History of the Vaal

In 1911, Horace Wright purchased 15000 ton of scrap iron and together with Sammy Marks formed the Union Steel Corporation of South Africa (Usco - now Malesela Taihan Electric Cable). The site chosen for the steelworks was on the banks of the Vaal River and in September 1913, the first steel ingot was cast and rolled. This was the beginning of Mark’s dream to establish a steel industry on the African sub continent. Usco) which was to transform Vereeniging from a colliery village into a major centre for steel and engineering industries.

World War I saw the collieries and the steelworks pressed into war production efforts and this led to the expansion of the works in 1917 with the installation of a new 20 ton melting furnace. Usco survived the depression following the end of the war and the steel crisis in 1927. The corporation began to manufacture new production lines in the world wide depression of the early 1930’s and went on to become one of the world’s leading manufacturers of hollow-drill steel. Stewart and Lloyds, the tube making company, came to Vereeniging in 1927 and together with Usco became the primary industries which attracted many ancillary industries. A few years prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, McKinnon Chain and African Cables were established in Peacehaven, Vereeniging. During World War II, the global conflict created a new and more pressing need for steel. By 1943, construction began on establishing Iscor’s (now Mittal Steel SA) second fully integrated steel mill at Vanderbijlpark and within a few years, the desolate Vanderbijlpark landscape was transformed into one of the world’s most modern steel works.

Dickenson Railway Bridge

Peace Monument

Vereeniging

William Stow Monument

Garden of Remembrance

Sharpeville

Apartheid Bridge

Cenotaph

OVERVIEW

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