LONG-TIME Vryheid resident Joey van Rensburg reminds us that it is now 30 years ago that the buildings on the corner of Landdrost and Utrecht streets were demolished to make way for the OK Bazaars.
Mrs van Rensburg kept the front page of the Vryheid Gazette dated September 6, 1985, where it was confirmed that it was the OK that was going to build a completely new supermarket on the site. An unnamed local businessman is quoted as saying, “Can you imagine what is going to happen to the heart of the business centre once this building is completed.”
Well, now we know.
Mrs van Rensburg’s interest in the matter is that one of the buildings to be demolished was the old Union Butchery in Landdrost Street, owned by her husband FJ van Rensburg. Union Butchery was a landmark that will be well remembered by older Vryheid residents.
Also to be demolished was a boarding house, also in Landdrost Street but up nearer Hlobane Street. This was owned by a Mr Fourie.
Within a month of the announcement, the buildings were gone, and the area was changed for ever.
