Vanderbijlpark

Vanderbijlpark is a large industrial city next to the Vaal River in southern Gauteng, South Africa. It is home to VECOR, the largest comprehensive heavy engineering works in the Southern Hemisphere and Iron and Steel Corporation (ISCOR) .

It all started when Dr HJ van der Bijl , a brilliant young scientist working in the United States, was called back to South Africa in 1920 by the then Prime Minister Jan Smuts to advise the government on planning South Africa's industrial development. Van der Bijl oversaw the Iron and Steel Corporation's first plant at Pretoria but with the increased demand after World War II, 10,000 hectures was bought to built a large steelworks and model city. The steelworks began operating in 1947 and the town was proclaimed in 1949. The town attained municipal status in 1952 with Governor General Dr EG Jansen opened ISCOR's second steelworks.