••••
AREA F O C U S
We delve deeper into the history
of Schweizer-Reneke
SPRING IS IN THE AIR AND
WE ARE HOPING FOR
BLESSED RAIN DURING
THE NEXT RAINY SEASON.
WE ARE ON OUR WAY TO
THE NORTHWEST TOWN
OF SCHWEIZER-RENEKE
THIS TIME.
AUBREY KRUGER
T
he pronunciation is very
important - the name
of the town is pronunciated as
‘Schweizer-‘Reën’eke and not as
‘Rey’neke, we are told by inhabi
tants of the area. Fortunately
the writer is from the Northwest
himself and he did not get caught
in this trap.
KRUGER MILLIONS
For the rest we had to delve
deeper. Delve is the right word to
6
use, since alluvial diamonds play
a prominent role in this area and
a number of large, shiny stones
have already been found here.
These are the Schweizer Kruger
millions, although some people
claim that the real thing is also
buried here somewhere.
However it may be, the town
was established in 1885 and was
named after captain Schweizer
and field-cornet Reynecke, who
died in a skirmish with a local
tribe. Monuments to both can be
seen in town.
BRANCH HISTORY
Hinterland branch manager at
Schweizer-Reneke since 2016,
Waldo Venter, tells us that the
first Senwes branch was opened in
Schweizer Street in 2007.
In 2010/2011 the current
spares shop was acquired, and a
number of changes were made
early in 2012. The first spares
transactions were concluded
during that same year. Waldo
says that the current branch in
OCT/NOV 2017 • SENWES Scenario
Buiten Street was enlarged signifi
cantly in August 2016, from an
area of 25m², with two shelves,
to approximately 200m². Even
the store area was enlarged from
500m² to 900m² in the process.
The spares and workshop areas are
still in the building at the front.
Waldo depends on his col
leagues to a large extent. One
really has to keep a cool head
with the number of Jacos at the
workshop - Jaco Vosloo (work
ing foreman), Jaco Holloway
(technician), and Jaco Janse van
Rensburg (apprentice). Other
staff include Gerrit Meyer (tech
nician) general workers William
Mogale, Johannes Marumo and
Basie Headman, job card clerk
Christal de Lange and driver
Robert Motupi. At the spares
division we have Corné Kemp
(head of spares), Kobus du Plessis
(sales clerk), Henco de Lange
(sales clerk) and Paul Kgatlane
(sales clerk). Store personnel are
Willem Coetzer (terminal clerk),
as well as general workers Afrika