Delmas is a small maize farming town situated east of Johannesburg in Mpumalanga, South Africa. The town is located some 19 km north-east of Springs and 73 km south-east of Pretoria.HistoryThe town was laid out in 1907 on the farm Witklip and has been administered by a town council since 1965. The name is derived from the French de la mas and was given by the Frenchman Frank Campbell Dumat, former owner of Witklip, after his grandfather's farm in France. He originally laid out the town with 192 residential stands, 48 4 ha small holdings and 138 ha of commonage but by 1909 the governments added a further 5,500 ha to the town. This would be divided into 85 small holdings of around 64 ha.GeographyCommunitiesBothibelong is a township 3 km north of Delmas. The name is derived from Sotho and means 'protection'. A newer location is named Botleng, which means 'place of beauty' in Sotho.EconomyAgricultureThe farms in the region produce maize, wheat, potatoes and chickens. AFGRI runs a chicken abbatoir in the town.SportsThe Delmas Golf Club is a nine-hole golf course that opened in 1960.InfrastructureTransportationDelmas is an important railway junction on the Springs to Witbank rail-line, a line that connects to the Richards Bay Coal Terminal.
