Bethlehem is a city in the eastern Free State province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

that is situated on the Liebenbergs River (also called Liebenbergs Vlei) along a fertile valley just north of the Rooiberg Mountains on the N5 road. It is the fastest growing city in the Free State province, with its target of being the third largest city after

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

and

Welkom Welkom () is a city in the Free State (province), Free State province of South Africa, located about northeast of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital. Welkom is also known as Circle City, City Within A Garden, Mvela and Matjhabeng. The city' ...

. It is a

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

growing area and named after the biblical Bethlehem, from ("Beit Lechem"), meaning "house of bread". The city lies at an altitude of , which contributes to its cool climate, with frosty winters and mild summers. The average annual temperature is around . Bethlehem is situated approximately north-east of

, east of

Kroonstad Kroonstad ( in Afrikaans) is a town in Free State, South Africa, consisting of the following suburbs: Brentpark, Constantia, Constantia Park, Dawid Malanville, Elandia, Gelukwaarts, Goedgedacht, Heuningspruit, Industria, Jordania, Koek ...

and north-west of Harrismith. The city is strategically situated in the heart of the picturesque north-eastern Free State and originally developed as a service centre. Bethlehem is the seat of the Dihlabeng Local Municipality, which forms part of the

Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality The Thabo Mofutsanyana District Municipality (; ) is one of the 5 Districts of South Africa, districts of the Free State (South African province), Free State province of South Africa. The seat is Witsieshoek. As of 2011, a majority of its 725,932 r ...

. The township associated with Bethlehem is called ''Bohlokong'' in

Sesotho Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Ba ...

Basotho The Sotho (), also known as the Basotho (), are a Sotho-Tswana ethnic group indigenous to Southern Africa. They primarily inhabit the regions of Lesotho, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. The ancestors of the Sotho people are believed to h ...

. It named after the hloko/bohloko grass found in the area'' Diheteropogon filifolius''.

History

Bethlehem was founded in 1864. In 1900, during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

by Henco Cronje, Bethlehem temporarily served as the seat of the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( ; ) was an independent Boer-ruled sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeated and surrendered to the British Em ...

government.

Society and culture

Museums, provincial heritage sites and memorials

A number of heritage sites are located in Bethlehem: * 14 President Burgers Street * A B Baartman Wagon House * Loch Athlone Dam Wall * Main Building of the Bethlehem Technical College * Nederduitse Gereformeerde Mother Church * Old Magistrates Court * Old Nederduitse Gereformeerde Mission Church parsonage * Old Nederduitse Gereformeerde Mission Church * St Andrews Presbyterian Church * St Augustine Anglican Church * Strapps Shop * The Seminary * Town Hall * Wooden Spoon Restaurant

Schools

*Villiers Combined High School *Tiisetsang High School *Ntsu Secondary School *Thabo-Thokoza Secondary School *L.K Ntlabathi Secondary School *Jordania Primary School *Truida Kestell Primary School *Graanveld Primary School *Bethlehem Comprehensive School *Bodikela intermediate School *Bethlehem Voortrekker High School *Bohlokong Primary School *Nthute Primary School *Motshepuwa Primary School *Rehopotswe Primary School *New Horizon College *Impumelelo Primary School *Impucuko Primary School *Khanyeng Intermediate School *Witteberg High School *Bethlehem Combined School

Climate

Shopping

Bethlehem has many shopping centres like any other town in the Free State. Bethlehem is the main center of the eastern Free State where people from other towns do their shopping, the main shopping malls are: * ''Dihlabeng'' mall * ''Sechaba'' Mall (Previously Metropolitan life Centre prior to November 2018) With the shopping in this town also characterized by typical high street shopping with majority of shops situated along the Muller, Cambridge, Louw, Church, High and other surrounding streets.

Sport

Premiership and

National First Division The South African Championship, officially known as the Motsepe Foundation Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest league of South African football after the South African Premiership. Both the South African Championship and ...

clubs Free State Stars and Super Eagles F.C. were based in Bethlehem and played their home games at Goble Park. Bethlehem is also the birthplace of several notable

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

players, including

Tom van Vollenhoven Karel Thomas van Vollenhoven (29 April 1935 – 21 October 2017) was a South African rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. He enjoyed a prolific rugby league career with English club St. Helens after switchi ...

, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Frans Steyn, and Bongi Mbonambi, who was born in nearby ''Bohlokong''.

Economy

The Saulspoort Dam receives water from the Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme ">Lesotho Highlands Water Project">Lesotho Highlands Water Scheme Bethlehem is a retail, medical, and educational hub for the Eastern Free State. It has three private hospitals and three star Frontier hotel, Casino and Entertainment Centre located near the Dihlabeng Mall and Bethlehem Aerodrome.

