08/08/2023
One of Malelane's earliest pioneers was Captain GJ (Mkonto) Elphick. After having fought in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902), Elphick bought the old Malelane farm and successfully planted tomatoes, cotton, mangos, oranges, and pawpaws. Elphick also pioneered the commercial aspect of Malelane by opening the first store in the vicinity.
Despite Elphick's operations, the Onderberg area was predominantly a bush area and formed part of The Kruger Shooting Concession. Leopard, lion and buffalo were often shot as a sport. In 1926 the area was proclaimed as The Kruger National Park and hunting stopped. The effect of this was minimal as visitors to the area now visited to see the game instead of hunting it. With the formation of the national park, a barbed-wire fence was erected. This had little effect on the agricultural sector of the region except that animals were now more controlled and were limited in roaming onto farmers' crops, although larger game such as buffalo and elephant still strayed onto farms.
In 1942 the government of the Transvaal commissioned a dirt road through the area for military use, that was later tarred. The road increased traffic through the area; however, this had little effect on the local economy as the traffic was primarily passing through to Lourenço Marques (now Maputo). The odd traveler may have stopped at a local shop but the increase in trade had no real impact.
In 1963 the fence bordering the Kruger National Park was upgraded to meet international standards and was proclaimed proficient against the threat of foot and mouth disease in the park. The migration of larger game was severely restricted. Elephant, buffalo, lion, and hippo now had extremely limited access to crops and farmers could invest more into their products as the threat of them being destroyed by wild animals was minimal. Cattle were a popular choice as the threat of them being eaten by predators was now much less than before (although it still occurred).
1965 saw the upgrade of the foot and mouth fence. It was electrified and known as the Snyman fence. It also saw the construction of the Transvaal Suiker Beperk (TSB) sugar mill near the Malalane entrance of the Kruger National Park. Naturally, this had the effect of mass planting of sugar cane in the area. The area soon began to flourish and was characterized by good sugar production and tourism. The mill still runs to this day and serves local farmers. The military road was upgraded again the meet the needs of the area but also to service Eskom operations in the area. This meant easier access for tourists to enter the region and to travel to Mozambique. The upgrade never saw any tangible benefit to farmers except that goods could be transported more easily.
Source: Wikipedia
