SOON after the depression, South Africa was drawn into World War II as part of the British Commonwealth, and with this came the closure of several mines around Alberton.
With the payable reef sinking deeper and deeper, it became more expensive to mine and mines on Roodekop closed down – so did Jumpers Deep, Knights Central and Simmer Deep. Many residents lost their jobs and could not find other employment and the town became empty as more people moved away in search of employment.
The town council again analysed the geographical situation of Alberton and realised that being closed to the biggest rail junction in Africa and equally close to the economic centre, it was uniquely placed for industry.
The establishment of Alrode:
With plenty of land available and the essential services in place, the great drive for industry began and in 1943 land was bought from the farm Roodekop and named Alrode – a combination of Alberton and Roodekop.
The first company to build in this new township was CJ Fuchs (Pty) Ltd and they had no easy time. The land was low-lying, and the Natalspruit wetlands made building a misery. Nonetheless, they had to push forward because one of their major clients, the SA Airforce, needed repairs for their Harvard aircraft. The first steel and re-enforced concrete building went up in a record 20 days and two more followed soon after.
By the end of the war in 1945, Fuchs found they had sufficient workforce and manufacturing agreements with Electrolux that they did not have to scale down their production.
In 1948 Alrode was proclaimed as part of Alberton and once again the town was on an upward trent. With this massive expansion, sewage systems needed upgrading so it was farewell to the bucket system.
The town council applied for a loan of 300 000 pounds from the provincial government to acquire more land and in 1951 the council budget estimates made provision for expenditure of a quarter of a million pounds during the financial year.
With the financial wealth growing, a number of interesting things happened in Alberton, and many lists of achievements can be added to the small town of Alberton.
First on the list
During this time, Alberton saw a first sport stadium, a new civic centre, the six lane highway, and human quality of life in the town was lost under the wealth of physical landmarks. So between the establishment of the first public library, the ambulance service and fire brigade, the new railway link to Alrode, there is a brief notification that the Mentz Commission earmarked Palmietfontein for a black township.
Palmietfontein was known to be an international airport since the Rand Airport could not handle the bigger aircraft. Even Palmietfontein’s runway was not long enough for a loaded De Havviland Comet to take off, but while the Johannesburg International Airport (now OR Thambo) was being built, Palmietfontein handled air traffic such as Dakotas, Skymasters and the Lockheed Lodestars and Constellations.
A new township
The purchase of Palmietfontein for 76 321 pounds was accomplished in 1958, by which time the old ‘location’ housed some 12 000 people in most unsatisfactory conditions. This settlement was also known as Amagogokweni (since a gogok is a tin canister or drum, the name roughly translated to The Place of Tin.
The following year people was moved from here to a township at Palmietfontein called Thokoza (meaning ‘let us be happy’) and the place where the tin town had stood was aptly renamed Verwoerdpark and became a white suburb in 1971.
*Taken from An Alberton Album, published by the Alberton Town Council 1997
