The line was finally opened in 1895 and growth followed as people quickly rushed to buy land in and around the Mbombela City area. Today, property prices are soaring again and the city’s economy benefits from its proximity to Mozambique and eSwatini (then Swaziland) while tourism has also been identified as a growth area.
The City of Mbombela offers easy access to many of the world’s finest game parks and is close to the Eastern Escarpment, a 1 200-metre wall of jagged mountain towering above the African bush. The city is also home to the National Botanical Gardens, set in 154 hectares of land along the eastern bank of the Crocodile River, containing no fewer than 512 plant species indigenous to the area.
Nelspruit Campus is situated close to the centre of Nelspruit and on the Maputo corridor. This Campus is one of the initially merged Campuses to make Ehlanzeni TVET College together with Mlumati, Kanyamazane and Mthimba. The Campus was previously known as Nelspruit Technical College and was a state-aided College. Originally this Campus offered Business Studies only, and peaked at approximately 300 students because of lack of lecturing rooms. When Engineering Studies was introduced due to numerous enquiries by Business and Industry and the community at large in and around Nelspruit, the infrastructure had to be expanded by increasing the number of lecture rooms. Currently the Campus accommodates 1640 students. The Campus offers Electrical programmes as niche programme. The Campus is 3km from the Central Office of the College.
The Campus has a student residence for 50 female students.