ABSTRACT
EMalahleni, a secondary city located in Mpumalanga Province about 40 km east of the border of Gauteng Province, South Africa's economic heartland, owes its fortunes and growth to its abundant coal reserves. EMalahleni's economy has been growing rapidly for the past two decades due to the country's increasing energy demands and the local steel industry. The city is struggling with water and air pollution problems, which are compounded by the municipality's governance difficulties: eMalahleni Municipality was placed under government administration in 2013. EMalahleni provides a good example of the complexities involved in the growth of mining towns and cities. This chapter looks at the pressures that mining growth has placed on eMalahleni and how the secondary city with limited institutional capacity has reacted. The economic importance of eMalahleni has prompted the Mpumalanga provincial government to investigate the possibility of expanding the steel manufacturing in the area. The availability of coal, power, water and transport routes has attracted the steel industry.
