Property

South Africa’s new R3.2 billion private Afrikaans university on the way

Kirsten Minnaar • 28 November 2025

On Friday, 28 November, Akademia, in partnership with Kanton, held the official sod-turning ceremony for its R3.2 billion Afrikaans university campus in Pretoria.

The ceremony, held at the Mooiplaats site on Boschkop Road, approximately eight kilometres from Solomon Mahlangu Drive, marked the start of the project’s first phase of construction.

Akademia said the project is the largest of its kind in the history of the Afrikaans language and cultural communities in terms of higher education.

Phase one of the project, which has an investment value of R1.8 billion, represents the core of the future campus. During this phase, 80% of the academic campus will be built.

“The capital is in place, and we are ready to build,” said Kanton managing director Henk Schalekamp. As the project continues into the next phases of development, funding will continue.

In total, an estimated R3.2 billion is required to complete the project. The campus spans 220 hectares, 70 of which will be used for the academic buildings, hostels and sports centres.

The university will open its doors in 2028 to 5,000 undergraduate and 1,000 postgraduate students. Applications for new students will open in 2027.

Ground preparation has already begun, while full-scale construction activities are scheduled to commence in January 2026.

The first phase will include construction of numerous state-of-the-art lecture halls, advanced laboratories, dedicated research spaces, staff spaces, and various support facilities.

“The design will further emphasise the integration of innovative spaces, technology, and fluent human interaction,” Akademia said. Other infrastructure highlights in this phase include:

2,500-square-metre student centre
Residences for about 750 students, after which the capacity will be expanded to 1,500 during the second phase
Large entry point to the academic campus called Die Poort (“the gate”), which consists of eight arches of 18 metres each
Amphitheatre with a capacity for 1,500 people
Chapel plaza surrounded by water canals and gardens
Dome structure of glass and steel, 20 metres high and 32 metres in diameter
The project will require the relocation of more than 220,000 cubic metres of land and 7.1 million bricks for buildings and other structures.

A landmark project

Supporting infrastructure will include 30,000 square metres of tarmac roads, 23 kilometres of underground pipes, and 19.3-million-litre water storage capacity.

The campus will also boast a 2 megawatt grid-tied solar system, with half of the capacity to be installed during Phase One.

To facilitate Internet connectivity, 40 kilometres of new optical fibre cable will be deployed. The main contractors for the first phase will be JC van der Linde and Venter Bouers.

These companies were also responsible for the successful delivery of the R300 million Sol-Tech campus in Monument Park, Pretoria, which was completed early and under budget.

Kanton managing director Henk Schalekamp said the chosen main contractors’ experience, expertise, discipline, and shared values attest to their designation as the team to handle this complex development.

Once the campus is completed, there will be eight dormitories – four male and four female – which will house 1,500 students. There will also be day houses to accommodate students not living on campus.

Getting this project started has taken years of work before the first ground was ever broken. Schalekamp said the biggest challenge Kanton has faced was getting the approvals, including environmental assessments and building rights.

Akademia’s managing director, Marthinus Visser, explained that, from an academic point of view, the biggest challenge has been the accreditation of fields of study.

Professional degrees, like engineering and the medical field of study, have also posed challenges, especially since the campus lacks the requisite lab space to host certain fields.

For this reason, the campus will not offer all the same degrees as a larger public institution at its launch. However, Akademia has made strides to expand its offering.