Main Place

Secunda

Quick Fact ......
  • 40,198

  • 10,292

  • 34,3%

  • 92,7%

  • 94,7%

  • 94,9%

Secunda is a town that was specifically built to service the second Sasol coal liquefaction plant, which was constructed with the intention of making South Africa less dependent on imported oil after the oil crisis of 1973/4. The plant, called the Secunda CTL refinery, is currently the largest coal liquefaction plant in the world. The town itself was proclaimed in 1976, and the name Secunda is Latin for 'second', referring to the fact that this was Sasol's second refinery. During the armed struggle against apartheid, the African National Congress (ANC) attempted to bomb the refinery twice, in 1980 and then again in 1985. After the first attempt, a driver at the refinery, Patrick Chamusso, was wrongly accused of being involved in the bombing. His story is told in a 2006 thriller film, Catch a Fire. (GPS coordinates: 26.5346 S, 29.1654 E).

Character(s) left.
  • Raper PE. 2004. New dictionary of South African Place Names. Jonathan Ball Publishers.
  • http://www.wikipedia.org

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Key Statistics 2011

Characteristics
Total population40,198
Young (0-14)20%
Working Age (15-64)75,4%
Elderly (65+)4,7%
Dependency ratio32,7
Sex ratio110,8
Population density231 persons/km2
No schooling aged 20+0,9%
Higher education aged 20+34,3%
Matric aged 20+42,1%
Number of households10,292
Average household size3,6
Female headed households18%
Formal dwellings95,2%
Housing owned/paying off54,1%
Flush toilet connected to sewerage94,9%
Weekly refuse removal92,6%
Piped water inside dwelling92,7%
Electricity for lighting94,7%

Place names

Govan Mbeki Municipality