After the death of his Wife, Rosa Louisa, on 19 May 1923, from Black water fever, “Mkonto” Elphick sold the Farm Malelane in 1928.

Andrews in turn sold the farm to Allan Francis Dowdle in 1940. Dowdle, a bachelor, was a businessman from Johannesburg. He was not interested in farming the land, but divided it into 50 acre plots and in 1943 advertised the plots at £1 000 each, with water rights.

There were two shops near the station at Malelane as well as a shop owned by Winty and Sons. Ishmael Ebrahim Minty (1886- 1949) of Nelspruit had opened a branch of his Nelspruit store under the trade name Minty & Sons in 1936, under control of Y S Sucee. The post office was housed in the station building and in the surrounding area there were a few English speaking Portuguese farmers. The farm Strathmore was farmed by T F Elphick, and South of the road was the magnesite mine, controlled by John Kettle and a small store close by run by Max Fall.

South of Malelane, James Henry Martins farmed cattle on the farm Minnehaha. He was one of the earliest farmers to buy ground in the twenties. Because he feared Malaria so mush he built a stone house on the mountain, employing a builder from Wales and a cabinet maker from a quarry on the farm and the wooden door and window frames were made from local timber. During the war years he housed Refugees in the cellar of the house. He was known by the Swazi as “Mkulumazonke”, which means he who can speak of everything. He had business interests in Cape Town and Johannesburg.

On the eastern side of Malelane J S and Manuel de Paiva farmed M’Hlati. They had obtained the farm from Tomaselli, a Johannesburg market agent, who had bought the farm from Rupert ‘Mhlati’ Atmore who went insolvent during the 1930’s. Portions of the farm Malelane were farmed by Manuel Sebastian, Francesco Sebastian, J George de Gouveia and M Rodrigues.

Cornelius Johannes Weyers (1910 - 1971) was the first buyer followed by Barry de Villiers (1912 - 1993), who bought two plots of ground. Thereafter other families followed such as, Dr Will Radley, who also bought two plots, Hector Brummer and his brother-in-law Fred Heuser, Dr Koos Burger (1897-1971) and his Brother-in-law, Gustav van Veijered (1905-1981)

Water for irrigation would be brought from the Spago dam on the farm Spago, to supply the plot owners. Dowdle fully expected to supply water as specified in the deeds of sale. A canal was contracted from the dam by Dowdle but owing to financial problems was never completed.

Means while the plot owners were angered as they were still without water and Dowdle continued to sell plots with water right. Barry de Villiers took home to task about this. Dowdle answered that if he had water in his suitcase he would give it to him, but he still continued to sell the plots with the right to a water supply.

Barry had two options, either to pump water himself as his plots were close to the Crocodile River, or to develop an irrigation scheme which would benefit the community as a whole. Alan Andrews had an old steam boiler next to the Crocodile River and later a diesel engine. Curt Rosenberg, one of the plot owners and Paiva, who farmed on M’Hlati, developed their own irrigation schemes.

Dowdle was persuaded to pay for the steam boiler next to the river and Barry supplied the equipment. The canal was made just south of the national road up to the station. Barry was the first plot owner next to the canal and those on the upper part of the canal were supplied by means of an intermediate pump. This eventually led to the establishment of the Malelane Irrigation Board in 1995.

On another portion of the farm Malelane, Dowdle planned a town in the form of a wagon wheel which was surveyed in 1994. The plan was approved in 1945 and he then applied for the establishment of the town. However, there was no financial gain in this venture as he was declared insolvent in 1946 and his assets sold at a public auction and bought by a business consortium. Dowdle left Malelane and lived with family in Sabie. He died in Johannesburg in 1947.

Rob Ferreira and his brother Martin founded the Malelane Development Company (Pty) Ltd. to pursue the application for the establishment of the town. The town was officially established on 6 July 1949 and named Malelane. `The first and only ‘Street’ - Stasieweg (Station Road) - in the town was also the entry road from the national road to the station. While the National Roads team was busy with the construction and tarring of the road between Nelspruit and Komatipoort, Rob Ferreira, Member of Provincial Council for the area, arranged for the tarring of all roads to the station of Kaapmuiden, Malelane, Hectorspruit and Komatipoort. In this way ‘Stasieweg’ was tarred - with the compliments of the State.

One of the ‘establishment stipulations’ was that water be provided to the houses along ‘Stasieweg’ as well as to at least three further points as suitable places for the convenience of the residents of the town. Water was from a borehole and pumped to a reservoir. In order to obtain this service stands had to be bought along ‘Stasieweg”, all other stands were sold without this amenity. Home - owners had to see to their own sewerage and rubbish removal.

Nico Horn, who became a director of the Malelane Development Company (Pty) Ltd. and who was in control of the development of the town, established the first electricity scheme in the Malelane Garage for the town. A 75KW generator supplied electricity daily from 07:00 to 23:00 to homes, shops, a butchery and garage. This scheme continued until Eskom began to supply power to Malelane in 1962.

