Rietfontein (Zeekoegat district)

[SRC-068] Granted c.1858 to J.S. De Villiers for its strong perennial fountain; named for the reed bed. Gold was found here and old diggings are still visible. Subdivided in the early 1900s into Lemoenrietfontein, Spykerfontein and MIDDELWATER - a DIFFERENT Middelwater from farm No.169. Rejoined with Kookfontein as Rietfontein Game Farm. [29 Jul 2026, verification pass] Cadastre match stripped: the name-matched record (Ptn 38 of farm 56) belongs to Rietfontein No.56 south of Leeu-Gamka - the wrong Rietfontein (there are four in the division: Nos. 56, 68, 95, 96, plus farm 12). The Zeekoegat-district Rietfontein is farm No.12 per the cadastral map in the Willis & Atkinson cameo (DOC-0054, p.17: "RIETFONTEIN 12" circled between Lammers Kraal 11 and Rietpoort 13, past Spreeufontein on the Zeekoegat road) - but our downloaded cadastre names farm 12 "MINNIES KRAAL", so the match is left open rather than asserted. [TO VERIFY]

[1 Aug 2026, SRC-068] War came here too. Daniel Coghill, a British soldier, was killed by lightning on LEMOENRIETFONTEIN and is buried on it (EVT-000240); an unexploded British ten-pound shell was found on KOOKFONTEIN and displayed at Spykerfontein; and men of Scheepers's commando escaped onto neighbouring Zeekoegat after being driven out of Klaarstroom (EVT-000241). De Villiers, Van Wyk, Van Zyl and Otto families who lived on these farms are buried in its other graveyards. NOTE, and 9 says the same: this Rietfontein's early-1900s portions were named Lemoenrietfontein, Spykerfontein and MIDDELWATER. That Middelwater is NOT PAR-000001, the Oosthuizen farm in the Zwartberg. The cameo is independent confirmation that two farms of that name exist in this district.

Verouderd — hieronder beantwoord HE IS RIGHT, AND IT IS WORSE THAN A DUPLICATE. Both rows were still carrying the SAME cadastre key W052C061000000000056000380 and the SAME centroid -32.880993, 21.889268, which is Ptn 38 of RIETFONTEIN No. 56, south of Leeu-Gamka. The 29 Jul verification pass recorded that this match had been stripped; the note said so and the columns did not. So the two rows were not the same farm, they were two different farms wearing a THIRD farm's polygon, and the index showed both as 38/56. Key, centroid, area and match method cleared on both. Neither is pinned now, per 5: an unresolved place gets no pin. Whether these two rows should be one row is a separate question and is LEAD-0058.

[1 Aug 2026] NO-POLYGON SET, because clearing the key was not enough. Both rows have no farm number, so match_cadastre.py fell back to matching on NAME and put them straight back onto Ptn 38 of Rietfontein No. 56 near Leeu-Gamka - a third farm, and the same wrong pin they carried before. The sentinel is the only thing that stops a name match re-deriving it on the next run.

[3 Aug 2026, SRC-202/SRC-203] *** RIETFONTEIN IS FARM NR 12, CONFIRMED BY THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL. *** This row has carried an open question since 29 July: the Willis & Atkinson cameo's cadastral map (DOC-0054 p.17) circles RIETFONTEIN 12 between Lammers Kraal 11 and Rietpoort 13 on the Zeekoegat road, but our downloaded cadastre names farm 12 MINNIES KRAAL, so the match was left open rather than asserted. TWO INDEPENDENT 1990 SG DIAGRAMS NOW SETTLE IT. Both LG 7373-90 (sheet 2) and LG 7374-90 name 'Gedeelte 1 van RIETFONTEIN NR 12' and 'Restant van RIETFONTEIN NR 12' as neighbours of the farm that also borders SPREEUW FONTEIN NR 26 and GEDEELTE 1 VAN ZEEKOEGAT NR 22 - which is exactly the position the cameo's map puts it in. A Surveyor-General's diagram naming a neighbour is a primary record of that neighbour's farm number. The cadastre's MINNIES KRAAL for farm 12 is therefore a LATER name for the same number, or an error in the extract; either way it no longer blocks the identification. Still no polygon on this row - the name is confirmed, the ground is not. See LEAD-0058.

[3 Aug 2026, SRC-206] *** AND THE OTHER HALF IS NOW SETTLED TOO. *** The 1955 diagram for Minnies Kraal (DOC-0172) gives that farm as NR 112 in the surveyor's own title block. So the cadastre extract's 'farm 12 = MINNIES KRAAL' is an error, almost certainly 112 keyed as 12, and nothing now stands against RIETFONTEIN NR 12. Three independent documents agree: the cameo's map, two 1990 SG diagrams naming Rietfontein 12 as a neighbour, and this 1955 diagram putting Minnies Kraal at 112. The NUMBER is settled. The GROUND is not - this row still has no polygon, because the only extract we hold for farm 12 is the one that was wrong about its name.