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EMalahleni

eMalahleni
Aerial view over the suburbs
Aerial view over the suburbs
eMalahleni is located in Mpumalanga
eMalahleni
eMalahleni
eMalahleni is located in South Africa
eMalahleni
eMalahleni
eMalahleni is located in Africa
eMalahleni
eMalahleni
 eMalahleni shown within Mpumalanga
Coordinates: 25°52′37″S 29°12′04″E / 25.877°S 29.201°E / -25.877; 29.201Coordinates: 25°52′37″S 29°12′04″E / 25.877°S 29.201°E / -25.877; 29.201
Country South Africa
Province Mpumalanga
District Nkangala
Municipality Emalahleni
Established 1890
Area
 • Total 164.27 km2 (63.43 sq mi)
Population (2011)
 • Total 108,673
 • Density 660/km2 (1,700/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
 • Black African 48.1%
 • Coloured 2.0%
 • Indian/Asian 2.5%
 • White 46.8%
 • Other 0.6%
First languages (2011)
 • Afrikaans 42.4%
 • Zulu 17.6%
 • English 13.7%
 • Northern Sotho 7.6%
 • Other 18.7%
Postal code (street) 1035
Area code 013

eMalahleni (meaning "place of coal"), formerly called Witbank, is a city situated on the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the eMalahleni Local Municipality. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for White Ridge and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wagon transport drivers rested. The city is known for the coal-mining in the surrounding region.

Witbank was established in 1890 and early attempts to exploit the coal deposits failed until the railway from Pretoria reached the area in 1894. It was proclaimed a town in 1903 and became a municipality in 1914. Despite attempts by governing bodies to establish the use of the name, eMalahleni, for the city as well as for the district, locals still tend to call the city by its original name. Similarly to the anglicised pronunciation of Johannesburg, English-speaking residents pronounce the name as “wit•bank” and not as “vit•bunk” as in the original Afrikaans pronunciation, nor as “vit•bank” as English-speaking visitors are prone to say.

There are many stories about the city and its origination but the top story would be the arrival of Winston Churchill at the nearby Transvaal and Delagoa Bay Colliery during his escape from Boer imprisonment in Pretoria, on his way to Delagoa Bay (later Lourenço Marques, and then Maputo, in Mozambique). Some local residents, loyal to the Crown, assisted him in hiding and making the final leg of his escape, thus gaining Witbank the consequent credit once the details of these events could be made known. The town has grown since then from a farming community into a business destination where companies such as Anglo American, BHP Billiton, Evraz, Eskom, Exxaro, Joy, Komatsu, the Renova Group, SAB Miller, SAMANCOR, Shanduka Beverages, TMISSP and Xstrata amongst many others have found substantial returns on their investments.


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