It is colloquially called "Bulte"(meaning Hills) by its residence and neighbors, as depicted by the Mine Dumps surrounding the Township.

However, this is difficult to discern from historical works, which, if they mention Noordgesig at all, only name it, and predominantly focus on the establishment of Orlando in the mid-1930s, and then later in the 1950s, the construction of Meadowlands and Diepkloof, or the uprising of June 16, 1976.

Noordgesig was not administered as part of greater Orlando until after the end of apartheid, and is therefore not distinguished from it, which consequently might offer a reason why histories of Soweto never include its establishment in their analysis.

The significant increase in urban migration into cities, particularly those on the Witwatersrand, due to the growth in manufacturing industries and job opportunities before and during World War II, led to a shortage of accommodation for new arrivals.

Noordgesig, can be understood as a locality made up of people, present and in the past, who in the majority are considered coloured, whether self-ascribed, or imposed, by virtue of their race, identity, class and complex relationship to ‘black’ Soweto.