Melmoth is a small town situated in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. The town was established in the Mthonjaneni district after the annexation of Zululand by the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

in 1887 and was named after Sir Melmoth Osborn, the resident commissioner of Zululand's "Reserve Territory". Large wattle plantations were set up and a wattle bark factory was established in 1926. The district is also planted with sugar cane from the outskirts of the town and into the surrounding villages. The government-funded hospital in Melmoth is St Marys kwaMagwaza Hospital that caters for the people of Melmoth and surrounding villages. In 2017, the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC) made a decision to rename Melmoth to eMthonjaneni, the same name as the local municipality it is in. Vehicle registrations in Melmoth start with NO - N for Natal, O for Osborn.

References

Populated places in the Mthonjaneni Local Municipality Populated places established in 1887 {{KwaZuluNatal-geo-stub