On the 15th of April 1858 a royal exequatur, announcing Oloff John Truter's appointment as the first Consul-General of the Netherlands in the Cape, arrived aboard the Mail Steamer, the 'Celt'. And so begins the story of the Dutch Consulate General in Cape Town.

This early Honorary Consul needed to be a well-connected and upstanding member of the local community. His main duty was to protect Dutch shipping and trade. Oloff John Truter, a trading agent for the Nederlandsche Handel Maatschappij (Netherlands Trading Society), and a well-respected, born-and-bred Cape attorney fluent in both English and Dutch was well suited to the position.

In 1958, the Consulate General took office at 100 Strand Street. The building forms part of the Lutheran Church complex, one of the most well known architectural landmarks in Cape Town. In 1949 it was proclaimed a National Monument.

In 2007, the Consulate General celebrated 150 years of diplomatic presence in South Africa. That same year, we celebrated our fifty year-lease with the Lutheran Church.