Ventersdorp

Ventersdorp is a former whites only town in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality, North West Province, South Africa. It is the seat of Ventersdorp Local Municipality. The town's population is 4,200 and the nearby township of Tshing has a population of nearly 17,900.HistoryThe town grew around a Dutch Reformed Church that was established in 1866. The town was named after Johannes Venter who owned the farm Roodepoort and the land the church was built on. It was proclaimed as a town during June 1887. The Afrikaner nationalist Eugène Terre'Blanche was born in Ventersdorp, and the town is the base of the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), the far-right secessionist political organisation and former paramilitary group which Terre'Blanche founded.Racial segregationThe township of Tshing houses most of the town's blacks and coloureds. The township's secondary school of 1,000 pupils is still 100% black without a single white teacher.The Ventersdorp High School has changed quite dramatically, with non-white students attending since 1995. These students are mostly Afrikaans speaking coloured residents of the smaller township Toevlug. Ventersdorp youth are bedevilled by alcoholism and unemployment. Ventersdorp has a great central location, making it easier to access more prominent urban towns such as Klerksdorp, Lichtenburg, Potchefstroom and Rustenburg.