Sacred Heart Parish Ackerville

Two of the Comboni missionaries,Fr Josef Angerer and Fr Zorn, remained for a while at Mariannhill to learn the Zulu language. The following year, in 1925, Fr Josef Angerer arrived in Witbank to do the work of evangelization among the Black people. Although Fr Josef had very little funds, he managed to build a primary school called Maloma School at the Driefontein Mission. Fr Angerer used to travel by motor bike. The Dominican Sisters from town helped him and Sr Bernard Rinkes and others used to walk all the way from their convent in town to Driefontein Mission to help with the teaching at the new Maloma School. After eight years of hard work the mission had about 100 Catholics and another four catholic schools were operating in different farms and coal- mining areas of Witbank such as Uitspan,Phoenix,Kromdraai and Mariasoord. The newly built church - which included a choir loft - was blessed on 24 June 1934 and dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The Dominican sisters also helped in the sacristy and directed the church choir. With the aid of a newly purchased motor car, the sisters were able to serve Catholics as far as Balmoral,Kendal and even Middleburg. When Fr Josef left the parish in 1938, there were over 300 Catholics worshiping at the mission and the five catholic schools were teaching about 600 pupils in total. It was also at this time that the Women of St Anne and the Catholic Men's associations began to take root in the parish. Fr Klemm and Fr Tremmel succeeded Fr Josef. After the first 25 years of parish life, the Witbank Town Council began to develop a Black Township and began building a school for higher standards. Apartheid became the official policy of the government which made it impossible for Black people to own these houses. Anyone who stayed at the Mission had to receive permission from the Town Council and this permission could be withdrawn at any time. The Town Council even insisted that there would be no compensation given to the Mission in the event of expropriation of the mission land and property by the municipality. Also the Witbank Town Council began to make more demands on the Catholic Church to give up more of the mission land. For example, the Town Council forced the Mission to close the Catholic cemetery and to use the muncipal cemetery instead.