Vaalbank (also known as Libangeni) is a small town some 102 kilometers northeast of

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

. The town is an important one in Mpumalanga's northwestern end where the majority of the surrounding population is rural and does not have infrastructure. It overlooks the Mkhombo Dam (formerly called the Renosterkop Dam) which is of agricultural importance in the region. It is situated in the Dr JS Moroka Municipality of the Nkangala District. The "Main Street" serves as a divide between the early Vaalbank that was set by the

KwaNdebele KwaNdebele was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a semi-independent homeland for the Ndebele people. The homeland was created when the South African government purchased nineteen white-owned farms and install ...

government and the current

multi-ethnic Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...

Vaalbank. The early Vaalbank was established to be an urban residential site for the

Ndebele Ndebele may refer to: *Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa *Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe and Botswana Languages * Southern Ndebele language, the language of the South Ndebele *Northern Ndebele language Northern ...

population. But with the demise of

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

, the town became multi-ethnic and services rendered were no longer of high quality. With this decline of quality services, the newer part of town became more of a shanty town with the exceptions of a few sections.

Dermographics

The town has significant populations of

, Pedi,

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 ...

, Tsonga and Zulu people, whereas a minority of

Venda Venda () was a Bantustan in northern South Africa, which is fairly close to the South African border with Zimbabwe to the north, while to the south and east, it shared a long border with another black homeland, Gazankulu. It is now part of the ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

(primarily

merchants A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...

) people are also found.

Origin of name

The name is of

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 ...

origin and means 'grey banks', most probably referring to the banks of the then Renosterkop

Dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

. The Ndebele population has a name for the town: ''Libangeni'', although this name is never used in speech.

References

External links

{{Nkangala District Municipality Populated places in the Dr JS Moroka Local Municipality

Dermographics

Origin of name

See also

References

External links