Middelburg will showcases itself as a vibrant heritage destination from Monday when the Heritage Association of South Africa (HASA) hosts the 24th Annual Symposium.

The programme for the week:

Tuesday 14 October 07:00 – 13:30 Heritage Book Sales Kiosk Country Club 07:00 – 08:15.

A gateway to Middelburg’s History: A virtual tour 15:30 – 16:30. Tour to White Church White Church 16:30 – 17:30.

Evening: Organ presentation White Church.

Wednesday 15 October: Visit to the  Railway Station and Commemorative Hall. 18:00 Gala Dinner address by Kathy Munro, HASA Chair Gold Medal of Achievement Awards. Music by Nantes and Adelle du Plessis.

Academic programme Tuesday 14 October 2025:

The Middelburg Peace discussions – 28 February 1901: From where, what and where to? Prof. Fransjohan Pretorius.

Digital Transformation in Heritage Management. City of Johannesburg – Palesa Mnyaka.

Trailblazers and colorful characters who journeyed through Middelburg’s “Gateway to History”  – Duncan Ballantyne/

Middelburg’s Spatial Heritage: Memory, Reflection and Sustainable Futures – Anele Mnyaka.

Place of memory: The Voortrekker Monument Heritage Site as case study – Lizette Jansen.

Kmdt HF Prinsloo, Col. HF Prinsloo, Zonderwater POW Camp, New Scotland Mpumalanga and Macorkindale –  Terence Ball.

A gateway to Middelburg’s history: Virtual tour – Theo Ligthelm.

Wednesday 15 October 2025:

The Kruger Millions, Fact of Fiction – Dr Pierre Edwards.

Blue Heritage Plaques as a conservation tool – Theo Ligthelm and Petronel Fourie.

Churches in and around Mpumalanga – Philippe Menache.

The Johannesburg Heritage Foundation Blue Plaque Programme: Achievements and Challenges – Louise Marx.

Historical Middelburg through the eyes of a Deltiologist – Carol Hardijzer.

The Heritage of the Van der Merwes of Aasvoëlkrans – Gideon Ellis.

Thursday 16 October:

Birthplace of Rice Pattern Blockhouses – Simon C Green.

The forgotten story of Leeufontein – Ian Robertson.

Heritage of South Africa since 1994: Civil Society at the Frontline – Prof. Kathy Munro.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow on WikiMedia – Derek Moore.

Introduction to Archiving- Jennifer Kimble.

• The Middelburg peace discussions from where, what and where to – Prof Fransjohan Pretorius: This paper looks at the Middelburg peace discussions of 28 February 1901 between Lord Kitchener, the British commander-in-chief, and General Louis Botha, commandant-general of the Transvaal forces, in the Anglo-Boer War. However, it commences by tracing previous peace attempts and then pursues the issue after Middelburg to the Peace of Vereeniging which ended the war on 31 May 1902. Events that appear on the radar before Middelburg include Boer peace attempts after the surrender of General Piet Cronjé with 4 000 men at Paardeberg in February 1900; the temporary faltering of President Paul Kruger and Boer officers with Lord Roberts’s approach to Pretoria at the end of May 1900; Roberts’s peace offer to Botha in June 1900 and other offers before Middelburg.

For more information phone Soekie Rossouw at 082 922 7498.