Fairy tale of the R8.3-billion smart city next to the Kruger Park

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26-01-2026
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Five years after construction was meant to begin on Mpumalanga’s first post-apartheid city, the R8-billion site of Nkosi City remains empty, save for a lone, rugged ring road.

Set to be built close to the Western border of the Kruger National Park in the community of Daantjie, about 35km from Mbombela, the concept of Nkosi City was just a dream for 10 years.

However, in 2019, plans were reportedly signed off, and developer Dovetail Properties was optimistic that construction could begin in February 2020.

This did not materialise, and two years later, in February 2022, Dovetail said construction of the Nkosi City shopping complex would begin in June.

Dovetail Properties director Philip Kleijnhans even noted that no bulk water was available yet and that they would use boreholes for the supply.

This also didn’t happen. However, in July 2024, the City of Mbombela Local Municipality MEC for Human Settlements, Speed Mashilo, told Mpumalanga News that the project was back on track.

Mashilo acknowledged and expressed his disappointment at the development’s slow progress since 2009.

“I have dealt with the issue of Nkosi City. It’s a long outstanding issue,” said Mashilo.

“I realised that it has been in the integrated development plans of the CoM and Ehlanzeni District Municipality for almost 14 years, and this is quite unfortunate.”

Mashilo said that he had given the municipalities a deadline by which to design and conclude a township establishment for the area.

He said that one positive thing was that they already had the general plan approved by the surveyor general.

“The municipalities must just move towards registering the area so that it’s no longer just a farm, but a livable area, so that it can be developed,” he said.

He said the two municipalities involved in the project are the City of Mbombela (CoM) and the Ehlanzeni District.

More than a year later, there has still been no progress. After seventeen years in development, Nkosi City remains a fairy tale told to the people of Pienaar in Daantjie.

The Nkosi City dream

According to Dovetail Properties, Nkosi City’s proposed components are residential areas comprising 3,471 houses and apartments.

These include 1,747 RDP houses, 1,166 social housing apartments, 558 bonded houses, and 241 hectares of urban farms.

Kleijnhans previously explained that the development would take the form of an agri-city, with residential housing situated amongst small-scale urban farming plots.

Nkosi City’s plans also include 9 preschools, 3 primary schools, 2 secondary schools, a TVET College, an agricultural training centre, and a training centre for the Dovetail Foundation.

Additionally, the city is to feature a 40,000m² retail centre, a fresh produce market, and a central business district with national and local tenants.

It will also feature light industrial areas, including a 2,400m² agricultural processing and packing facility, a 5,000m² primary co-op, and 13,528m² of mini factories and warehousing.

Kleijnhans envisioned that beneficiaries of RDP houses and wealthy owners of expensive, bonded properties would live side by side in Nkosi City.

He also said that the farming projects would create employment opportunities for unemployed women and young people in the area.

Part of the energy supplied to Nkosi City will come from a solar farm and a biomass renewable energy plant.

“This is a project where government, private enterprise and the local community are doing something together, probably for the first time,” Kleijnhans said in 2022.

“The city will not only be a central business district for the region, but also an agricultural hub of macadamias, citrus and cash crops, eventually totalling about 5,000 hectares.”

Kleijnhans said an initial feasibility study showed that the farming component of Nkosi City alone could generate more than R300 million for local communities in the first three years.

“What is left,” Kleijnhans said at the time, “is bulk water and electricity supply. Three dams are going to be built, and Eskom will provide electricity.”

No update from Dovetail or Mbombela

Kleijnhans declined to participate in this article, saying they had regretfully decided to keep Nkosi City out of the press.

“Every time something is published, we receive hundreds of emails, company profiles, brochures of products, suppliers, etc. It clogs up our emails,” he said.

“There will come a time quite soon, when an official update will be provided. However, thank you for your continued interest.”

MyBroadband also contacted the City of Mbombela Local Municipality for comment, but it didn’t respond by the time of publication.