Welkom is a city in Lejweleputswa District Municipality in the Free State province of South Africa, located about 154 km north-east of Bloemfontein, the provincial capital.
Welkom is also known as “Circle City”, “City Within A Garden”, “Mvela” and “Matjhabeng”. The city’s Sesotho name, Matjhabeng means ‘where nations meet’, derived from the migrant labour system, where people of various countries such as Lesotho, Mozambique, and Malawi etc. met to work in the mines of the gold fields.
A settlement was laid out on a farm named Welkom (which is the Afrikaans and Dutch word for “welcome”) after gold was discovered in the region, and it was officially proclaimed a town in 1948. The town became a municipality in 1961 and currently falls in the Matjhabeng Local Municipality, part of the Lejweleputswa District Municipality.
Welkom is South Africa’s youngest city and has grown in subsequent years at a rate matched with Johannesburg in Gauteng. Welkom is also the second-largest city in the Free State province, after Bloemfontein.
The city has a very effective road system which uses traffic circles in the majority instead of traffic lights, giving Welkom the nickname “Circle City”.
Welkom’s attractions include Goldfields Casino, Funtatia Fun Park, and the Phakisa race track amongst many others.
