Matatiele Local Municipality
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Matatiele Municipality (; ) is a local municipality within the
Alfred Nzo District Municipality The Alfred Nzo District Municipality () is one of the 6 Districts of South Africa, districts of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The seat is Mount Ayliff. The majority of its 801,344 residents speak Xhosa language, isiXhosa. The district ...
, in the
Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...
province of
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
. It adjoins
Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...
to the north, Elundini to the south-west, and Greater Kokstad to the east and its 4,352 km² makes the Matatiele Municipality largest of four municipalities in the district at almost half of its geographical area. According to the
South African National Census of 2011 The South African National Census of 2011 is the 3rd comprehensive census performed by Statistics South Africa. The 2011 census was the first census to include geo-referencing for every individual dwelling in South Africa. How the count w ...
, its 203,483 (46.84 per km²) residents and 49,527 (11.38 per km²) households makes Matatiele Municipality the second largest populated area in the Alfred Nzo District Municipality behind Mbizana. Once dominated by dinosaurs, wetlands and marshes, Matatiele derives its name from a portmanteau word of the
Sesotho Sotho (), also known as ''Sesotho'' (), Southern Sotho, or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a Southern Bantu languages, Southern Bantu language spoken in Lesotho as its national language and South Africa where it is an official language. Like all Ba ...
words , meaning "wild ducks", and , meaning "gone", and the
Phuthi language Phuthi (''Síphùthì'') is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border. The closest substantial living relative of Phuthi is Swati (or ''Siswati''), spoken in Eswatini and the Mpuma ...
words ''mati'' meaning "water" and ''ayile'' meaning "dried out". When taken together, ''Matatiele'' conveys a message that "ducks have flown" because of a "dried out wetlands and marshes".  /sup> In Phuthi, the municipality is pronounced as ''Matatiyela''. The common informal name in any of the languages mentioned, including
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...
, is "Matat". Today, the Matatiele Municipality is home to quaint towns, fertile farmlands, and rural villages scattered along its sparkling streams snuggled in the shadows of the
Drakensberg Mountains The Drakensberg ( Zulu: uKhahlamba, Sotho: Maloti, Afrikaans: Drakensberge) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, which encloses the central Southern African plateau. The Great Escarpment reaches its greatest elevation – within the ...
. Route 56, known as the shortest and most scenic route between
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
in the
Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...
and
Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...
(South Africa's third largest city) in the province of
KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...
, is the major arterial trade route that cuts through the heart of the Matatiele Municipality in an east-west direction. Its main economic secotrs include community services (66.4%), trade (8.9%), finance, and agriculture.


Geography

The Matatiele Municipal District is mostly rural with the town of
Matatiele Matatiele is a town located in the northern part of the Eastern Cape, Eastern Cape Province of Provinces of South Africa, South Africa. According to the South African National Census of 2011, its 12,466 residents (1,113.44 per km²) and 4,107 h ...
serving as the main economic hub. The area is located at the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains. The settlement pattern is characterised by dispersed rural settlements surrounded by subsistence farmlands in the former Transkei region. The western parts of the area (commercial agricultural farms) form part of the high production potential land stretching from Matatiele and Kokstad in the south through the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands to the north-western parts of KwaZulu-Natal. The Matatiele Municipal district adjoins the World Heritage Site along its western boundary and was included in the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Project (MDTP). The latter was a collaborative initiative between South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho to protect the exceptional biodiversity of the Drakensberg and Maloti Mountains through conservation, sustainable resource use, and land-use and development planning. /sup> Drakensberg Mountains have three passes that allow access from the Matatiele Municipal District to Lesotho. From west to east these are Ongeluksnek (4x4 only), then the bigger, more popular pass, which is Qachas Nek, but a little further to the east is the much more difficult and spectacular Ramatselitso Pass. All three passes end at the South Africa-Lesotho border posts of the same names and require a valid passport to cross. /sup> The Matatiele Nature Reserve is a core protected area within the Maloti Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area. The north-eastern reserves reaches of the
Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...
near the border with
KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...
. To the south is the town of
Matatiele Matatiele is a town located in the northern part of the Eastern Cape, Eastern Cape Province of Provinces of South Africa, South Africa. According to the South African National Census of 2011, its 12,466 residents (1,113.44 per km²) and 4,107 h ...
and to the north is the
Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Zulu language, Zulu: uKhahlamba, Sotho language, Sotho: Maloti, Afrikaans: Drakensberge) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, Southern Africa, Great Escarpment, which encloses the central South Africa#Geography, Sout ...
– the name given to the eastern portion of the
Great Escarpment The Great Escarpment is a major topographical feature in Africa that consists of steep slopes from the high central Southern African plateauAtlas of Southern Africa. (1984). p. 13. Reader's Digest Association, Cape Town downward in the directio ...
, which encloses the central
Southern African Southern Africa is the southernmost region of Africa. No definition is agreed upon, but some groupings include the United Nations geoscheme, the intergovernmental Southern African Development Community, and the physical geography definition b ...
plateau. Most of the reserve is pure grassland, although there is a meagre woodland and, along the high ridges and spurs, is the odd bit of scrub in amongst rocks and along drainage lines. The Matatiele nature reserve was created to protect the important grasslands, wetlands and rare species of plants and includes bird-rich commonage and a wide valley known as the Cedarville Flats. It is the  only reserve to formally conserve the critically endangered Rudd's lark, which needs short, dense grass cover (usually no higher than 0.6 metres) to survive. It occurs in very few locations in South Africa. /sup>


Main places

The 2011 census for the Matatiele Local Municipality states a population of 203,834 with these most populate
main places


Politics


Municipal council

The municipal council consists of fifty-one members elected by
mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral system, mixed electoral systems which combine local Winner-take-all system, winner-take-all elections with a Compensation (el ...
. Twenty-six councillors are elected by
first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...
in twenty-six
wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
, while the remaining twenty-five are chosen from
party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...
s so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 the
African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...
(ANC) won a majority of forty seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.


Conflict over provincial jurisdiction

The town of Matatiele was part of
Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...
until being transferred to
Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...
in 1978. In 2005, the municipality was moved from the
KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...
province to the Eastern Cape as part of the
Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa The Twelfth Amendment of the Constitution of South Africa (formally the Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act of 2005) altered the boundaries of seven of South Africa's Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces. It also redefined all of the provinces' ...
, over the objections of the majority of residents, some of whom in response founded the
African Independent Congress The African Independent Congress (AIC) is a minor political party in South Africa. Founded in Matatiele on 12 December 2005, the AIC was a protest against the location of the area within the boundaries of the Eastern Cape province rather than ...
. On 18 August 2006 the
Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...
ruled that the part of the 12th Amendment dealing with the transfer of Matatiele from KwaZulu-Natal to the Eastern Cape was invalid due to insufficient consultation with stakeholders. The situation was eventually resolved, and Matatiele was confirmed as part of Eastern Cape province under the 13th Amendment.


References


External links

* http://matatiele.gov.za/ {{Municipalities of the Eastern Cape Local municipalities of the Alfred Nzo District Municipality