Name change expected to be finalised in court this week
By the end of this week, the city should either be called Nelspruit or Mbombela.

NELSPRUIT – The case to determine the town’s planned name change will finally be heard from tomorrow.
The case in the Pretoria High Court was meant to begin in August, but a double booking of the judge caused the case to be postponed until Tuesday.
The Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism (KLCBT) is taking the Minister of Arts and Culture to court to restore Nelspruit’s name. Its change to Mbombela has been gazetted, but because council voted in favour of Mbombela City instead, both names are in use.
According to Ms Linda Grimbeek, manager of finance and visitor information centres at the chamber, the hearing is expected to last two days. “By the end of this week, the capital city of Mpumalanga will have only one name,” she said. “The KLCBT is confident it will be restored to Nelspruit.”
In court this week, the KLCBT will be represented by Adv Gerhard Cilliers SC and Adv Mervin Ripp. Mr Johann du Preez from Kruger and Partners Inc has been providing all other legal services to the chamber. It will also be represented by Mr Johan Barnard, KLCBT president, Mr Nick Elliot, former president, and Grimbeek.
They said that they wished to extend a final word of thanks to all the supporters who have donated towards the legal costs of the case, as well as Du Preez rendering his services free of charge.
Grimbeek said the chamber needed an extra R200 000 in addition to the R400 000 they estimated initially. She said they planned to host a golf day early in the new year to raise these funds.
Alternatively, funds can be contributed to the cause at the chamber’s offices at Crossing Centre or make deposits directly into the following bank accounts: Standard Bank, Nelspruit branch, LCBT, account number 330 670 689; First National Bank, branch code 270 352, Lowveld Info, account number 531 300 392 25; or Absa Bank, Nelspruit branch, Lowveld Business, account number 405 473 5407.