial Administration in October 1958.Orange Free State ''Official Gazette'' 41 (10 October 1958). The arms were: ''Party per chevron Azure and Gules, a chevron Or, in chief between two springboks couped at the neck respecting each other, proper, a mullet of the third, and in base three maize cobs, the outer ones pilewise, all proper''. In layman's terms, the shield depicted a golden chevron between a gold star and two springboks' head on a blue background, and three maize cobs on a red background.

Municipal (2)

A new coat of arms was designed in the 1980s. It was registered at the

Bureau of Heraldry Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations *Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administrat ...

in June 1989.http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za The arms were: ''Per chevron, Azure and Gules, a chevron Or between in chief a mullet and in base two bars wavy, Argent'' (i.e. a golden chevron between a silver star on a blue background and two wavy silver stripes on a red background). The crest was three golden ears of wheat with blue stalks and leaves, tied together with a red band; the motto was ''Conjuncti prosperamus''.

Notable people

* Faan Fourie (born 1982), cricketer

References

External links

Bethlehem InformationDihlabeng Local Municipality
{{Authority control Populated places in the Dihlabeng Local Municipality Bethlehem, South Africa Populated places established in 1859 1859 establishments in the Orange Free State