Page 80 - SAICE book proof 2 LATEST JULY 2014

s a i c e

CHAPTER 6: Mpumalanga Province

Introduction are still used or visible. This was also the route that the
sad old president used to escape to Europe to escape
This area was generally known as the Lowveld although the onslaught of the mighty British Empire when his
major parts of this province straddle the escarpment of Republic was defeated – all for gold and riches. The
southern Africa and many mountains within its bound- historic past of this province even talks about Winston
aries. It borders on four provinces – Limpopo, Gauteng, Churchill who as a young escapee from prison, fled
Free State and KwaZulu-Natal as well as bordering along the route while the Boers were in pursuit.
Swaziland and Mozambique. It has huge contrasts in
terms of climate – in winter, from the sometimes bleak, A place for all seasons – a place of rich history and heri-
frosty and misty highlands in the west to the subtropi- tage – a place where the tribes from up north settled
cal and balmy airs of the low-lying areas near the Mo- on their migrations towards the south – a province that
zambique border. In terms of the plant world one can gave rise to wonderful stories of hardship and courage
find rare cycads to rain forests on the eastern parts of like Jock of the Bushveld by Sir James Percy FitzPat-
the escarpment, to man-made forests of pine, wattle rick.
and eucalyptus, and not very far away groves of ba-
nana, mango and litchi, hectares of sugar cane farms The reader of Travels with Civils will find a wealth of
and kilometres away bushveld at its best. publications about this province but this one will point
out how civil engineering once more provides the very
This province is however most probably best known for backbone of a region that has grown from sleepy vil-
some diverse reasons, namely the world famous Kruger lages and a place where the lion roars to a modern
National Park in the east and in addition many other industrial economy with nature a stone throw away.
wildlife reserves and by contrast the vast coalfields in
the southwest that feed power stations across the world Mbombela previously known as Nelspruit is the capital
and where one of the millions of tons of coal is trans- city of the province.
ported along a high tech dedicated coal line, a smelter
that produces stainless steel and the biggest synthetic This province features:
liquid fuel plants in the world that provide 28% of South
Africa’s petrol and diesel. In addition, it is a major pro- 1. Freeways, toll roads and collapsing sands
ducer of chemicals from coal. make an interesting combination as is evident on the
route from Johannesburg to Maputo. Collapsing sands
But this is not all, the railway line that was built by or sands that compress substantially under load, caused
George Pauling to connect the old South African Repub- damage to roads as uncontrolled subsidence took place
lic of Paul Kruger with a seaport at the then named Del- after construction. Much has been learned from earlier
agoa Bay, today Maputu which remains a historic heri- mistakes and nowadays the collapsing sands undergo
tage since most of the magnificent stone arch bridges compaction before road construction takes place. The

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