Two weeks ago, we posed the question as to whether a photo depicting commandant-general Andries Hendrik Potgieter is real. Could it be that the photo, so often used in history articles about the Voortrekker leader, is a fake?

In last week’s edition, we set the stage for a “history mystery”. We introduced a photo proclaimed to be that of the Voortrekker leader, Andries Hendrik Potgieter, and started questioning its authenticity. Potgieter died in December 1852, but we mentioned that the first reports of photography in South Africa date back to 1846. It could possibly be a genuine photo, but it could also be that the photograph so commonly used next to articles about the Boer commandant is a fake.

Is it real, or have we been misled for many years? This was the question when the authenticity of a photo of Voortrekker leader, Andries Hendrik Potgieter, came under scrutiny.

The birth of the law firm Coxwell, Steyn, Vise & Naudé a century ago may have been the result of a family disagreement over politics, which caused a young lawyer, Edward Rooth, to move to a small, developing town in the north of the country.

The steel fort next to the Makhado Library is a well-known landmark. Since 1971, it has also been one of our country’s national monuments. This year, the fort celebrates its 130th birthday, but many questions are still to be answered, especially as to what had happened to its two “siblings”.

The story of Dina Fourie has been told on a couple occasions throughout the years. One of the Soutpansberg’s better-known authors, Dorothea Möller-Malan, wrote a book about her, but more recently a Hoedspruit historian, Herman Labuschagne, captured her amazing story in an article. We had to shorten it slightly, but here it is:

Tieners deesdae kla gereeld dat daar niks in Louis Trichardt is om te doen nie en sal baie moeite doen om in Polokwane te gaan fliek. Min inwoners weet egter dat Louis Trichardt eens op ‘n tyd ook met sy eie bioskoop gespog het.

The Soutpansberg used to have vast stretches of grassland, with the springbok grazing alongside antelope such as the extinct Lichtenstein’s hartebeest. In less than 100 years, the landscape has changed from open stretches of land to trees and bush. The reason for the change can be found in man’s intervention.