The name Bushbuck Ridge was given because of the large herds of
bushbuck found there in the 1880s, and the prominent WNW-ESE ridge in the southeastern part of the municipality. The town of
Bushbuckridge grew around a trading store that opened in 1884. Prior to the colonial and apartheid era, the land known today as Bushbuckridge and
Hazyview was well known as Mapulaneng, it has been home to the Mapulana people for centuries before the
Shangaan people and the
Swazi people were allowed to settled in the area during the reign of Mapulana chief Maripe Mashile. Mapulaneng was replaced during the white conquest and named Bushbuckridge. Mapulaneng proper stretches from the Eswatini border to Ermelo in the south,
Olifants River (Lepelle) in the north, Lebombo Mountains in the east and also includes the whole town of
Hazyview, Nelspruit, Sabie, Graskop, Hoedspruit, Barberton, Lydenburg and Dullstroom in the west. In Sepulana, Mapulaneng means "Place of the Mapulana people"; the tribe derive their name from their founding leader, Lepulana who later changed his name to Chiloane. Mapulana are descendants of Morolong and their origin can be traced back to Kgalagadi before they settled in Thaba Chueu, in what is today eastern Lesotho and Shakwaneng (Carolina) in the 1500s. Mapulana of Matshwe I got their name from their leader Pulane and they are of Amazizi of Nguni origin and they join the other Mapulana of Mohlomi at Thaba Chueu after the death of their leader Tsosane. Mapulana successfully defended the area from Swazi armies who they annihilated at the battle of Moholoholo in December 1864.
1995-1996 Protest In 1994, when the
Transvaal Province was dismantled and divided into four provinces, the area from Bushbuckridge to
Hazyview was included in
Limpopo province. The decision was based on the fact that most of the Bushbuckridge area had been part of three separate
bantustans —
Gazankulu,
Lebowa and
KaNgwane — but the bigger sector fell within
Gazankulu, which was incorporated into Limpopo. The citizens of Bushbuckridge were unhappy with this arrangement, and became embroiled in a dispute with the government, demanding inclusion of the area in
Mpumalanga province. They were concerned that should the area be included into Limpopo, they would be marginalised and suffer poor service delivery since
Polokwane, the capital city of
Limpopo Province, is more than 300 km away, whereas
Nelspruit, the capital of Mpumalanga is only 94 km away. For more than two years the government refused to place Bushbuckridge under Mpumalanga, leading to violent protests and resistance from the community, which included
stay-aways, road blocks with burning tyres and destruction of civil and government property. A decision was taken at Cabinet level in 1998 to transfer the area to Mpumalanga. However, this was not done until 2000, when President
Thabo Mbeki and his Cabinet amended the Constitution to legalise the transfer. Because of red tape, it was not until 2005 that Bushbuckridge was officially transferred to Mpumalanga. ==Geography==