Hiker on crater rim (courtesy National

Cultural History Museum)

Tswaing As A Heritage Site

1. The consolidation of the western portions of the original farms Zoutpan and Uitspan (west of the Soutpan Road) into a new farm named Tswaing (1996).
2. Compilation of zoning, business, fundraising and other development plans by consultants.
3. Development of environmental education programmes.
4. Construction of an environmental education centre with sponsorship from Goldfields of South Africa.
5. Obtaining funding from national government (DACST) for establishing a community arts and cultural centre.
6. Development of the Tswaing Crater Trail, a 7 km-long hiking trail, funded by the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Pretoria.
7. Training and employing young people from surrounding communities to act as tourist guides on the hiking trail.
8. Erection of more office and ablution facilities by local building contractors.
9. Development of temporary displays on the geology, fauna, flora and history of Tswaing, including a fibreglass model of the area sponsored by the Council for Geoscience.
10. Development of a popular quarterly newsletter.
11. Development of visitor brochures.
12. Eradication of invasive and encroaching vegetation through two projects by the government's Working for Water Programme.
13. Erection of road signs.
14. Establishment of a breeding herd of Nguni cattle in collaboration with the Irene Animal Production Institute of the ARC (sold in 1999).
15. Conservation of indigenous dogs, goats and chickens (disposed of in 1999).
16. Establishment of a Section 21 Company for developing and managing Tswaing. Its directors represented the National Cultural History Museum, the Transvaal Museum, the Council for Geoscience, the Tswaing Forum and the GPMC (dormant).
    

On 30 March 1996 Dr B Ngubane, Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, officially opened the Tswaing Crater Museum.

In terms of the new Cultural Institutions Act (1998), the national museums, funded by DACST, in the Western Cape and Gauteng were amalgamated to form the Southern and Northern Flagship Institutions respectively. The National Cultural History Museum amalgamated with the Transvaal Museum and the SA National Museum of Military History (Johannesburg) to form the NFI. The National Cultural History Museum became one of the NFI museums and was based at the African Window building, whilst its former satellite museums, including Tswaing, gained the status of semi-independent museums or business units on the same level as the National Cultural History Museum and the other former national museums.

Developments since then include:

• Completion of the Goldfields Environmental Education Centre (renamed the Lekgotla).
• Completion of the boma and lapa of this facility (with funding from the GPMC).
• Development of four new hiking trails.
• The celebration of various national days, such as Heritage Day.
• Hosting a day excursion of delegates of the 62nd Annual Conference of the International Meteoritical Society. The Greater Pretoria Metropolitan Council (GPMC) sponsored this excursion.

• Tswaing won a national competition as the best urban public open space in South Africa.
  

During the year 2001 Tswaing entered a new era in its development with the formalising of a public-public partnership between the NFI and the Gauteng Nature Conservation Directorate, in terms of which the latter would erect a Bonnox game fence around the property and relocate excess game from Defence Force areas. A similar partnership between the NFI and the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality was also developed, whereby the latter would fund the development and upgrade of the infrastructure.