TIME-WARP DORP
Free State village for sale
● Gift-hunting for the friend who has everything? You’re in luck — an entire Free State village, complete with a general dealer, post office and an old grain mill, is going under the hammer.
The hamlet of Verkykerskop, born as an outspan set on 16ha of sandstone hillside of the Klein Drakensberg escarpment, will be sold to the highest bidder in two weeks.
“The history is difficult to track but the oldest document we’ve been able to find is a map dated 1860 and the name is written in Dutch,” owner Matt Hoffman said.
“It would have grown into a town, but they never built a church, so it never got bigger than it did.”
On auction along with the land and historical buildings is a trove of antiques amassed by Hoffman and his wife over three decades.
A vast collection of all manner of enamel signs for tea and beer, a classic 1981 Jaguar XJS, and even the original general dealer’s Victorian shop counter, make up 760 lots to bid on. A vintage Shell petrol pump, dating back decades, is also up for grabs.
The couple, who bought the outspan from a local farmers’ union in 2006, describe themselves as keen antique collectors.
“We bought this shop to get a hold of the counters. They were moved from the original Victorian shop into the new building, which we think was built in the 1940s,” Hoffman said.
“We have spent hours searching through scrapyards, saving little pieces of history … we were doing it before it was cool. It’s sad to see it all go but we have lived so much through all these pieces.”
His wife, Beth Hillary-Hoffman, said the ground itself had offered up treasures, including an enamel Lyons tea sign found while gardening.
“We did some research; the campaign with that sign was running in 1921, so that should tell you how long this place has been trading,” she said.
Christo Scholtz, of Old Johannesburg Warehouse, which will be auctioning the collectables, said the broad cache of antiques was a rarity.
“The items there are incredibly unique to the area and are a collection that has been amassed over many years, especially the vintage enamel signs, petrol pump and shop fittings. It really has a country feel,” he said.
“A few weeks ago we auctioned a train at a museum and now we’re onto a town, so I’m excited to see what’s next,” he quipped.
The couple have decided to sell up because Beth is ill and they are looking for a “quieter existence”.
Hoffman said that the reserve on the auction was R5m, but they were hoping to sell
One-horse town on offer
“Getting the chance to buy an entire town is not an everyday thing, even though it is a onehorse town. I know the area and that trading store is an institution. I myself bought sweets there when I was a boy.” — Auctioneer Johannes Schoeman for about R10m.
Johannes Schoeman, of Vleissentraal Auctioneers which will auction the land, said the sale of what is effectively a town was a first, their usual lots being livestock.
“Getting the chance to buy an entire town is not an everyday thing, even though it is a one-horse town. I know the area and that trading store is an institution. I bought sweets there when I was a boy,” he said.
The town’s new owners need not be concerned about law and order, with a police station directly across the road.
Though some facets of Verkykerskop seem frozen in time, the little town is the base for what could be developed into a selfsustaining eco-village of the future.
“For the last 11 years we’ve been busy with trying to get it proclaimed a town, and hopefully it will be. We want it to be the country’s first self-sustaining town, completely off the grid,” Hoffman said.
“It’s easy to change land zoning in an urban area but there are laws that prevent agricultural land from being subdivided, and we’re in that process now.”
The concept of the self-sustaining agricultural town has gained international acclaim, winning the Congress for the New Urbanism Award in 2012.
The development, envisaged to be built on a working farm on which individual properties will be available for purchase, could see as many as 350 new landowners in the dorp.
The couple’s neighbour and co-developer, Louis Grobler, said he was hopeful the new buyer would share their vision.
“This is about an acre in Africa without the burden of managing a farm.”
Grobler said that construction on the first cottages of the development would likely start later this year.
The auction takes place on June 7 and 8.