Mthatha, alternatively rendered Umtata, is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, situated along the Mthatha River and at the intersection of the N2 National Route and the R61 Provincial Route.
Mthatha is the main city, capital, and administrative centre/seat of both the OR Tambo District Municipality and the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality.
The city has an airport, Mthatha Airport, previously known as the K. D. Matanzima Airport, after former leader Kaiser Matanzima.
Mthatha derives its name from the nearby Mthatha River, which was named after the sneezewood (umtati) trees, famous for their wood and medicinal properties.
History
The settlement existed in the 1870s as a buffer zone, in response to reported tensions between Mpondo and neighbouring Thembu groups, and in 1875, a magistrate’s office was opened. The first magistrate, appointed that year, was a man named J F Boyes.
The settlement developed during the next few years, becoming a military post for the British colonial forces in 1882. The town itself was founded in 1883, along the banks of the Mthatha River. Nearly a century later, the Mthatha Dam was constructed about 8 km upstream of the town. Mthatha became the leading administrative centre of the area, having both Anglican and Catholic cathedrals. The town became the headquarters of the Transkeian Territories General Council (known as the Bunga), and the building which served as a parliament was erected in 1903. This was followed by the construction of the town hall in 1908. A branch of the University of Fort Hare was established in the town, and after the independence of the Transkei in 1977, it became the University of Transkei. In 2005, the University of Transkei, with the Border Technikon and Eastern Cape Technikon were merged to form the Walter Sisulu University for Technology and Science. The campus was the base for the region’s first community radio station, UCRFM, which started in 1996 and has become a significant community broadcaster.
On 1 August 1973, the Mthatha High Court was opened.
In 1973, a summit meeting of the black homeland leaders was held at Umtata, where they decided to federate their respective states after independence.
In 1976, Transkei was granted independence as a bantustan, a nominally independent state not recognised outside South Africa. Mthatha served as the capital under the name “Umtata”. Under the Transkei regime, an airport named after the then ruler of Transkei, KD Matanzima, was built. On 21 May 2012, the airport was formally handed over to Lindiwe Sisulu, then Minister of Defence, by Noxolo Kiviet, then Premier of the Eastern Cape. However, the South African National Defence Force relinquished its control of the airport in 2013. The airport was renamed Mthatha Airport.
After the end of apartheid, some sections of the African business and professional community migrated to traditionally white areas of economic activity, and this has been widely cited as a cause of economic recession in the municipality, but several construction projects offer hope for renewal.
Many of South Africa’s black leaders – including Bantu Holomisa, Walter Sisulu, Sabelo Phama, and Nelson Mandela – come from this area, and Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela lived out his retirement in his home village of Qunu, a few kilometres south of Mthatha.
Mthatha is a focal point of the Nelson Mandela Route, which celebrates the life of Nelson Mandela. There are three Nelson Mandela Museums, spread across three sites, which collect, interpret, and exhibit key aspects of the story of the life and times of Nelson Mandela. The three historical sites of the museum are at Mvezo, Qunu, and the Bunga Building in Mthatha. In the Bunga Building is the story of the Long Walk to Freedom and an exhibition of the many gifts received by Nelson Mandela.
On 2 March 2004, Umtata was renamed “Mthatha”.