SOUTH AFRICA

SOUTH AFRICA / SUID-AFRIKA.

Opening of Hendrik Verwoerd Dam (now, Gariep Dam and Gariep Dam Reservoir).
Third stamp in a set of 3, issued on 04.03.1972.
Face value: 10 cents of South African rand.
Design: C. Bridgeford.
Printing: Photogravure.
Size: 61 x 24 mm.

Catalogues
- Michel No. 411.
- Scott No. 370.
- South African Stamp No. 314.
- StampWorld No. 410.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 309.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 334.

This dam, whose construction began in 1965 and was opening in 1971, is located near the town of Norvalspont, bordering the Free State and Eastern Cape provinces. Was originally named the Hendrik Verwoerd Dam after Hendrik Verwoerd (whose profile appears on the stamp), the Prime Minister when the country changed from the Union of South Africa to the Republic of South Africa (in 1961), but the name was officially changed to Gariep Dam on 4 October 1996. The dam is on the Orange River, in a gorge at the entrance to the Ruigte Valley some 5 km (3.1 mi) east of Norvalspont. The structure is 88 m (289 ft) high and 914 m (2,999 ft) long, and the reservoir capacity is 5,340,000 megaliters (5,340 hm³). Gariep is original name of the Orange River in Khoekhoe language.