Jan Kempdorp is an agricultural town situated along the N18 National Route in the centre of the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa.
This charming settlement is located on the border between the Northern Cape and the North West Province.
Jan Kempdorp is situated 96 km north of Kimberley, the provincial capital, and 43 km west of Christiana in North West Province.
History
Jan Kempdorp was laid out on the farm Andalusia. The town itself was also originally known as Andalusia, named in honour of the Spanish Andalusia donkeys that were worked on the irrigation project. This settlement was the headquarters for the officials involved with the scheme.
During the Second World War, the town hosted the site of a concentration camp housing German men regarded as potentially dangerous by the authorities.
The first settlers bought plots in 1938, and the town was proclaimed in 1953 and named after General Jan Kempdorp, the Minister of Agriculture, in 1954. Municipal status was attained in 1967.
Originally, the border between the Cape and Transvaal provinces ran through the town, making it the only town in South Africa that was in two provinces. This also led to confusion about the administration until in 1964 it was decided by Parliament that the town would be deemed to fall in the Cape for legal purposes.
When new provincial boundaries were drawn in 1994, Jan Kempdorp was still divided, now between the Northern Cape and North West provinces. The whole of the town was, however, included in the cross-border Phokwane Local Municipality. In 2006 cross-border municipalities were eliminated and the whole of the town was included in the Northern Cape.
During South Africa’s Border War Jan Kempdorp was the location of a munitions store, guarded 24 hours a day by National Servicemen who were first required to be of a lowered medical classification. The facility, designated 93 Ammunition Depot, remained active as at 2024.