Reiger Park is a township situated in

Boksburg Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, Willem Eduard Bok, W. Eduard Bok. The R29 (South A ...

in the

Ekurhuleni The City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (; ; ; ) is a metropolitan municipality that forms the local government of the East Rand region of Gauteng, a large suburban region east of Johannesburg. ''Ekurhuleni'' means "place of peace" in Xi ...

Metropolitan Municipality,

Gauteng Gauteng ( , ; Sotho-Tswana languages, Sotho-Tswana for 'place of gold'; or ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts f ...

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 ...

. It was established as Stirtonville after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when people influxed from rural areas seeking work on the

gold mine Gold mining is the extraction of gold by mining. Historically, mining gold from alluvial deposits used manual separation processes, such as gold panning. The expansion of gold mining to ores that are not on the surface has led to more comple ...

s. In

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

, due to the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

government's policy of separate development, the Black people were moved to

Vosloorus Vosloorus is a large Township (South Africa), township situated south of Boksburg and just east of Katlehong in City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Ekurhuleni, just 30 kilometres south-east of Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. It was ...

, the

Indians Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

to Actonville and the coloured people were left to stay in Stirtonville, then renamed Reiger Park. The locals have given their own unofficial names to the different areas of Reiger Park, such as Jerusalem (due to the many churches in that area), Excuse Me (due to the houses being close together that neighbors say "bless you" when one sneezes), and Popcorn Valley (a new area developed in the 1990s with homes popping up so fast that they were likened to popcorn). In

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, the ''Popcorn Valley'' area experienced violent rent boycotts. In 2008, it was one of the sites of violence during the anti-immigrant riots, beating and burning émigrés on streets described as "war zones", Galeview cause of the view of the Cinderella dam (which is now one of the most dangerous places in ReigerPark due to gangesterism and mastermind criminals residing in the area) The small, coloured community is also the home town of former

Kaizer Chiefs Kaizer Chiefs Football Club (often known as Chiefs) is a South African professional football club based in Naturena, Johannesburg South, that plays in the Premiership. The team is nicknamed ''AmaKhosi'', which means "Kings" or "Chiefs" in Zu ...

midfielder

Bernard Parker Bernard Parker (born 16 March 1986) is a South African soccer manager and former player who manages the TS Galaxy reserves. He played as a midfielder or forward. Between 2007 and 2015 he made 73 appearances for the South Africa national team ...

having been and raised there, as well as Club Brugge KV, left wing Shandre Campbell.

References

Former Coloured townships in South Africa Populated places in Ekurhuleni Townships in Gauteng {{Gauteng-geo-stub