Sterkspruit is a town in the
Senqu Local Municipality
Senqu Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Joe Gqabi District of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. Senqu is a Sesotho name for the Orange River.
Main places
The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main plac ...
in the
Joe Gqabi District Municipality
Joe Gqabi District Municipality is one of the seven districts of Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Joe Gqabi is Barkly East. The majority of its 349,768 people speak IsiXhosa ( 2011 census).
Before 1 February 2010 it was known a ...
in the
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha.
The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...
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 ...
.
The town is located about 45 km south-east of
Zastron
Zastron is a small agricultural town in the Free State province of South Africa, some 30 km from the border of Lesotho. It is situated at the foot of Aasvoëlberg (Vulture Mountain), named for the rare Cape vultures attracted by a feeding p ...
, 80 km north-east of
Aliwal North
Aliwal North (officially Maletswai) is a town in central South Africa on the banks of the Orange River, Eastern Cape Province. It is a medium-sized commercial centre in the northernmost part of the Eastern Cape.
History
Sir Harry Smith, then ...
, and 24 km from the
Lesotho
Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...
border. It takes its name from the Sterkspruit, the watercourse on which it is situated. The name is Afrikaans and means ‘strong stream’.
Health
The town houses the
Empilisweni District Hospital
Empilisweni District Hospital is a Provincial government funded hospital for the Senqu Local Municipality area in Sterkspruit, Eastern Cape in South Africa. Empilisweni is a level 1 hospital situated near the Lesotho and Free State borders w ...
, a public government-funded and managed district hospital. It is a level 1 hospital with 93 usable beds. As it is situated close to Lesotho and
Free State borders, it also renders health services to cross-border citizens visiting Sterkspruit.
Water quality has been a problem, with 140 babies dying in 2008 after drinking contaminated water.
Protests
In 2013, the town was shut down for two weeks in protests led by the
Sterkspruit Civic Association, with the goal of forming its own, separate, municipality.
See also
*
Senqu Local Municipality elections
The Senqu Local Municipality council consists of thirty-four members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Seventeen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in seventeen wards, while the remaining seventeen are chosen ...
References
Populated places in the Senqu Local Municipality
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