Roedtan

Roedtan
Roedtan Roedtan
Coordinates: 24°35′54″S 29°04′50″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Limpopo
District	Waterberg
Municipality	Mookgopong
Area
• Total	1.00 km2 (0.39 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	98
• Density	98/km2 (250/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	83.7%
• White	16.3%
First languages (2011)
• Northern Sotho	41.7%
• Tsonga	20.8%
• English	13.5%
• Afrikaans	11.5%
• Other	12.5%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
PO box	0580
Area code	015

Roedtan is a small town in the Limpopo province, South Africa, set in the midst of the Springbok Flats. Roedtan has a rail road station 85 km (53 mi) from Polokwane. At the road junction to Roedtan stands a monument to the battle of Moordrift in 1854 when 33 white people (descendants mainly of Dutch settlers from the 17th and 18th centuries who had moved north from the Cape Colony to escape what they saw as oppressive rule by the British colonial government - such as having to give up their slaves (and, worse, having to co-exist with them on equal terms) in line with the legislated emancipation of all slaves in the British Empire in 1833) were killed in a skirmish with the local tribe headed by Makapane. The cave, Makapansgat, is now known to record early hominid occupation (1,500,000 years ago) and is a national monument. The Springbok Flats is a reminder that great herds of Springbok once populated the plain, which was also frequented by lions and other wild animals.