About Roodepoort

Roodepoort is a sprawling residential area, in parts dominated by light industry and small businesses. It gets its name from the red soil in the area. It dates back to 1884, when Fred Struben discovered the first payable gold in the area at what he called the Confidence Reef, a large rocky outcrop in the centre of Roodepoort.

The search for gold spread, and in 1886 the main reef at Langlaagte in Johannesburg was discovered. The gold at Confidence Reef, mostly surface gold in quartz rock, soon ran out, but by then a settled community was established in Roodepoort.

In 1963 the Roodepoort-Maraisburg municipality was changed to Roodepoort and city status was granted in 1977. Roodepoort is a gold-mining center in the West Rand area. A monument commemorates the Jameson Raid of 1895. Another national monument is the old Roodepoort Town School in Rex Street, on the site of the original building erected in 1894, as well as the old municipal offices in Berlandina Street, an attractive plaster and stone building now used as a Roodepoort branch library was declared a national monument in 1985. 

Made up primarily of the Greater Roodepoort area, this region now contains residential suburbs, agricultural holdings in the north, part of the mining belt in the south, and some areas of commercial activity such as Westgate, Constantia and Laser Park.

The Roodepoort region is an extremely attractive residential area in Johannesburg. It has lovely views of the city to the east and the Magaliesburg to the west. There are golf courses and entertainment areas, as well as what many consider the city's finest park, the Witwatersrand Botanical Gardens.

Although the area is far to the west of the city centre, well-marked dual-carriage highways offer excellent transport routes. Roodepoort is the region most conveniently situated for access to Gauteng attractions such as the Cradle of Humankind, Magaliesburg and Pilanesburg. Roodepoort also offers a wide range of services including a museum, major private hospitals, shopping centres, schools, country lodges, trails, restaurants, golf courses and country clubs.

Roodepoort has a busy business centre, with a large variety of shops, shopping centres and shopping malls.

The main attractions in Roodepoort

FLORIDA LAKE

Catering for a wide variety of recreational tastes, Florida Lake has understandably become Roodepoort's most popular park. There are masses of waterfowl on the lake and the adjacent bird sanctuary ensures that bird watching in this area is good

KLOOFENDAL NATURE RESERVE

This reserve in the North-Western Highveld is home to 120 bird species and indigenous trees like proteas, orchids and other flora, and includes an attractive rocky koppie. A stone amphitheatre on the western edge is used for open-air events, and two circular walking trails take visitors past the old Confidence Reef gold-mine shaft (now restored as a national monument), a small dam, and various sites of geological and botanical interest.

This reserve is an area of approximately 50 hectares situated north of Horizon and west of Christiaan De Wet Road in Roodepoort.

WALTER SISULU BOTANICAL GARDENS

The Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens consists of around 300 hectares of landscaped and natural veld areas, planted with only indigenous trees, 600 species of indigenous flowering plants and shrubs. Over 230 species of birds have been recorded in the Garden as well as a number of reptiles and small mammals.

The Garden, donated to the people of Roodepoort in 1982 by the farmer who owned the property, is crisscrossed with trails, one going to the top of one of two small mountains that overlook a waterfall and the eagles' nests. Other walks take the visitor past the wild flower garden, a fern walk, a forest walk along the spruit, or a walk down to one of three dams on wheelchair-friendly brick and wood paths, to sit in the hide to watch the water birds.

The Botanical Garden is a people place. It has a busy programme of events throughout the year. These include a spring plant fair, with thousands of indigenous plants on sale; picnic concerts throughout winter, featuring a variety of light classical and jazz performances on alternate Sunday afternoons as well as stargazing in early September and October.

ROODEPOORT ATHLETICS STADIUM

The Roodepoort athletics Stadium is situated in the beautiful Ruimsig area and can accommodate 16,000 spectators. The Stadium is equipped with the most modern athletics facilities including a polyurethane track and is suited for local, National and International events. (Sport)

ROODEPOORT COUNTRY CLUB

Nestling in the tranquil countryside of Ruimsig, west of Johannesburg, lies one of South Africa's most challenging championship golf courses, Roodepoort Country Club. It is well known and recognised that condition-wise the course is consistently among the top 10 in South Africa.

ROODEPOORT MUSEUM

The Museum, from an original collection started in 1963, is housed in the Roodepoort Civic Centre building in the centre of the city.