Witbank

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Witbank
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image_caption = Aerial view over the suburbs


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = South Africa
subdivision_type1 = Province
subdivision_name1 = Mpumalanga
subdivision_type2 = District Municipality
subdivision_name2 = Nkangala
subdivision_type3 = Local Municipality
subdivision_name3 = Emalahleni
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timezone = SAST
utc_offset = +2
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latd=-25.876579 |latm= |lats= |latNS=
longd=29.200974 |longm= |longs= |longEW=
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Witbank is situated on the highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa, within the Emalahleni Local Municipality. [cite web |url=http://www.emalahleni.gov.za/faq.html |title=Emalahleni FAQ |accessdate=2008-07-04 |author= |last= |first= |authorlink= |coauthors= |date= |format= |work= |publisher= |pages= |language= |doi= |archiveurl= |archivedate= |quote= ] The name Witbank is Afrikaans for "White Ridge" and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wagon transport drivers rested. In March 2006, the town was renamed Emalahleni, the Nguni word for "the place of coal". eMalahleni is in the coal mining area with 22 collieries in an area no more than 40 km in any direction. There are a number of power stations (such as the Duvha Power Station), as well as a steel mill, Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation, nearby which all require coal.

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 .

In the 1994 AWB invasion of Bophuthatswana Witbank was one of the right- wing strongholds where AWB commandos were called in from.Fact|date=May 2007

Trivia

* Winston Churchill, then a young soldier-journalist, hid in a colliery near Witbank after his escape from Pretoria during the Second Boer War.

*Witbank Dam is the biggest municipal dam in the southern hemisphere.

References

ee also

External links