Also known as The Hub of Swaziland, Manzini city provides excellent shopping in three large malls, the newest of which, Riverstone, opened in 2011. There is a wide choice of hotels and restaurants, including The George Hotel near the city centre, which offers excellent facilities, for both business and pleasure. Global Village is a luxurious guest house set in the tranquil suburb of Madonsa near the Manzini golf course.
Coupled with the nearby industrial area of Matsapha, this city comprises the country’s largest urban population. Modern day Manzini serves as a dormitory for Matsapha and is characterised by both formal and informal trade. One example of the growing Manzini industry is the Imvele Estwatini Factory located at Likusasa Life Skills Centre.
The city captures the essence of Swazi life in its casual pace and informal, friendly attitude. And in this way the years of change have not altered it much at all.
- Manzini Golf course
Manzini was previously named Bremersdorp after the entrepreneur Albert Bremer, who arrived there in the 1880s during the concessions period. Because he operated his farm and trading store near the river, the Swazis, with typical humour, dubbed his place kaManzini (at the water).
Bremersdorp was the country’s capital under the Transvaal Administration, which was superseded by British rule in 1903 at the end of the Boer War, when the capital was moved to Mbabane. The reason given is the preferred cooler climate - and probably the fact that Bremersdorp had, in any case, been looted and burned to the ground! The name Manzini was officially adopted during the 1960s.
