Established in 1880 and named after a local farmer, Van Wyksvlei lies close to the first, state-funded dam, built in 1882 and still in use. Vanwyksvlei or Van Wyk’s Vlei is a small town in the Northern Cape. The Vanwyksvlei Dam was the first (1882) state-funded dam build in South Africa.

Van Wyksvlei is part of the Kareeberg Local Municipality which is a Category B municipality situated within the Pixley Ka Seme District in the Northern Cape Province. It is bordered by the ZF Mgcawu District and Siyathemba in the north, Ubuntu in the south, Emthanjeni in the east, and the Namakwa District in the west.
It is the second-largest municipality of the eight that make up the district, accounting for 17% of its geographical area. The name originates from a mountain range in the region, the Karee Mountains.

Other Cities/Towns in the same municipality are Carnarvon and Vosburg.

Van Wyksvlei

Main Place 372001 from Census 2011

Area: 2.66 km²
Population: 1721 (647.93 per km²)
Households: 454 (170.92 per km²)

Gender People Percentage
Female 914 53.11%
Male 807 46.89%
Population group People Percentage
Coloured 1592 92.50%
White 69 4.01%
Black African 39 2.27%
Indian or Asian 15 0.87%
Other 6 0.35%
First language People Percentage
Afrikaans 1684 97.85%
isiXhosa 12 0.70%
Sesotho 6 0.35%
Setswana 6 0.35%
English 5 0.29%
Sign language 5 0.29%
Other 3 0.17%
Tshivenda 1 0.06%
isiNdebele 1 0.06%