Vereeniging

Vereeniging is situated in the southern part of Gauteng Province, and forms the southern portion of the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeninging (PWV) conurbation, and its neighbors are Vanderbijlpark (to the west), Three Rivers (east), Meyerton (north) and Sasolburg (south). The city is currently one of the most important industrial manufacturing centres in South Africa, with its chief products being iron, steel, pipes, bricks, tiles and processed lime.

The predominant language in Vereeniging is English followed closely by Sesotho language and Afrikaans.

The blockhouse in Vereeniging built by the British during the Second Boer War.

In 1879, George William Stow was commissioned by the Orange Free State government to look for coal deposits in the Bethlehem district[2]^: 17 With no deposits found he moved northwards to Maccauvlei on the Vaal River and then crossed the river to the Transvaal side. On the farm Leeuwkuil, he found a coal deposit twelve feet thick.[2]^: 17 But the Orange Free State government believed that the deposit was too far away and there was a lack of transport so turned down the idea of mining there.[2]^: 17

Stow settled in Kimberley to find a job, where he met Samuel Marks. After hearing Stow's story, Marks saw an opportunity to use the coal for energy generation at the Kimberley diamond fields.[2]^: 17 Marks formed De Zuid Afrikaanshe en Oranje Vrystaatsche Kolen and Mineralen Vereeniging (The South African and Orange Free State Coal and Mineral Association) and sent Stow to purchase the farms where the coal was found.[2]^: 17 On 25 November 1880 he purchased the 12,000 acre farm Leeuwkuil for £5,000.[2]^: 18 Marks' agent J.G. Fraser also purchased the 6,000 acre Klipplaatdrift farm from Karl August Pistorius in October 1881 for £15,500. This was opposite the farm Maccauvlei.[2]^: 18

From 1881, coal was taken by ox-wagon to Kimberley, and by 1882 there was so much development around the mining area that a village was surveyed on the two former farms. The Volksraad agreed to name it Vereeniging, a shortened version of the company's name.[2]^: 18

The city's motto is Per Pacem ad Industriam (Through Peace to Industry). It is currently one of the most important industrial manufacturing centres in South Africa, with its chief products being iron, steel, pipes, bricks, tiles and processed lime. Several coal mines are also still situated in the area, with reserves being estimated at four billion tons. Other mines nearby extract fire-clay, silica and building stone. Vereeniging also has several Eskom thermal power plants that supply electricity to the nearby goldmines.

In the census of 2001 the population of Vereeniging was recorded as 73,283.[6]

Vereeniging consists of 20 suburbs:

Since 1999, Vereeniging has been part of the Emfuleni Local Municipality, along with Vanderbijlpark, Sharpeville, Sebokeng and the smaller Three Rivers.

Various health services are available in Vereeniging. The majority of these services are located in or near the major medical centres. These include:

• Vereeniging Medi-Clinic
• Kopanong Hospital
• Market-Avenue clinic

• Gerald Raymond Bosch, played Fly-Half for The Springboks 1974 -1976
• Bles Bridges, an Afrikaans country singer, stayed in Vereeniging until his death in 2000.
• F.W. de Klerk was first elected to the South African parliament in 1969 as the member for Vereeniging.
• Francois Pienaar, Springboks rugby player
• Charl Schwartzel (the 2011 US Masters champion), Morné Morkel and Albie Morkel attended Vereeniging High.
• Leon Schuster, actor, comedian, filmmaker, presenter and singer
• Deon Dreyer, a cave diver who perished in Bushman's Hole in 1994, was raised in Vereeniging.

The latest annual crime statistics for Vereeniging Police Precinct was issued by the South African Police Service (SAPS) in 2021. The SAPS crime report[7] showed the following information:

Vereeniging coat of arms (1955)

Vereeniging established a municipality in 1912. By 1931, the town council had assumed an emblem depicting bridge across a river, and two clasped hands.

The town council obtained a coat of arms from the College of Arms in October 1955, registered it with the Transvaal Provincial Administration in October 1957[8] and with the Bureau of Heraldry in June 1987.[9]

The arms were : Sable, on a fess wavy Or a barrulet wavy Tenne, the fess between in chief a thunderbolt between two picks, Or, and in base a steel pipe palewise proper between two cogwheels, also Or. In layman's terms, the design is a black shield displaying, from top to bottom, a golden heraldic thunderbolt between two picks, a wavy orange stripe edged in gold, and an upright golden pipe between two cogwheels.

The crest was a dove of peace perched on two clasped hands; the supporters were a lion and a zebra standing on a grassy base strewn with veld flowers; and the motto was Per pacem ad industriam.

• Emfuleni Municipality
• Vaal Triangle Info
• Crime Report Vereeniging 2010