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De Wet House Maletswai (Aliwal North), Eastern Cape

Date: pre 1849 Type: Homestead Status: Extant

Pieter Jacobus de Wet of Brandvlei near Worcester was the first settler. He and his wife, Hester Jacoba (nee Theron) of Tulbagh, built their pioneer house on the little hill just above the Springs. A replica of this house is to be seen in the Church Square Museum. An original mud sod of a pioneer house has been built into the wall. When the town was promulgated in 1849 by Sir Harry Smith, Pieter de Wet's right of residence at Buffels Vlei was acknowledged by giving his widow 8000 acres (3237 hectare) of land as well as a servitude to an eighth of the Springs' water flow. The foundations of the water mill erected by de Wet on the furrow running from the Springs can still be seen today. The present homestead which was built in 1889 by Pieter's youngest son, David, was taken into the custody of a family trust in 1970 and was converted into the de Wet Museum. Later the museum amalgamated with the Aliwal Museum and most of the items are now displayed in the Church Square Museum. Near the house is the family graveyard where some of the de Wet ancestors and forefathers have been buried and reinterred. In 1928, a century after the arrival of Pieter, the family erected a monument in the graveyard. The graveyard has a beautiful view over Buffelsvlei, the original de Wet farm on which Aliwal North and the Radio Spring have been laid out. [de Wet, May & Joubert, Madeleine, 2007. Aliwal North - Discover Aliwal's yesterdays. Aliwal North: Aliwal Museum. p, 4-5.] All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon.