The original name of the farm on which the town was established was Sefatlhane / Sebatlani (meaning dusty place) belonging to Casper Hendrik Coetzee who bought it in 1858. The farm was later renamed Hazenjacht, and after that Hazia / Hazeah. Casper Coetzee contracted Walter Seymore to build a church and a fort on this farm, but Casper died before this was completed. In 1866, the farm then came into the hands of his cousin / Brother-in-law Diederik Jacobus Coetzee, who saw the potential of developing a town on the farm. He measured out some erven with the idea of starting a town, using "Ox riems" to measure out the plots instead of the accepted surveyors chains. On 20 March 1867, the first erven of the newly established Coetzee-Rust were sold per public auction in Potchefstroom, before official recognition of the request to start a town was granted. The village gained official recognition in 1868, and later gained a landdrost (magistrate) in November 1871.[2]:237

The name Coetzee's Rust was later abbreviated to Zeerust.[3] Municipal status was obtained on 18 March 1936. Zeerust however wasn't the first town in this area. That honour belongs to Jacobsdal, a small village about 10 km south of Zeerust situated on the farm Vergenoegd, near the Lucerne station. The popularity of Zeerust as trading centre, caused the demise of Jacobsdal, and now it does not exist as a town anymore.

The main languages of Zeerust are Tswana and Afrikaans. The Batswana (Tswana people) call the town Sefatlhane. After the democratic dispensation in 1994, the name of the municipality- Zeerust was changed to Ramotshere Moiloa, after a mid-20th century chief of the Bahurutshe boo Moiloa who was also a political enemy of the Apartheid state. The town is a commercial hub for most of the villages situated in the Lehurutshe area, a few of which include; Lekgophung, Supingstad, Moshana, Serake, Rietpan, Motswedi, Dinokana, Lekubu, Mosweu, Ntsweletsoku, Mokgola, Borakalalo, Gopane and Senkapole.