{"id":842617,"date":"2025-11-12T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=842617"},"modified":"2025-11-12T11:31:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T09:31:03","slug":"a-small-town-with-only-2000-residents-voted-the-best-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/842617\/a-small-town-with-only-2000-residents-voted-the-best-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"A small town with only 2,000 residents voted the best in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Bloemhof, a small agricultural town on the banks of the Vaal River with only 2,000 residents, was crowned South Africa\u2019s Town of the Year for 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The award, run by the programme Kw\u00eala on kykNET, is an annual competition called \u201cDorp van die Jaar\u201d (Town of the Year).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Towns in South Africa and Namibia are eligible, provided they have a population under 500,000 and have not recently won the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The winning town receives a R1 million cash prize from Lottoland to invest in town development and another R1 million in advertising on kykNET and Kw\u00eala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, Bloemhof, an agricultural town in the North West Province, was named the Kw\u00eala Town of the Year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It beat other noteworthy towns, which were shortlisted, including Rehoboth in Namibia, Wildernis in the Western Cape, and Pennington in KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloemhof was established on a farm owned by John Barclay in August 1864, following the discovery of diamonds in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town was named after Jan Bloem, who was the right-hand man to the chief of the Springbok clan of the Korana nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 1869, the Volksraad of the South African Republic created a new district called Bloemhof, named after the town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Bloemhof relies mainly on agriculture, which includes maize, sunflowers, sorghum, peanuts, lucerne, and cattle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tranquil farming town lies on the Vaal River and borders the Bloemhof Dam, one of the largest dams in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was commissioned in 1970, has a capacity of 1,269,000,000 cubic metres, and has an area of 223 square kilometres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is popular among fishermen, especially for catching carp and catfish, and wildlife enthusiasts can see several antelope and 250 species of birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloemhof is regarded as an excellent stopover for holidaymakers in the North West Province, particularly those who enjoy outdoor adventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Bloemhof was always going to win’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Bloemhof resident and councillor, Albert Nel, explained that when he entered the competition, he was confident that they would perform well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI never doubted that Bloemhof would win and be named Town of the Year. Our community worked together to make this happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nel explained that Bloemhof is flourishing because its residents join forces to ensure the town performs well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a fantastic community with great people across the cultural spectrum,\u201d Nel said during a Kwela interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that they have great tourist attractions, including the Vaal River, the Bloemhof Dam, and excellent fishing competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nel also credited the agricultural community and farmers, who help to make Bloemhof a great town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lightstone said Bloemhof’s victory recognised the spirit of its citizens who overcame adversity to renew community pride and rebuild their town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is particularly impressive, considering it is not a wealthy town. Only 7% of households have an income above R26,000 per month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news for people who want to move to Bloemhof is that they will not have to face high property prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data provided by Lightstone showed that most homes in Bloemhof are valued at less than R500,000, well below the national average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The average bond value in Bloemhof is just under R380,000, which is a quarter of the average bond value of R1.7 million in Wilderness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photos of Bloemhof<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Bloemhof Makietie festival<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bloemhof, a small agricultural town on the banks of the Vaal River with only 2,000 residents, was crowned South Africa\u2019s Town of the Year for 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":842624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[24059,24057,24058],"class_list":["post-842617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-albert-nel","tag-bloemhof","tag-bloemhof-dam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842617"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":842643,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842617\/revisions\/842643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}