Musina, previously known as Messina, is the northernmost town in the Limpopo Province of South Africa.
The town is located along the N1 National Route in the land of the Baobab tree, near the confluence of the Limpopo River with the Sand River and the border to Zimbabwe.
As such, the town is a major transit stop for cross-border traffic and offers all the necessary facilities to tourists and truckers alike.
Thousands of years ago, copper was discovered by the Musina tribe in this region, and this led to the founding of the town of Musina. Today ore, coal, magnetite, graphite, asbestos, diamonds, semi-precious stones and copperore, coal, magnetite, graphite, asbestos, diamonds, semi-precious stones and copper are mined in Musina.
As a result, the people of Musina know how to treat their Baobabs, the Musina Nature Reserve was declared to protect over 100 of them. The beautiful reserve also holds one of the world’s oldest datable rocks and is a sanctuary for a number of game and bird species.
It is hot and dry in this part of the world where low shrubs and thorn trees dominate the landscape. The Limpopo River flows with water along its river banks on average only once in seven years.
Musina is part of the Musina Local Municipality within the Vhembe District Municipality of Limpopo Province.
History
After serving in the Anglo-Boer War, Colonel John Pascoe “J.P.” Grenfell (1866-1948), grandson of John Pascoe Grenfell and brother of Francis Octavius Grenfell, came to South Africa after hearing rumours of valuable copper being in the area. Two prospectors, James Harper and James Campbell, told Grenfell that there were copper deposits, south of the Limpopo River, where the local tribe discovered them. Apparently, the tribe had mined the copper, but the prospectors said their mining of it had ceased.
Grenfell went to the area and had the deposits inspected. After verifying that they were valuable, he purchased a farm, Berkenrode, near a planned mining site, in October 1903. Five months later, he was granted a discoverer’s certificate and, in that same month (March 1904), he founded the village Messina (later Musina).
In January 1905, he founded, and chaired, the Messina (Transvaal) Development Company, which became one of the largest companies in South Africa. Prior to becoming president of the United States, Herbert Hoover, served on the board of the company from 1914 to 1916. Most people in Musina are either Venda people or Sotho people. Roughly 5% of residents in Musina are English-speaking Whites of British descent, almost exclusively this portion of the population are White Zimbabweans who have relocated to South Africa since the year 2000.