Vanderbijlpark
Vanderbijlpark is an industrial city with more than 220000 inhabitants on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng.
Named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist, Vanderbijlpark is home to Vanderbijlpark Steel (before part of ISCOR – Iron and Steel Corporation), and now part of the global company ArcelorMittal.
With neighbouring towns Vereeniging and Sasolburg, it forms the Vaal Triangle, a major industrial region of South Africa, in the district municipality of Sedibeng and the local municipality of Emfuleni.
The black townships Boipatong, Bophelong, Sebokeng and Sharpeville are close to the city. VECOR, the largest comprehensive heavy engineering works in the Southern Hemisphere, is also in Vanderbijlpark.
Vanderbijlpark is also home to Cape Gate (Pty) Ltd, a major market share holder in the wire industry.
It all started when Dr HJ van der Bijl, a young South African electrical engineer working in the United States at the time, was called back to South Africa in 1920 by the then Prime Minister Jan Smuts to advise the government on planning South Africa’s industrial development.
