Jan Kempdorp is an agricultural town situated in the centre of 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 ...

in the Northern Cape province of

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

. It is situated north of Kimberley, the provincial capital, and west of Christiana in

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

province.

History

Jan Kempdorp was laid out on the farm Andalusia and at first bore that name. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

it was the site of a concentration camp housing German men regarded as potentially dangerous by the authorities. The first settlers bought plots in 1938, and the town was proclaimed in 1953 and named after General Jan Kemp, a former Minister of Lands. Municipal status was attained in 1967. Originally, the border between the

Cape A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. Th ...

and

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

provinces ran through the town, making it the only town in South Africa that was in two provinces. This also led to confusion about the administration until in 1964 it was decided by Parliament that the town would be deemed to fall in the Cape for legal purposes. When new provincial boundaries were drawn in 1994, Jan Kempdorp was still divided, now between the Northern Cape and

provinces. The whole of the town was, however, included in the cross-border

Phokwane Local Municipality Phokwane Municipality ( tn, Mmasepala wa Phokwane; af, Phokwane Munisipaliteit) is a local municipality within the Frances Baard District Municipality, in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. The name means "small Billy goat" in Setswana. ...

. In 2006 cross-border municipalities were eliminated and the whole of the town was included in the Northern Cape. During South Africa's Border War Jan Kempdorp was the location of a munitions store, guarded 24 hours a day by National Servicemen who were first required to be of a lowered medical classification.

Demographics

According to the census of 2011, the population of Jan Kempdorp is 24,220 people, of whom 79% described themselves as "

Black African Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...

", 13% as " Coloured", and 7% as "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

". 64% spoke

Tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Bophuthatswana, the former ba ...

as their

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

, 20% spoke

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

, 10% spoke

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, 2% spoke

Sotho Sotho may refer to: *Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana * Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an off ...

and 2% spoke

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Transport

Jan Kempdorp is located on the N18 national road, which branches from the N12 Kimberley–

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 Dem ...

road at Warrenton and runs through Jan Kempdorp to

Vryburg Vryburg () is a large agricultural town with a population of 48,400 situated in the Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati District Municipality of the North West Province of South Africa. It is the seat and the industrial and agricultural heartland of the di ...

Mahikeng Mafikeng, officially known as Mahikeng and previously Mafeking (, ), is the capital city of the North West Province (South Africa), North West province of South Africa. Close to South Africa's border with Botswana, Mafikeng is northeast of Cape ...

and the

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalaha ...

border. It is also situated on a railway line that branches from the Kimberley–Johannesburg main line at Fourteen Streams and runs parallel to the N18 to Mahikeng and Botswana.

Notable natives and residents

* Juanita (de Villiers) Velts: actress"Juanita de Villiers" - https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5862036/

References

Populated places in the Phokwane Local Municipality {{NorthernCape-geo-stub