WHAT ABOUT OVISTON?

Thank you for an insightful magazine. The article “A dam fine place!” in the Spring 2017 issue was outstanding, except that our village wasn’t mentioned.

Oviston lies next to the Gariep Dam, about 43km from the dam wall and about 10km from the main road that runs from Colesberg, Gariep and Norvalspont to Burgersdorp. Oviston was built to house the workers that built the OrangeFish River Tunnel and was sold to the Venterstad municipality after the irrigation tunnel was completed. They, in turn, sold the houses to the public later.

Oviston is a typical rural community that lives for the dam and the 160km2 nature reserve that surrounds the town. The houses are still affordable and available to retired folks or anyone who’s tired of the city. The Orange-Fish River Tunnel (the abbreviation in Afrikaans is OVISTON) is located in the centre of town. Our infrastructure isn’t always up to scratch, and community facilities such as the town hall, swimming pool and caravan park don’t always get enough attention, but it is also a wonderfully peaceful place.

I think the article would have been more complete if you’d included Oviston. A little publicity would have been good for our town.

Crous de Beer, OVISTON