Bronkhorstspruit

Bronkhorstspruit is a town 50 km east of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa along the N4 highway towards Witbank. It lies on the border between the Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces. It also consists of three townships called Zithobeni, Rethabiseng and Ekangala.On 18 May 2011 Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality took over the municipal administration from Kungwini Local Municipality.HistoryIn 1858, a group of Voortrekkers settled in the Bronkhorstspruit creek, which was originally called Kalkoenkransrivier ('Turkey Cliff River'). The town was laid out on land of the farm Hondsrivier owned C.J.G. Erasmus and was initially named after him. It would revert to the name Bronkhorstspruit in 1935.On 20 December 1880 it was the scene of the action at Bronkhorstspruit, an important event in the early days of the First Boer War when a Boer Commando ambushed a British army column, 94th Regiment of Foot, near the present town on route from Lydenburg to Pretoria.There is disagreement about where the town got its name from. Some believe it was named after the farmer JG Bronkhorst, while others say that it was named after the plant, bronkors (Afrikaans for watercress), that grew in the region of the creek.