Established in 1880, Bethal is a small farming town, in Mpumalanga. Farming in potatoes, maize, sunflower seeds, sorghum and rye. There is also a large amount of mining activity in and around Bethal, with 20 coal mines and 3 gold mines in the region! The town originated from an old farm called: 'Blesbokspruit'. The town, established on the 12 October 1880 and was then named after the combined names of the wives of the owners of the farm, Elizabeth du Plooy and Alida Naude. It became a municipality in 1921. The museum, is based in the old Magistrates office which has been beautifully restored to its original, 1910 state and has been declared a national monument. The town's Memorial Square is the site of the burial of Boer soldiers who were killed in battle. One source lists several burghers (Boer soldiers) who fell in the "2nd Freedom War" (Anglo-Boer War) and are memorialized in Bethal. Bethal cemeteries also contain graves of soldiers who died during the Border War, including an African National Congress (ANC) operative, Victor Khayiyana. Whose remains were reburied in the Bethal cemetery, after being exhumed from an unmarked grave.
Farms in the area offer agricultural tours and a range of locally grown farm produce, is available. The statue located outside the Bethal Magistrates' Court is a bronze sculpture of the anti-apartheid activist Nokuthula Simelane. The life-size statue was erected in the Bethal cultural precinct (which includes the former Magistrates' Court building) in November 2009 to honour Simelane, an Umkhonto we Sizwe (ANC's armed wing) member who was abducted and she was believed to have been tortured to death in the 1980's. Her remains have never been found. The statue was badly vandalized but now has been restored to its original state and is now officially a national monument. link in FURTHER READING
Farms in the area, offer agricultural tours and a range of locally grown farm produce is also available. Bethal has thriving business community and provides a wide range of goods and services to its resident, as well as surrounding communities and restaurant owners.
"Bethel" in South Africa can refer to several places! This town of Bethal in Mpumalanga, known for its agriculture and mining, or the Bethel Mission Station in the Eastern Cape, a historic site. It can also refer to other locations like the Camp Bethel tented camp near Kruger National Park and the Jehovah's Witnesses' Bethel offices in Krugersdorp. A lesser-known Bethel, is a farm in KwaZulu-Natal. There is also a mission station in the Eastern Cape known as Bethel Mission Station. This was Founded by Pastor Jacob Ludwig Dohne, in 1837. The Mission Society is the oldest mission station established in the Eastern Cape, by the Berlin Missionary Society. Dohne was one of Society’s first six missionaries to be sent to the Cape Colony in 1836 and settled at Franschoek – but left without permission to go to the Ciskie and work among the Rharhabe. He was granted 1 200 hectares by the chief of Ama Gasela clan, Chief Gasela, and established the mission station. Dohne’s wife and baby son died in 1842 and are buried near the mission’s church. (link provided in FURTHER READING)