[2] It was established in 1978 as a labour reserve of Nelspruit (now renamed to Mbombela) and was recognised as a homeland township under the bantustan of KaNgwane.

The project, a joint initiative of the mining company and the Pretoria-based National Building Research Institute, allowed for several grades of home ownership.

The project mainly encompassed basic types of housing which had to be completed by the owner, with supposed assistance from  the company.

The state also declared that it would make provision for semi-public and public land to be developed for communal use, by the community itself.

[2] By 1980 a considerable number of families had settled in the houses built in KaNyamazane, but little or no communal activity had taken place, clearly displaying  the limitations of self-assistance schemes for African citizens under apartheid conditions.