As the was no community hall in existence for church services, and other activities, Dr Will Radley arranged for a meeting of interested parties to be held in the show room of the Malelane Garage.
Cornelius Weyers donated the first £30 towards the building of the hall. Rob Ferreira, as representative of Malelane Development Company (Pty) Ltd, donated the stand for the building, through the negotiation and support of Mrs. Lala de Villiers.

Dr Radley proposed that a building commission, for the building of the hall, be chosen. This commission consisted of Barry de Villiers, Fred Heuser, Piet Meyer and Dr Will Radley. Dr Radley was the architect and builder and designed a hall of 80 feet x 30 feet (approximately 25m x 9m). The front gable was a replica of the Voortrekker (Pioneer) Church of the Covenant at Petersburg. This hall belonged to the Malelane Hall Committee and as Dr Radley and Nico Horn were the only remaining members of the original committee, they signed the necessary document granting the stand and hall to the Malelane Cane Grower Society free of charge.

Until the l940’s there was no control over malaria and houses had to be sprayed with insecticide during the summer month to eradicate mosquitoes. A Clinic was founded Malelane and was originally under control of the Shongwe Hospital, but later, owing to administrative problems, they could no longer assist. The Clinic then functioned independently but eventually fell into disuse.

Owing to the large labor force involved in the farming activities around Malelane, a clinic was a necessity. Under the auspices of the Community Development Association, assisted by John Roberts and the Malelane Farmers Association, a suitable potion of land was obtained from Malelane Estates, free of charge, for the establishment of a clinic. During 1991 this clinic, known as Malelane Estates Clinic, was declared open by the Mayor, Dr Willem Bekker.

During the first ten years of the town’s existence the Post Office was built (1952), and the school (1955). Other than that until 1960 the only development which took place was the establishment of a few shops around the Rotunda Circle, a café, Catholic Church, with Father Francis Morscher as the first Priest, Police Station, which was transferred from Kaalrug and a few houses. The N.G Church and manse were erected in 1961, with Rev Lodewyk de Clercq as the first Minister.

With the inception of the Health Committee for Peri-urban areas (Later the Transvaal Council for Peri-urban Areas) an Area Committee for Malelane was formed by the Administrator on 16 Augustus 1957 with M.C Ferreira, G.R van Veijeren, B.M de Villiers and NJ Horn as member.

The Sugar Industry, which was established in 1965, had a great impact on the economy of the Onderberg, and in the particular on Malelane. Up to this time it was still a village with a total of 320 people and a primary school for 105 scholars. According to an aerial photograph, taken in 1964, there were only 23 buildings or structures in and around the town, including a hotel, two banks, two filling stations, two shops and four churches. The erection of the Sugar Mill, between 1965 and 1967, meant that TSB had to provide housing for their workers. There were no houses in Malelane to buy or to rent and TSB had to undertake the builder of 70 homes in the town. Facilities for sports and recreation had to be made available. The factory’s personnel were housed close to the mill - its own little town known as Mhlathi Kop.

During the 1980’s Malelane developed rapidly as the sugar mill expanded its activities. In 1985 a new camp ‘Berg en Dal’ was opened in the Kruger National Park, as well as the Malelane Lodge, in 1988, on the banks of the Crocodile River, both of which brought an influx of tourists to the area.

As Malelane grew, Dr Willem Bekker, Managing Director of TSB, and Chairman of the Area Committee, began to negotiate for the establishment of a Municipality for the town. This was granted and from 1 July 1990 Malelane gained Municipality status. During the first council meeting, held during the same months, five council members were elected by the first town clerk, Deon Geldenhuys. Dr. Willem Bekker was unanimously elected mayor of Malelane. Wilhelm Kruger was elected deputy mayor and Hendrik van Dyk, Louis van Zyl and Johnny Lugar members of the council. The last Administrator of the Transvaal, Daniel Hough, attended the induction of the first Town Council on 27 July 1990. The opening of a modern airport, 6 km east of Malelane, by TSB at the beginning of 1991, was a further development in the area. It is 1 100m in length and 18m wide, is tarred and could be upgraded to a regional airport for the Lowveld at little cost. Since 1992, Extension 5 was established to fulfil the need for additional housing; new shopping complexes in Impala Street were build, and a new sewage disposal plant an extension to the water purification works instituted. The extension of the water purification works was officially opened by Premier Mathews Phosa on 4 November 1994.

In addition to the Malelane Mill and its associated activities, Malelane also boasts a citrus co-operative and fruit juice factory located in the industrial area adjacent to the railway line in the northern part of town. In accordance with the Transitional Act on Local Government, 1993 Malelane became a Local Transitional Council on 29 November 1994 with John Lugar, Hendrik van Dyk, Dr Willem Bekker, Hennie Snyman, John Roberts and M.D Maluka, S.E Makamo, S.V Mdhluli, P.M Lekhuleni and E.M Makhoshe as additional members. John Lugar was elected Mayor and M.D Maluka Deputy Mayor on 7 December 1994.

Malelane is ideally situated next to the N4, Kruger National Park, in the middle of the wild Frontier, on the Maputo Corridor and close to the Casinos of Swaziland. With the establishment of the Wild Frontier and Maputo Corridor, Malelane will fulfil an ever increasing role in the economics activities of the Onderberg region.