About
Riebeek West (Afrikaans: Riebeek-Wes) is a small town situated about 75 km north-east of Cape Town and 5 km north of its twin town Riebeek Kasteel in the Swartland area of the Western Cape, South Africa. The Riebeek Valley would have been known to indigenous Khoi people, but was first described by a party of Cape Dutch explorers under the leadership of Pieter Cruythoff in 1661. The mountain, Riebeeck's Kasteel Berg (Riebeeck's Castle Mountain) was named after then Cape commander Jan van Riebeeck by this expedition and the settlements along the eastern slope of the mountain later derived their names from it. In translation from Dutch to Afrikaans the letter c in Riebeeck was dropped. The first settlers arrived in the area in the early 18th century. Riebeek West was established as a parish of the Dutch Reformed Church in 1858. Riebeek West was the birthplace of two successive South African prime ministers. General Jan Christiaan Smuts was born on the farm Bovenplaats, two km north of Riebeek West on 24 May 1870. He served two terms as prime minister, from 1920 to 1924 as head of the South African Party and again from 1939 to 1948 as head of the United Party.