Bellville is a town and former independent city that is now incorporated into the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The town is an industrial and commercial node, a university town, and a major transportation hub within the Greater Cape Town metropolis.
The residential suburb of Bellville lies approximately 23 kilometres (14.3 mi) north-east of Cape Town and 38 kilometres (23.6 mi) south-west of Paarl set amongst the Tygerberg Hills with views over the Cape Fold Mountains. Vehicle registrations in Bellville start with CY which also covers the Tygerberg areas of Durbanville, Parow and Goodwood.
Established
It was founded as "12 Mile Post" (Afrikaans: "12-Myl-Pos") because it is located 12 miles (20 km) from Cape Town city centre. It was first known as "Hardekraaltjie". Founded as a railway station on the line from Cape Town to Stellenbosch and Strand, it was renamed Bellville in 1861 after the surveyor-general Charles Bell.
Hospitals and educational institutes
The Karl Bremer Hospital functioned as the Academic Hospital for the University of Stellenbosch Medical School, but now the adjacent Tygerberg Hospital houses the medical school. Other hospitals in Bellville are: Mediclinic International Louis Leipoldt and Melomed. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology, University of the Western Cape, University of Stellenbosch Business School and Northlink College are also situated in Bellville. D.F. Malan High School, Bellville High School, Westcliff School of Skills, The Settlers High School and Stellenberg High School are located in the area. Primary Schools are: Bellpark, Bellville, Bellville-North, Boston, Eversdal, Excelsior, Kenridge, Mimosa, Totius, Belville Islamic Primary School, Vredelust and Welgemoed.
Other places of interest
The Bellville Velodrome is located in the Tyger Valley area of Bellville. The Bellville Velodrome has an indoor cycling track and is next to the Bellville athletics track that used to host the annual MTBS athletics competition. Bellville Mall, Tygervalley Shopping centre and Willow Bridge are shopping centres in Bellville. The last two shopping centres were built on the grounds that used to be a quarry and a jail.
Other sports an entertainment includes: Bellville library, Bellville swimming pool , Cool Runnings, and PP Smit Sport fields
Economy
Corporate headquarters
Bellville is one of the largest commercial nodes in the Greater Cape Town metropolis, home to several office and business parks with the most of the office space occupied in Bellville found in the Tyger Valley commercial node, north of the town.
The headquarters of several financial and insurance businesses, including South Africa’s largest insurance company Sanlam and its subsidiary Santam, as well as Momentum Metropolitan Holdings, are based in Bellville. Other large corporations based in the area include Pioneer Foods which is one of South Africa’s packaged goods company, Cipla South Africa (multinational pharmaceutical company), Medi-Rite (pharmaceutical retailer), Footgear (footwear company), Afrimat (mid-tier mining company) and the Bible Society of South Africa.
Bellville is also home to South African government department regional head offices and municipal head offices especially for electricity and water services, including South African power utility, ESKOM’s Western Cape headquarters, City of Cape Town’s Electricity Services, City of Cape Town’s Water and Sanitation department and the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Western Cape headquarters.
Geography
Location
Bellville lies in the centre of the northern suburbs of Cape Town with the boundaries of the town contiguous with Durbanville to the north, Parow to the west, Brackenfell to the east, Kuilsrivier to the southeast and Belhar to the south.
Topography
Bellville is both flat and hilly with the highest point in the town at the suburb of Welgemoed at approximately 310 m above sea level, perched high on the slopes of the Tygerberg Hills, north of the N1 highway. Other hilly parts of Bellville include the area from the eastern suburbs of Blommendal and Blomtuin stretching northwards across the N1 highway and the northern suburbs surrounding Bo-Oakdale, Tyger Valley, Ridgeworth, Stellenberg to Eversdal and Amanda Glen bordering with Durbanville.