Meat and beer
Eskort, a large company with a long history, celebrates its 100th birthday this year. Whereas most of the processing takes place in Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, Heidelberg boasts a massive abattoir, employing nearly 800 people, where about 5 000 pigs are slaughtered and filleted every week. There is also a butchery where members of the public can buy directly from Eskort, with more than 200 products from which to choose.
In the office of this exceptionally busy butchery, you will find the manager, Pieter Strydom, who is proud to be involved in such a large enterprise that also gives back to the community.
“It’s important to us that we are involved in the town and with its residents, which is why the Varkfees [Pork Festival] is held once a year. It’s really a big community project and we all work together. Every pork dish imaginable is prepared, and all the money from the food goes to Volkskool Primary.”
Pieter says he’s originally from the West Rand and really likes Heidelberg. “There’s no traffic. And if I go to Pick n Pay now, there will be 10 people I can talk to for hours. That’s how it should be. Look, there are problems everywhere, but you don’t get the kind of trouble here that you get in the city.”
He thinks the new mall doesn’t offer enough entertainment for young people. “But we’re close enough to the
“I wouldn’t call Heidelberg a tourist destination. And the locals prefer to go out to restaurants in Johannesburg. We do want to get out of town sometimes, you know.”
city to find things to do there. And if we stay here for the weekend, it’s great to braai in Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve.”
At Tree Stone Cafe, the three people who started this coffee shop are sitting in the shade of a magnificent tree. Reinette du Preez and Marijke du Toit are the mother-and-daughter team responsible for the food, and Wehan Swanepoel, Marijke’s boyfriend, has plans to open a bar here that sells >
craft beer. “I grew up in Melkbosstrand and am really just a surfer dude from the West Coast who washed up here,” he says. He lived in Johannesburg, where he worked for a transport company organising cross-border freight, but after meeting Marijke two years ago, he just wanted to be in Heidelberg.
“I liked the city, but I am really very happy here.”
Marijke says it’s a town full of young people. “Everything we need is nearby… There’s plenty to keep us busy only an hour or so away.”
Reinette, too, was a very happy resident until a man snatched her laptop this very morning, here at the eatery, and ran off. She’s a little upset.
“I ran after him, screaming and swearing. At one point three young guys ran past me and I thought they were his friends. I shouted at them too. And then those three men tackled him to the ground and returned my laptop to me.
“Oy, I felt bad. Just thinking about it now… I wonder where else three men would have come to my aid like that? I am unhappy that it happened to me – things are usually so peaceful here – but now I’m really proud that the people of my town stand together.”