The
Krugerrand is perhaps South Africa's most famous export. South Africa's
gold built the only modern industrial complex in Africa, and a nation which
to this day accounts for 25% of Africa's economic output. The South African
economy has been built on the gold bullion exported from the mines. The
symbol of the gold industry is the Krugerrand, a coin made of pure gold
and weighing 10oz. The obverse of the coin features the coin's namesake
- President Kruger.
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger,
known as Paulus Kruger or Oom ("Uncle") Paul was born on 10 October 1825
in the Cape Colony. Kruger was a lifelong campaigner for Afrikaner interests.
His life was shaped by the events which shaped the Afrikaner nation itself
-- his parents made the Great Trek into the north of South Africa, and
Kruger himself dedicated his life to the Boer (Afrikaners), eventually becoming
president of the Transvaal, an independent Afrikaner republic (also known
as the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR)).
The Boer War (1899-1902) saw the
end of the independence of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (the
other independent Afrikaner republic), and President Kruger was forced
into exile in The Netherlands. He campaigned tirelessly for European nations
to support the Afrikaners, but died on July 14, 1904 in Clarens, Switzerland.
He was buried in The Hague, Netherlands, but was reburied in Pretoria on
16 December, 1904.
Held as the father of Afrikaner
nationalism, when South Africa became independent 8 years later in 1910,
the Afrikaners commemorated their heroes from the Great Trek and the wars
against the British, foremost amongst whom was President Kruger.
The reverse of the coin features
a sable antelope and the description (in Afrikaans and English) - "Fyngoud
10oz Fine Gold".