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Botshabelo – Steve Tshwete
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class="department-template-default single single-department postid-974 wp-custom-logo tribe-no-js exclusive-addons-elementor elementor-default elementor-kit-5 elementor-page elementor-page-974">
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Botshabelo

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data-elementor-type="wp-post" data-elementor-id="974" class="elementor elementor-974" data-elementor-settings="[]">

The history of Botshabelo is one of growth from a place of refuge for Christians in South Africa into an important and influential centre where the Gospel was proclaimed among Black people, where Black and White received education and training and where commerce and industry were practised. Seen against the background of its origins Botshabelo was also a significant centre of German culture. A good many of the people that emerged from here have left their mark on the history of South Africa.

Botshabelo, though now a museum, is still a sanctuary – a sanctuary for those in search of knowledge and for those who wish for a while to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life. We hope that you too will find in Botshabelo a place of refuge to which you will be constantly attracted by its distinctive character.

Camping site
Fort Merensky photographed from the air.
Fort Merensky
Wild game

links

History

Botshabelo was established by the missionaries Alexander Merensky and Heinrich Grtzner in 1865. Initially it provided a refuge for Black Christian fugitives, the need for this having arisen from the hostile conduct of the Bapedi chief Sekhukhune who forced the missionaries and their Bapedi converts to seek safety outside of Sekhukhune-land.

Merensky and Grtzner were members of the Berlin Missionary Society, a large and influential body which established and ran numerous mission stations in the Transvaal and other parts of South Africa. The Transvaal was, however, its most prominent mission field.

In 1865 Merensky purchased the farm Boschhoek(now Toevlug) from Jan Abraham Joubert for 500 Prussian Thalers, and here Botshabelo was laid out. To protect themselves against attacks from Sekhukhune, the missionaries and their followers built a fort which was named Fort Wilhelm after the Prussian King Wilhelm I. This fort is now known as Fort Merensky and with its "Mediaeval" tower and walls that project above Botshabelo it is a unique blend of Western and Sotho architecture.

The mission station which developed rapidly and in time became the most important, the largest and the best organised institution within the Berlin Missionary Society - a model mission indeed. It was self-suffient, with its cultivated fields, gardens, wainwright shop, brickyard, bakery, print-shop, mill and store. A German school was also established at the Mission and German Missionaries sent their children there.

Nevertheless the prime significance of Botshabelo lay in its function as a mission station. Shortly after Merensky's arrival, and as early as 1865, a small church (which still stands) was built. A parsonage and other buildings followed. Later on a much larger church, consecrated October of 1873, was erected. For many years this was the largest church building in the Transvaal. This church - the masterpiece of Botshabelo - also stands to this day. A school for the children of baptised Blacks was established in 1873. A training school for catechists and evangelists followed in 1878. In 1906 a seminary for the training of teachers was created while a further primary school building was built in the 1930's and a high school with hostel in 1940.

A sanctuary indeed for many hundreds. By 1873 the Mission already housed 1 300 people, and in its prime as many as 3 000 lived here.

The halcyon days could not however continue indefinitely and in 1962, due to financial reasons, the Berlin Missionary Society began to withdraw from South Africa.

In April 1971, almost as an omen, the old church bell cracked during a church service. To the black people living there it was a sign from above that their time at Botshabelo had ended. They left a year later to settle at Groblersdal among other places. After more than a hundred years of mission work a silence settled over the buildings, streets, lanes, gardens and fields of Botshabelo.

Botshabelo Map
Accommodation
Grotzner Lodge Tariff per room per night
Sunday - Thursday
Friday - Saturday
Double Bed
SIngle Bed
Pull-Out
Eberhardt
R100-00
R150-00
1
1
1
Kramerx
R120-00
R80-00
1
2
0
Kuschke
R80-00
R120-00
1
2
0
Trumpelman
R67
R100
1
1
0
Eiselen
R133-00
200
0
8
0
Nauhaus
R100-00
R150-00
0
6
0
Kokshuis
R80-00
R120-00
1
2
0
Manual Labour House
Sunday - Thursday
Friday - Saturday
Double Bed
SIngle Bed
Pull-Out
A
R100-00
R150-00
0
6
0
B
R73-00
R110-00
0
4
0
Milkroom
Sunday - Thursday
Friday - Saturday
Double Bed
SIngle Bed
Pull-Out
A
R47-00
R70-00
0
2
0
B
R67-00
R100-00
0
3
0
Ndebele

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