- Vaalbank
Vaalbank is a small town some 95
kilometer s northeast ofPretoria . The town is an important one inMpumalanga 's northwestern end where the majority of the surrounding population is rural and does not haveinfrastructure . It overlooks the Mkhombo Dam (formerly called the Renosterkop Dam) which is of agricultural importance in the region.It is situated in the Dr JS Moroka Municipality of the Nkangala District.
The "Main Street" serves as a divide between the early Vaalbank that was set by the
KwaNdebele government and the currentmulti-ethnic Vaalbank. The early Vaalbank was established to be an urban residential site for the Ndebele population. But with the demise ofApartheid , the town became multi-ethnic and services rendered were no longer of high quality. With this decline of quality services, the newer part of town became more of ashanty town with the exceptions of a few sections.The People
The town has significant populations of Ndebele,
Pedi ,Tswana , Tsonga andZulu peoples. Whereas a minority of Venda and Indian (primarilymerchants ) peoples are also found.Origin of Name
The name is of
Afrikaans origin and means 'grey bank(s)', most probably referring to the banks of the then RenosterkopDam .The Ndebele population has a name for the town: "Libangeni", although this name is never used in speech.
ee also
*
KwaMhlanga
*Siyabuswa External links
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.