Schmidtsdrift

Schmidtsdrift is a Town, in Pixley ka Seme District Municipality, in the Northern Cape Province. (Situated 80 km West of Kimberley). It was originally a Fjord, across the Vaal River which is now bridged on the N8 National Route from Kimberley to Campbell and Griquatown. The Town has an infamous Diamond Mine which is; 80% owned by Lonrho Mining and 20% by the Schmidtsdrift Communal Property Association. In June 2008 an 18.39 carat diamond was discovered at the Mine. The History of Schmidtsdrift has been traced back to 1827 when it was declared a Crown Trust Land. Occupied by the Tswana-speaking Batlhaping and Griqua people. It was scheduled as the Schmidtsdrift Native Reserve, in terms of the 1913 Natives Land Act. The threat of relocation in the 1950's forced some of the Griqua families to identify as Batlhaping. The Griqua families who did not align themselves with the Batlhaping were forcibly removed, subsequently. Ultimately the ‘Black Spot’ removal policy saw more than 1000 Tswana or Batlhaping, households removed in 1968, forced onto military trucks at gunpoint. The South African Defence Force acquired the use of; Schmidtsdrift Farms and in 1974 established a military training Base there! After Namibia's independence in 1990 members of the 31 Battalion, (the so-called Bushman Battalion) which consisted of Vasekele and Mbarakwengo San People. They were settled in a tent Town near to Schmidtsdrift. They had been recruited by the South African Army in Northern Namibia, to fight against the South West African People. In 2003, most of these communities relocated to Platfontein outside Kimberley following the successful land claim on Schmidtsdrift, by the erstwhile Batlhaping inhabitants.