Jan Botma and the pass that carries his name

If you drive to Riebeek Kasteel from Cape Town, you cross the Bothmaskloof Pass. The road through it dates back to the 1700s, and its name comes from Jan Botma.

Botma received Kloovenburg on loan in 1704, with licences to hunt and graze cattle. He was an experienced wine farmer and planted vineyards on the farm's slopes. Before he died he also acquired the farm Zonquasdrift on the Berg River.

He left both farms to his wife, Christina de Bruijn, known as Stintjie. After her death in 1724, Kloovenburg passed to Wouter de Vos, and Zonquasdrift to Jan Jacobsz, a man she had freed from slavery.

By 1750 later owners were making sweet wine and brandy on Kloovenburg. In the 1800s the farm was also known as Botman's Kloof.