Columbus Stainless a large stainless steel plant and Thos Begbie a company established more than 120 years ago by Scotsman Thomas Begbie is both situated here. For many years, the industrial activities of the steel plant and its peripheral activities such as coal and transport, provided much of the employment and largely drove the economy of the town, although other sectors such as agriculture have gradually grown to be important.
Hundreds of expatriates and their families, mostly from the United Kingdom and parts of Europe, moved in to the town in the 1950s, 60's and 70's to avoid the slump of the post WWII (and later the Thatcherian) industrial and manufacturing sectors in those countries. These families were attracted by the need for industrial expertise in the plant, and were often rewarded with company sponsored housing and discounted education.
The children of those immigrant families have either moved to the larger nearby cities of Witbank, Pretoria and Johannesburg, seeking employment, or have remained to form part of the growing alternative economic activities in the area.
Today the town faces many issues typical to smaller towns in South Africa. These include challenges such as the incorporation, upliftment and appropriate addressing of former inequalities of service provision and infrastructure in the large nearby townships and suburbs, that were created for the black and Indian populations, under pre-1994 apartheid segregation laws. The cultural make up of the town is quite diverse, ranging from mainly Afrikaans speaking families, expatriates from the United Kingdom and Europe, as well as the historically oppressed African populations. Another challenge is addressing the general trend of the hastening migration of residents away from small towns to larger cities in search of greater economic opportunity.
Crime has reportedly been on the increase in past years as a result of increasingly high levels of unemployment and
