Kariega, formerly known as Uitenhage, is a town situated on the banks of the Swartkops River in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, approximately 30 km north-west of Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth).
Kariega is famous for the Volkswagen factory located there, which is the biggest car factory on the African continent.
Kariega, along with the city of Gqeberha, the neighbouring small town of Despatch, the adjoining township of KwaNobuhle, and surrounding areas, form the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.
Kariega also lies at the start of the Mohair Route, which leads along the R75 Provincial Route towards Graaff-Reinet (the centre for mohair farming in South Africa), 228 km to the northwest via Jansenville on Route 75.
Roads
The R75 highway, also known as Route 75, bypasses Kariega to the east, heading north–south from Graaff-Reinet to Gqeberha with interchanges at the M19, M6, R334, and Graaff-Reinet Road. The R334 Regional Route connects Kariega with Coega to the east and with KwaNobuhle and the R102 (near Van Stadens Pass) to the south-west.
The town is also intersected by Metropolitan Routes such as the M6 (Caledon Street; Union Avenue) to Despatch in the east, the M10 (Durban Street; Algoa Road) to Bethelsdorp in the south-west, the M19 (Botha Street) to Despatch, and the M22 (Marconi Street; Mel Brooks Avenue) to KwaNobuhle in the south.
The main streets through the CBD, known as Uitenhage Central, include Cuyler Street, Caledon Street in Upper Central, and Durban Street in Lower Central.
History
Uitenhage was founded on 25 April 1804 by landdrost (district magistrate) Jacob Glen Cuyler and named in honour of the Cape’s Commissioner-General Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist by the Dutch Cape Colony governor, Jan Willem Janssens. Uitenhage formed part of the district of Graaff Reinet (shortly after its short-lived secession).
The Cape Colony received a degree of independence when “Responsible Government” was declared in 1872.
In 1875, the Cape government of John Molteno took over the rudimentary Uitenhage railway site, incorporated it into the Cape Government Railways (CGR), and began construction of the lines connecting Uitenhage to Port Elizabeth and the Southern African interior. Two years later, in 1877, Uitenhage was declared a municipality.
Nearly a hundred years later, as part of the Republic of South Africa, Uitenhage became a centre for resistance against apartheid. In 1985, police opened fire on a funeral procession in Uitenhage, killing several unarmed people, in an event that became notorious as an example of police oppression in South Africa under apartheid.
In 2001, it was incorporated with Port Elizabeth and Despatch into the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality.
On 23 February 2021, Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Nathi Mthethwa, approved and gazetted the decision to rename Uitenhage to Kariega, along with the neighbouring city of Port Elizabeth, which was renamed Gqeberha.
Industries
Kariega is known for the large industries situated there. The largest of these industries is Volkswagen of South Africa and the Goodyear factories.
An automotive supplier park, Alexander Park Industrial, has also been created directly next to the Volkswagen factory, thus allowing automotive component manufacturers to construct their manufacturing plants close by.
Other industries of note are the food processing giant, Sovereign Foods, located in the Kruisrivier industrial area, and the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistics Park, which hosts several other industries, including Fauricia. These industries are heavily interlinked.