Industry

Bethlehem hosts several industries including

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

South African Breweries South African Breweries (officially The South African Breweries Limited, informally SAB) is a major brewery headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa and was a wholly owned subsidiary of SABMiller until its interests were sold to Anheuser-Bu ...

and

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. ( ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It has been the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since 20 ...

, as well as petroleum and engineering companies.

Health

* Huisarts en Kie (Private) * ''Dihlabeng'' Regional Hospital (public) * ''Phekolong'' Hospital (Public) * Hoogland Medi-Clinic (Private) * Bethlehem Medical Centre (Semi-Private) * Nurture Corona Hospital (Semi-private) * Du Pisani Biokineticists (Private) * Several government clinics also in the townships of ''Bohlokong, Thorisong,'' ''Vuka, Phumlamqasha'', Old Location, ''Giyani'' and Bakenpark.

Media

Newspapers

* EFS Issue * Ystervark Newspaper

Radio

* Maluti FM * Dihlabeng FM

Transportation

Road

Bethlehem is located on the N5 to the provincial capital

via

Senekal Senekal is a town situated on the banks of the Sand River (Free State), Sand River in the eastern part of the Free State (South African province), Free State province of South Africa. It was named after Commandant FP Senekal, who led the encro ...

and Winburg to the N1. Other roads in the town are R76 to

(north-west) and the R26 to Reitz and Fouriesburg (north-east and south) respectively, and just outside the town, the R712 and R714 to Clarens (south) and

Warden A warden is a custodian, defender, or guardian. Warden is often used in the sense of a watchman or guardian, as in a prison warden. It can also refer to a chief or head official, as in the Warden of the Mint. ''Warden'' is etymologically ident ...

(east) respectively.

Rail

Bethlehem is located on the main railway line between

and

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

. This railway line transports passengers and freight.

Air

Bethlehem is served by a small airport ( Bethlehem Airport) with chartered daily flights to

and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

Bethlehem Airshow Fire Disaster

On 7 September 2024 a fire broke out at Bethlehem Air show 2024 destroying 30 vehicles. The incident occurred at the Bethlehem Airfield when a spectator left a burning coal unattended. The Democratic Alliance in the Free State accused the Dihlabeng municipality of negligence.https://fs.da.org.za/2024/09/da-will-hold-the-dihlabeng-local-municipality-accountable-in-bethlehem-air-show-fire-incident

Coats of arms

Municipal (1)

By 1931, the municipal council had assumed a coat of arms.The arms were depicted on
cigarette card
issued in 1931. The arms were registered with the Orange Free State Provincial Administration in October 1958.Orange Free State ''Official Gazette'' 41 (10 October 1958). The arms were: ''Party per chevron Azure and Gules, a chevron Or, in chief between two springboks couped at the neck respecting each other, proper, a mullet of the third, and in base three maize cobs, the outer ones pilewise, all proper''. In layman's terms, the shield depicted a golden chevron between a gold star and two springboks' head on a blue background, and three maize cobs on a red background.

Municipal (2)

A new coat of arms was designed in the 1980s. It was registered at the Bureau of Heraldry in June 1989.https://archive.today/20120629122538/http://www.national.archsrch.gov.za/sm300cv/smws/sm300dl The arms were: ''Per chevron, Azure and Gules, a chevron Or between in chief a mullet and in base two bars wavy, Argent'' (i.e. a golden chevron between a silver star on a blue background and two wavy silver stripes on a red background). The crest was three golden ears of wheat with blue stalks and leaves, tied together with a red band; the motto was ''Conjuncti prosperamus''.

Notable people

* Faan Fourie (born 1982), cricketer * Bongi Mbonambi (born 1991), South African professional rugby union player * Teboho Mokoena (born 1997), soccer player. Plays for

Mamelodi Sundowns Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premiership, the first tier of South African football league syste ...

and

South Africa national football team The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international soccer and is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for soccer in South Africa. Nicknamed Bafana Bafana (The Boys in Zulu), the ...

. * Sipho Mbule (born 1998), soccer player. Plays for

and South African national football team.

References

External links

Bethlehem InformationDihlabeng Local Municipality
{{Authority control Populated places in the Dihlabeng Local Municipality

Bethlehem, South Africa Bethlehem is a city in the eastern Free State province of South Africa that is situated on the Liebenbergs River (also called Liebenbergs Vlei) along a fertile valley just north of the Rooiberg Mountains on the N5 road. It is the fastest growi ...

Populated places established in 1859 1859 establishments in the Orange Free State