Marikana

Marikana, also known as Rooikoppies, is a town in the Rustenburg Local Municipality, Bojanala Platinum District Municipality in the North West province of South Africa.

This article is about the town in South Africa's North West province. For other uses, see Marikana (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Marikina.

Marikana (Maretlwane)
Rooikoppies
Koppies
Marikana (Maretlwane) is located in North West (South African province)
Marikana (Maretlwane)
Marikana (Maretlwane)
Marikana (Maretlwane) is located in South Africa
Marikana (Maretlwane)
Marikana (Maretlwane)
Coordinates: 25.698°S 27.472°E / -25.698; 27.472
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceNorth West
DistrictBojanala Platinum
MunicipalityRustenburg
Area
[1]
 • Total17.54 km2 (6.77 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total19,522
 • Density1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
[1]
 • Black African98.3%
 • Coloured0.1%
 • Indian/Asian0.5%
 • White0.9%
 • Other0.2%
First languages (2011)
[1]
 • Tswana30.0%
 • Xhosa29.7%
 • Tsonga18.1%
 • Sotho14.4%
 • Other7.9%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
0284
PO box
0284
Area code014

The name Rooikoppies means 'red hills' in Afrikaans.

Neighbouring localities include Marikana train station (1 km; 0.62 mi to the north-east), Wonderkop (4 km; 2.5 mi), Ramala, Rietfontein, Rustenburg (29 km; 18 mi); Swaershoek (30 km; 19 mi); Mooinooi (31 km; 19 mi); Brits (36 km; 22 mi); Monakato (38 km; 24 mi); Hartbeespoort (43 km; 27 mi); Kosmos (48 km; 30 mi).[2]

History

The town was laid out in 1870 on the farm Rooikoppies, and the settlement later expanded into seven white-owned farms. In 1933, the Buffelspoort Dam was built, allowing the local farmers to irrigate their crops.[3]

The farming community grew in the 1960s on the back of lucrative tobacco farming, but other diversified farming practices i.e. cattle, maize, chillies, paprika, soya, lusern and sunflower amongst the main groups was the main economic driver of the area. In the 1970s mining was introduced and grew to become the main industry in the region. The main mining activities are PGMs and chrome. Since the introduction of mining activities, the informal and formal population had a growth explosion.

The Marikana massacre of 16 August 2012 and the subsequent killing of 34 workers by police made headlines in the international media.[4]

References
  1. "Main Place Marikana (Maretlwan)". Census 2011.
  2. Travel distances from Marikana Archived 2013-11-14 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Marikana". North West History. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
  4. "South Africa's ANC to discuss mine shootings row". BBC News. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 27 August 2012.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.