Mmabatho, once the capital city of the North West Province of South Africa, lies just south of the Botswana border – relegated to something of a suburb of the current provincial capital city, Mahikeng.
The name Mmabatho means “Mother of the People” in Setswana.
During the apartheid era, Mmabatho served as the capital of the former ‘Bantustan’ of Bophuthatswana, separated from the adjacent Mafeking which temporarily remained outside Bophuthatswana.
After the end of apartheid in 1994, Bophuthatswana was integrated into the newly established North-West Province with Mmabatho serving as the provincial capital.
However, Mmabatho’s status as the provincial capital was short-lived. Later in 1994, the North West Provincial Legislature voted to rename the capital to Mahikeng (the town of Mafikeng having been merged with Mmabatho in 1980 and treated as a suburb of Mmabatho between 1980 and 1994), reducing Mmabatho to a suburb of Mafikeng.
As a result Mmabatho is home to most of the provincial government buildings, including Ga-Rona, designed in the style of the traditional Tswana meeting place known as kgotla; a sports stadium formerly called the Independence Stadium, a shopping complex known as Mega City, and the North-West University, formerly the University of Bophuthatswana.
Mmabatho also lies in a rather enviable position, connected by major roads to Pretoria in the east and to Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, in the north. A railway runs north and south from the neighbouring town of Mafikeng. The city is served by Mmabatho Airport, handling flights to and from Johannesburg.
Easy access to the Mafikeng Game Reserve, the Barberspan Nature Reserve (with the region’s largest waterfowl sanctuary), and the Botsalano Game Reserve, make Mmabatho a popular base from which to view game.
Mmabatho falls within the Mahikeng Local Municipality under the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality of the North West Province.
