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Vanderbijlpark is an industrial city with approximately 95,000 inhabitants, situated on the Vaal River in the south of Gauteng province, South Africa. The city is named after Hendrik van der Bijl, an electrical engineer and industrialist.
Vanderbijlpark is home to Vanderbijlpark Steel, previously part of the South African Iron and Steel Corporation (ISCOR), which subsequently became a subsidiary of the global company ArcelorMittal. With neighbouring cities Vereeniging and Sasolburg, it forms the Vaal Triangle, historically a major industrial region of South Africa. It is situated in the local municipality of Emfuleni and district municipality of Sedibeng.
The peri-urban black townships Boipatong, Muvango, Bophelong, Sebokeng, Evaton, Tshepiso and Sharpeville are close to the city.
Mittal Steel South Africa announced the closure of its Newcastle and Vereeniging steel-making operations in January 2025.
Vanderbijlpark CBD on Wikimapia
The different suburbs are then named as follows:
The other suburbs of Vanderbijlpark are:
There are also a number of small holdings in Vanderbijlpark:
Since 2015 the town has had a gradual negative economic growth, to such a degree that the local council was declared bankrupt in November 2019. This happened when billions of property tax proceeds to the municipality were stolen by local government officials.
The 2019 bankruptcy of the local government was due to billions of unpaid accounts to Rand Water and Eskom. Investigations of late 2019 led to findings that R800 million was stolen by the mayor of the town within a short period of 8 months. This has caused a significant collapse in industries and in turn; building development in the town.
Post-2020 pandemic Vanderbijlpark has proven to serve as a slow but optimistic "reset button" on the Vaal's local economy. The post-2015 buyers market was capitalized on by many wealthy developers and local businesses that remain patriotic Vaaltonians, and still, continue to fight for the restoration of the town's former glory. Challenges for investors buying up commercial properties still remain as they are faced with some of the highest land taxes in the country, yet with the lowest value for the expense to local government. Making Vanderbijlpark investments a bit of a rich man's game, considering how much these property owners also spend on initiatives to take maintenance of infrastructure into their own hands.
The suburb called SW5 houses some of the most extravagant and sought-after estates in the Vaal triangle. Dr. HJ van der Bijl and Aldridge had built their private estates in this area during the late 1800s, and these homes are now privately owned and still preserved on Grieg street in SW5. Some of the stands in the area range between 2–4 acres. The stands used to be much larger in the day of Dr van der Bijl, however, further development of the town increased the use of subdivided stands.
Another significant part of the Vaal's wealth lies on the Marlbank of the Vaal River towards Loch Vaal, west of the CBD. Some of these homes are sized up to 7,000 square meters and more. The area is often also referred to as the "billionaires bend" as it houses some of the most expensive homes in Africa, ranging from R100 million upwards for a single property. Many of the inhabitants of the Marlbank river stretch do not necessarily have business interests in the town itself. Many of them live there because of the picturesque landscapes and extravagant estates. Helicopter sights are frequent as the wealthy property owners on Marlbank fly in and out from the city of Johannesburg 80km North of Vanderbijlpark.
Vanderbijlpark has major influences of Dutch, French, German, and Italian architecture, due to the settlement of foreigners during the late 1800s and early 1900s. From the early 1900s up until the late 1980s the local building industry was owned by a select group of wealthy developers represented by companies such as Visser Properties and the Visser family, Dias Family, and Storm Family to name a few. Construction and design companies thrived during these times, such as van der Merwe & Associates Engineering, DG Ladegaard also Modern Homes Architects, founded by Gwendolyn Olive Ferreira and Leslie van Wyk in 1987 (later named DOS). DOS was renamed Go Homes again in 2012 and is currently owned by Jean Marx, the grandson of Gwen Ferreira. Jean Marx and the Companies owned by the Jean Marx & Asma Dukanda brands moved to the city of Johannesburg and were last known to operate from Parkwood & Saxonwold.
The town center also consists of many old buildings also showcasing the beautiful homes built during the late 1800s and early 1900s, some have fallen into dramatic decay over the years. Continuous efforts are however undertaken by some individuals and companies to restore these classic homes to their former glory.
SW5 Proper and Vaal riverfront properties remain some of the most extravagant and largest homes in the country to this day. The value of these properties has however dramatically declined since 2015 due to corruption in local government.
The Post 2015 and post-pandemic buyers market was capitalized on by local wealth. The Architecture in Vanderbijlpark still remains some of the most beautiful in the country, and local wealth remains optimistic about the preservation thereof.
Hoër Tegniese Skool Carel de Wet
Hoërskool Driehoek
Hoërskool Suiderlig (formerly Hoër Handelskool Lettie Fouché)
Suncrest High
Prestigious Accurate High
Vaal Park Articon
Hoërskool Transvalia
The Vaal High School
Hoërskool Vanderbijlpark
Curro Vanderbiljpark High School
The main campus of Vaal University of Technology is located in Vanderbijlpark, about 1 km from the North West University.
Qualitas Career Academy, a national private college has its largest campus in SE4. It caters for full-time and part-time studies for students as well as corporate training and consulting services for businesses and government departments.
The Computer Training institute (CTI) has a satellite campus in central Vanderbijlpark.
Sedibeng College serves students from Qwaqwa and neighbouring Lesotho.
The Vanderbijlpark residential area has numerous homes and flats that are rented by students studying at the above-mentioned institutions.
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