Westville, KwaZulu-Natal

Westville
Westville Westville
Coordinates: 29.831°S 30.925°E / -29.831; 30.925
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
Municipality	eThekwini
Area
• Total	30.76 km2 (11.88 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	30,508
• Density	990/km2 (2,600/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	32.5%
• Coloured	2.6%
• Indian/Asian	22.1%
• White	42.0%
• Other	0.7%
First languages (2011)
• English	72.2%
• Zulu	17.3%
• Afrikaans	5.4%
• Xhosa	1.9%
• Other	3.2%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	3629
PO box	3630

Westville is an area in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and is just west and inland of Durban. It was a formerly independent town however it became part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in 2002. Westville is situated 10 km inland from the Durban CBD. The climate is subtropical; Westville experiences mild, dry winters, and hot, humid summers with frequent later afternoon downpours.

Westville is also central to a few townships, namely Cato Manor, Clermont and Chesterville.

History

The settlement began in 1847 as the farm Westville (named in honour of Martin West, the first British lieutenant-governor of what was then the province of Natal). In March 1848 a group of Germans, brought out by Jonas Bergtheil, arrived in Port Natal to settle the area and farm cotton. They established several farms both in Westville and neighbouring New Germany (the two settlements are separated by the Palmiet Valley), and were a tight-knit community. The Westville settlers would travel through Palmiet Valley on Sundays to attend the Lutheran Church in New Germany. When their cotton crops failed the first year, settlers were granted permission to farm other crops like potatoes, mielies (corn), barley and oats. The city of Durban provided a ready market for their produce.

The 'German House' owned by the Lange family on what is today Jan Hofmeyr Road became an important stopover for those travelling the Old Main Road between Durban and Pietermaritzburg. The Outspan Tree alongside the hostelry is now a national monument. The Bergtheil Museum, located on what is today 16 Queen's Avenue, was built in the 1840s and is the oldest remaining house in Westville. It offers visitors an idea of early settler dwellings and farming practices.

The 1850s saw the addition of Scottish and English settlers to Westville. In the 1870s, Indian market gardeners moved into the area too. In time, the German settlers integrated with other settlers and began to speak English.

Westville was proclaimed a borough in 1956. It was incorporated into eThekwini as part of the post-apartheid reorganisation of South Africa's municipalities.

Education

Schools situated in Westville include Star College Durban Westville Boys' High School, Westville Girls' High School, Atholl Heights Primary School, Berea West Junior Primary School, Berea West Senior Primary School, Pitlochry Primary School, Westville Senior Primary and the Deutsche Schule Durban. Higher education centres include a 2-square-kilometre campus of University of KwaZulu-Natal (formerly the University of Durban-Westville) and Varsity College (Westville campus).

Specialist schools such as The International Hotel School, based at the Westville Hotel, and The Fusion Cooking School can also be found in Westville.

Religions

There are several churches in Westville, including the Westville Methodist Church on 38 Jan Hofmeyr Road, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on 14 Westville Road, the Westville Baptist Church on 2 Church Place, St Elizabeth's Anglican Church on 45 Salisbury Avenue, and OneCity Church, which meets at the Westville Country Club. Mosques in Westville include Habibia Soofie Masjid, a Soofie mosque, on 119 Jan Hofmeyr Road, and the Westville Jaame Musjid on 46 Meerut Road.

Prison

Main article: Westville Prison

Westville Prison, which sits on the edge of Westville, is one of the largest prisons in the country and the only prison located in the Durban area.

Shopping centres

Westville has various large and small shopping centres. The four largest are:

• Westville Mall, in the centre of Westville, which is on Buckingham Terrace
• Westville Junction Shopping Centre, which lies adjacent to and just below Westville Mall and is on Westville Road
• Westwood Mall, which lies on the eastern edge of Westville and alongside the M13 highway
• The Pavilion Shopping Mall, the largest shopping centre in Westville and the second largest in the Durban area, after Gateway Theatre of Shopping

Business parks

Westville boasts multiple business parks such as West Way Office Park, Surrey and Essex Gardens which is home to small businesses and huge corporations alike, most notably the regional head office for Woolworths and the headquarters for video game retailers Game 4U.

Attractions

Tourist attractions include Palmiet Nature Reserve, which has 15 kilometres of guided and self-guided trails. Further afield tourists can experience the evergreen Western Inland Route and Natal's regional attractions, including the Drakensberg (Barrier of Spears) Battlefields Tours, game reserves and Zululand. A large Anglo-German Historical Route exists with numerous churches, museums and grave sites depicting the early settlement struggles of the early colonial days.