A Brief Overview
Witbank was established as a town in 1903 when the rush for coal became greater, the coal mines were built before 1890, the people failed to take the coal to market. The town only began to function properly when the Pretoria/Delagoa Bay railway was built. The town’s name originated from the surrounding white sandstone outcrop where the wagon transport drivers used to stop over at Witbank. Witbank is Afrikaans for “White Ridge”. Recently Witbank’s name was changed
to eMalahleni on the 3 March 2006. The name is a wonderful reflection of the town coal mining history as it means the “place of coal”.
