Van Reenen (pronounced "Fun Reenen") is a settlement in
Uthukela District Municipality
uThukela is one of the 11 districts of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The seat of uThukela is the city of Ladysmith. The majority of its 668,848 people speak IsiZulu (2011 Census). The district code is DC23.
Geography Neighbours
uT ...
in the
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...
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 is located on the
N3 national road at the top of
Van Reenen's Pass
Van Reenen's Pass is a pass through the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa. The N3 freeway, the main road between Durban and Johannesburg, was constructed through the pass with the northern end of the pass lying at the border of the provinces ...
on the
Great Escarpment
The Great Escarpment is a major topographical feature in Africa that consists of steep slopes from the high central Southern African plateauAtlas of Southern Africa. (1984). p. 13. Reader's Digest Association, Cape Town downward in the directio ...
of the
Drakensberg
The Drakensberg (Afrikaans: Drakensberge, Zulu: uKhahlambha, Sotho: Maluti) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within th ...
. The town is named after Frans van Reenen, original owner of the farm where Van Reenen was established and planner of the route of the
Van Reenen's Pass
Van Reenen's Pass is a pass through the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa. The N3 freeway, the main road between Durban and Johannesburg, was constructed through the pass with the northern end of the pass lying at the border of the provinces ...
.
Llandaff Oratory
Llandaff Oratory is an oratory in Van Reenen, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The oratory was built by Maynard Mathews in memory of his son Llandaff Mathews who died while saving the lives of eight colleagues at the Burnside Colliery mine on 19 M ...
, an eight-seat memorial church built around 1925, is a
Heritage Landmark.
The Moorddraai ('Murder corner' in
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 ...
) memorial a few kilometres to the south-east of the town marks the place where nine people transporting goods from Durban were killed by
Basotho
The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...
tribesmen in 1865.
Gallery
File:Van Reenen Pass 1.jpg, Van Reenen's Pass
Van Reenen's Pass is a pass through the Drakensberg mountains in South Africa. The N3 freeway, the main road between Durban and Johannesburg, was constructed through the pass with the northern end of the pass lying at the border of the provinces ...
References
Populated places in the Alfred Duma Local Municipality
{{KwaZuluNatal-geo-stub