Witbank

Witbank is situated on the highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa. The name Witbank is Afrikaans for White Ridge and is named after a white sandstone outcrop where wagon transport drivers rested. Witbank is in the coal mining area with 22 collieries in an area no more than 40 km in any direction. There is a number of coal power stations nearby including the steel mill Highveld Steel and Vanadium Corporation.

Witbank was established in 1890 and early attemps 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.

Trivia

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