Delportshoop is a town in

Frances Baard District Municipality Frances Baard (previously Diamantveld) is one of the 5 districts of Northern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Frances Baard is Kimberley. The majority of its 324 814 people speak Setswana (2001 Census). The district code is DC9. Prev ...

in the

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

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 ...

. It lies next to the

Vaal River The Vaal River ( ; Khoemana: ) is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source near Breyten in Mpumalanga province, east of Johannesburg and about north of Ermelo and only about from the Indian Ocean. ...

. The

Harts River The Harts River ( af, Hartsrivier) is a northern tributary of the Vaal River, which in turn is the largest tributary of the Orange River (also known as the Gariep River, the largest river in South Africa). Its source is in the North West Province, ...

runs by closely.

Early settlement

It developed from a diamond-diggers’ camp. The public diggings were proclaimed in November 1871, a village management board was instituted in 1931, and municipal status attained in 1970.

Name

Delportshoop was originally called “Thomas Hope”, but later the name was changed to “Delport’s Hope” . The first Prosecutor was P.J. Marais. He farmed on Langberg in the region. Marais were told a story that the first diamond was find by a young man whose surname was Delport. The diamond diggers then changed it to Delport’s Hope. Later the ‘’Hope’’, became ‘’Hoop’’.

Schools

• Delportshoop Primary School • Dikgatlong Secondary School • Francis Mohapanele Primary School • Delportshoop High School Children from Ulco, the mining community nearby attend this school

Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme

The

Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme The Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme is one of the largest irrigation schemes in the world covering 369.50 square kilometres in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. It is named after the Vaal River and the Harts River, the Vaal River being its ...

is a very large water irrigation scheme. This is run out of Delportshoop.

Tswana names

Two Tswana names for Delportshoop are encountered, namely Tsineng, also spelt Tsining, Tsening, Tsenin and Tsoneng, and Dekgathlong, also spelt Dekhath-long, Dekatlong, Dekgathlong, Dikgatlhong, Likatlong and Likhat-lhong. The latter name means ‘meeting-place’, referring to the confluence of the Vaal and Harts rivers there.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Dikgatlong Local Municipality Populated places established in 1871 Vaal River 1871 establishments in the Cape Colony