Zeerust is a commercial town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 situated in Ngaka Modiri Molema district North West Province, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. It lies in the Marico valley, approximately 240 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

. It lies on the N4, the main road link between South Africa and Botswana

Botswana

Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana , is a landlocked country located in Southern Africa. The citizens are referred to as "Batswana" . Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name after becoming independent within the Commonwealth on 30 September 1966...

. There are large cattle

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

 ranches in the area, as well as wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

,maize, tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 and citrus fruit farms. There are also fluorite

Fluorite

Fluorite is a halide mineral composed of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It is an isometric mineral with a cubic habit, though octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon...

 and chromite

Chromite

Chromite is an iron chromium oxide: FeCr2O4. It is an oxide mineral belonging to the spinel group. Magnesium can substitute for iron in variable amounts as it forms a solid solution with magnesiochromite ; substitution of aluminium occurs leading to hercynite .-Occurrence:Chromite is found in...

 mines in the vicinity. Tourism is also a developing industry.

History

The original name of the farm on which the town was established was Sefathlani / Sebatlani (meaning dusty place) belonging to Casper Hendrik Coetzee who bought it in 1858. The farm was later renamed Hazenjacht, and after that Hazia / Hazeah. Casper Coetzee contracted Walter Seymore to build a church and a fort on this farm, but Casper died before this was completed. In 1866, the farm then came into the hands of his cousin / Brother-in-law Diederik Jacobus Coetzee, who saw the potential of developing a town on the farm. He measured out some erven with the idea of starting a town, using "Ox riems" to measure out the plots instead of the accepted surveyors chains.
On 20 March 1867, the first erven of the newly established Coetzee-Rust were sold per public auction in Potchefstroom, before official recognition of the request to start a town was granted.

The name Coetzee's Rust was later abbreviated to Zeerust. Municipal status was obtained on 18 March 1936. Zeerust however wasn't the first town in this area. That honour belongs to Jacobsdal, a small village about 10 km south of Zeerust situated on the farm Vergenoegd, near the Lucerne station. The popularity of Zeerust as trading centre, caused the demise of Jacobsdal, and now it does not exist as a town anymore.

The main languages of Zeerust are Tswana

Tswana language

Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi...

 and Afrikaans

Afrikaans

Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape...

. The Batswana (Tswana people) call the town Sefatlhane. After the democratic dispensation in 1994, the name of the municipality- Zeerust was changed to Ramotshere Moiloa, after a mid-20th century chief of the Bahurutshe boo Moiloa who was also a political enemy of the Apartheid state. The town is a commercial hub for most of the villages situated in the Lehurutshe area, a few of which include; Lekgophung, Supingstad, Moshana, Serake, Rietpan, Motswedi, Dinokana, Lekubu, Mosweu, Ntsweletsoku, Mokgola, Borakalalo and Gopane.

Olienhout Park

In Zeerust there is also a small suburb named Olienhout Park, which is commonly known as sandvlakte with a population of about 250 residents, a shop, a bar, lutheran church and a school. There is a township nearby named Ikageleng with about 1000 people.
Contact details Ramotshere Moiloa Local Municipality Traffic Department (018) 642-1075