Daggakraal, "one of South Africa's most impoverished and isolated communities with plenty of unmined mineral resources", is a town in

Gert Sibande District Municipality Gert Sibande (until 2004 known as the Eastvaal District Municipality) is one of the 3 districts of Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The seat of Gert Sibande is Ermelo. The majority of its 900 007 people speak IsiZulu (2001 Census). The dis ...

near

Volksrust Volksrust is a town in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa near the KwaZulu-Natal provincial border, some 240 km southeast of Johannesburg, 53 km north of Newcastle and 80 km southeast of Standerton. History The town was laid ...

in the outskirts of

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

province,

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 ...

. The town had about 1,450 households in 2014. There is no means of production a number of failed state projects aimed at uplifting people. Daggakraal area code 2492 has two clinics namely Sinqobile CHC in Daggakraal no 3 and Daggakraal CHC in Sinqobile A. There's four primary schools namely Sizenzele Primary School, Hambani Primary School, Daggakraal Primary School and Ethembeni Primary School and two high schools are Nalithuba Secondary School and Seme Secondary School named after ANC founder Dr. Pixley Ka Isaka Seme.

Founding

Pixley Ka Isaka Seme Pixley ka Isaka Seme (c. 1881 – June 1951) was a South African lawyer and a founder and President of the African National Congress. Early life Seme was born the fourth son of Sinono Kuwana Seme in Durban, in what was then called the Colony of ...

, President of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

from 1930 to 1936, was born in Durban in 1881. In 1911, he established the "South African Native Farmers Association" in order to encourage black farm labourers from the Free State to buy land in the area and become commercial farmers themselves, and thus to attain personal independence. This initiative led to the settling of Daggakraal in 1912, and so worried the white government that it formulated and enacted the Natives Land Act of 1913, barring black people from owning land in South Africa. However, the black farmers who had bought property in Daggakraal retained the land they had purchased. These farmers later rented residential stands to families that relocated from the

Eastern Transvaal Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

. Seme owned two farms in the area.

Post-apartheid

In 1997, a

piggery Intensive pig farming, also known as pig factory farming, is the primary method of pig production, in which grower pigs are housed indoors in group-housing or straw-lined sheds, whilst pregnant sows are housed in gestation crates or pens and g ...

, grain and livestock farm was handed to the community as part of South Africa's land reform programme. As a result of infighting amongst the beneficiaries and misappropriation of funds, the bequests are now unproductive. A

soccer stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...

which began construction in 1991 was never completed due to

embezzlement Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Embezzlement is a type ...

. A statue of Dr. Pixley Ka. Isaka Seme was erected and unveiled in the Daggakraal Number 02 front opposite Daggakraal Police Station and Ethembeni Primary School on 31 March 2012.

References

Populated places in the Pixley ka Seme Local Municipality {{Mpumalanga-geo-stub