On September 26, 2025, the Democratic Alliance demanded urgent action as NSFAS failures left over 500 students facing eviction in Kimberley, with landlords unpaid for over a year and a R10.6 billion funding gap unresolved.
When you think of Kimberley, a city in South Africa's Northern Cape province that became world-famous for its diamond rush in the late 1800s. Also known as the Diamond City, it's where the first major diamond discovery in Africa changed everything—from global markets to colonial power plays. This isn't just another town on the map. Kimberley is where the ground itself turned to gold—literally. In 1866, a 21-carat diamond found near the Orange River sparked a rush that pulled tens of thousands of people into the dusty plains of what was then British-controlled territory. By 1871, the area had transformed into a chaotic, booming mining camp, and soon after, the Big Hole, the largest hand-dug excavation in the world, created by miners using picks and shovels over two decades became its defining landmark. Today, it’s a museum, a monument, and a reminder of how one mineral can reshape a nation.
Kimberley didn’t just dig up diamonds—it dug up the roots of modern South Africa. The wealth from these mines helped fund the rise of powerful companies like De Beers, which eventually controlled nearly 90% of the world’s diamond supply. It also brought together people from all over: British colonists, Xhosa laborers, Chinese contract workers, and Afrikaner farmers—all crammed into a town that grew faster than its laws could keep up. The city became a testing ground for racial segregation policies that would later evolve into apartheid. The Northern Cape, South Africa’s largest but least populated province, where Kimberley serves as the capital and economic center still carries that legacy. But it’s also home to resilient communities, cultural festivals, and a quiet pride in surviving the boom-and-bust cycles of mining.
What you’ll find here isn’t just old photos and dusty exhibits. The posts linked below dive into how Kimberley’s past still echoes in today’s news—from political debates over land rights to stories of miners’ descendants fighting for fair compensation. You’ll see how diamond wealth shaped modern South Africa, how it affected labor laws, and even how it influenced the country’s sports and entertainment scenes. This isn’t just history. It’s a living story, still being written in courtrooms, town halls, and mining towns across the Northern Cape.
On September 26, 2025, the Democratic Alliance demanded urgent action as NSFAS failures left over 500 students facing eviction in Kimberley, with landlords unpaid for over a year and a R10.6 billion funding gap unresolved.