Bethanie is a town in

Bojanala District Municipality The Bojanala Platinum District Municipality () is one of the 4 districts of the North West province of South Africa. The seat of the municipality is Rustenburg. As of 2011, a majority of its 1,507,505 residents spoke Setswana. The district code i ...

in the

North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Bethanie is a station of the

Hermannsburg Mission The Hermannsburg Mission () was founded as the Hermannsburg Mission Centre (''Missionsanstalt Hermannsburg'') in 1849 in Hermannsburg, near Celle, North Germany, by Louis Harms. In 1977, the independent mission society was merged into the work ...

, established in 1864, and located 37 km northeast of

Rustenburg Rustenburg (; , Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch: ''City of Rest'') is a town at the foot of the Magaliesberg mountain range. Rustenburg is the most populous city in North West (South African province), North West province, South Africa (549 ...

. The name is of biblical origin (, ), and is

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

for 'house of sorrow or misery'. Bethanie is the capital town of Bakwena Ba Mogopa, a

SeTswana Tswana, also known by its native name Setswana, is a Bantu language indigenous to Southern Africa and spoken by about 8.2 million people. It is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalaga ...

-speaking traditional community.

Demographics

The station hosts multiple races.

History

It is one of 15 villages that form part of Bakwena Ba Mogopa nation. The village was previously a farm called ''Losperfontein'', owned by Tjaart Kruger, President Paul Kruger's younger brother. The community purchased the farm around 1866, with the assistance of missionary Wilhelm Behrenssen, and it was renamed Bethanie.

Facilities

Bethanie has a police station that renders services to nearby settlements such as Modikoe and Berseba.

References

Populated places in the Rustenburg Local Municipality {{NorthWestZA-geo-stub