Bulembu

Bulembu was built as a company town for the Havelock asbestos mine, which ran from the 1930s and at its height was one of the largest asbestos operations in the world, with a cableway carrying ore twenty kilometres to Barberton. The mine closed in 2001 and the town emptied. It was bought whole in 2006 by a charity that has reoccupied the houses and reopened businesses as a children's project.

History

Bulembu, named after the siSwati word for a spider's web, was built around the Havelock Mine, which worked chrysotile, or white asbestos, from 1939 as part of the British Turner and Newall group. After heavy losses in the late 1980s the mine went bankrupt in 1991 and was run on as Bulembu Mine by HVL Asbestos until it was liquidated in 2001, when most of the town's 10,000 residents left in search of work and little more than 50 people remained. In 2006 the town and its 1,700-hectare property were sold to the not-for-profit Bulembu Ministries, which set out to revive it as a self-sustaining community caring for orphans, starting timber and charcoal plantations, honey, bottled water, a bakery, a dairy, a mill and tourism in 2008-2009; by November 2009 it cared for 108 children, each living in a home with a carer and five other children (Wikipedia, Bulembu).

The main sights

• The company town - streets of mine housing laid out in the 1930s.
• The mine workings - the remains of the Havelock operation above the town.
• The cableway line - the route of the twenty kilometre ore ropeway to Barberton.
• The reoccupation - a charity running the town as a children's project since 2006.

When to go

April to September is drier and the mountain road is safer. Summer mist closes the road at times. Winter mornings at this altitude are cold.

Practical notes

Asbestos residue means marked areas must not be entered. The road up is steep gravel and difficult in wet weather. The town is a working project and access to parts of it is by arrangement.

Nearby

Emlembe is north, and Piggs Peak is east.

Key facts