Umsobomvu Local Municipality

The Umsobomvu Local Municipality is a Category B municipality situated within the Pixley Ka Seme District in the Northern Cape Province. It is the second-smallest of eight municipalities in the district. Colesberg is a town located on the main road from Cape Town to Johannesburg. In a sheep-farming area spread over 500 000 hectares, greater Colesberg breeds many of the country’s top merinos. It is also renowned for producing high-quality racehorses and many stud farms, including one owned by legendary golfer, Gary Player. Towerberg or Coleskop is a prominent hill near the town and a landmark easily seen from a distance by travellers. Colesberg saw a large number of battles and skirmishes during the second Anglo-Boer War and the Colesberg Garden of Remembrance is located just outside the town. The town boasts many buildings that were built in a blend of Cape Dutch and Georgian architecture, with ceilings of reed and yellowwood timbers, and others that display a range of designs reflecting the changes of 19th century building. Originally, plots were pegged out and sold on the site of the town to fund the building of the Dutch Reformed Church. Noupoort is a town in the eastern Karoo region that principally revolved around the railways and is still used as a traction change-over facility from diesel to electric locomotives on the Noupoort-Bloemfontein line. It links up with the electric line to De Aar, part of the main artery for iron ore and manganese exports from the Northern Cape through Port Elizabeth Harbour on the south coast.