Nelspruit

The name Roodewal originates from the deep red soil of the Brondal Valley, a fertile expanse that has sustained Lowveld agriculture for generations. At the heart of this landscape stands a homestead approaching its centenary, notable for being one of the region’s earliest guest houses. The structure was designed with a deliberate nod to African indigenous architecture, comprising a cluster of elegant, thatched rondavels linked by spacious communal areas and set within established gardens.

Martly Malherbe, the original builder, was an actress who later transitioned into education. Alongside physiotherapist Professor Jean Blair, she established the Brondal school and clinic to serve the local farming community.

Martly Malherbe preparing her rural schools program in her corner at Margsol Roodewal homestead

The homestead’s cultural significance was cemented when the photographer David Goldblatt included a portrait of Malherbe, taken within a corner of the house, in his seminal work, Some Afrikaners Revisited. This intellectual atmosphere drew other notable figures, including the pioneering ecologist and author Eugene Marais. Marais sought the seclusion of Roodewal to document his observations on termites and primates, a period of creative output that preceded...

The wonderful story below appeared in the Nelspruit Post on 21 February 2018. Thank you to the team from Mpumalanga Heritage and The Lowvelder for giving us permission to publish.

Last week a lot was said and much was speculated about the large sycamore fig in front of the old Land Bank building in Bester Street in the old town centre. The tree stands well preserved and cared for in an enclosure of its own, and not without reason. This was to protect what is without a doubt the tree with the most historic significance in old Nelspruit - and to my mind in the whole of Mbombela. This was after some readers contacted us to remind us of a discovery once made under the shady leaves of that tree, which sent us to the archives of Lowveld Media, publishers of Nelspruit Post.

Not only was this indigenous tree rooted here long before the town of Nelspruit ever existed - before it was surveyed and laid out parallel with the old Eastern railway line, or Oosterspoor, between Pretoria and Lourenco Marques in the 1890s. For many years its generous shade was also home to the first smithy ever to open a business in the Lowveld.

When the Land Bank was built in the early 1950s, this modern and cleverly designed two-storey building, with window screens constructed at an angle measured to screen off the harsh Lowveld afternoon sun, was set a few metres deeper from the sidewalk than its neighbouring structures...