Amathole Amatola District
District municipality
Seal
Location in South Africa
Coordinates: 32°30′S 27°30′E / 32.500°S 27.500°E / -32.500; 27.500
Country	South Africa
Province	Eastern Cape
Seat	East London
Local municipalities	List Mbhashe Mnquma Great Kei Amahlathi Ngqushwa Raymond Mhlaba
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Khanyile Maneli (ANC)
• Deputy Mayor	Nomfusi Winnie Nxawe (ANC)
Area
• Total	21,595 km2 (8,338 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	892,637
• Density	41/km2 (110/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	97.2%
• Coloured	1.5%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	1.0%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Xhosa	93.6%
• English	2.3%
• Afrikaans	2.1%
• Other	2%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	DC12

The Amathole District Municipality (Xhosa: uMasipala weSithili sase Amathole) is one of the 7 districts of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The seat is East London. As of 2011, over 90% of its 892,637 inhabitants spoke isiXhosa. The district code is DC12. Amathole means "calves", the name of the mountain range and forest which forms the northern boundary of the district.^[3]

Government

The Executive Mayor of Amathole District Municipality since 2016 is Khanyile Maneli, the Deputy Mayor is Nomfusi Winnie Nxawe and the Municipal Manager is Thandekile Themba Mnyimba.

Geography

Neighbours

Amathole is surrounded by:

• Chris Hani District (DC13) to the north
• OR Tambo District (DC15) to the north-east
• the Indian Ocean to the south-east
• Sarah Baartman District (DC10) to west

Local municipalities

The district contains the following local municipalities:

Raymond Mhlaba Local Municipality, following amalgamation of Nxuba (24,264; 2.72%) and Nkonkobe (127,115; 14.24%)] municipalities.

Demographics

The following statistics are from the 2011 census.

Languages

Gender

Ethnic group

Age

Politics

Election results

Election results for Amathole in the South African general election, 2004.

• Population 18 and over: 979,166 [58.83% of total population]
• Total votes: 630,953 [37.91% of total population]
• Voting % estimate: 64.44% votes as a % of population 18 and over

Maladministration

As of January 2024, the municipality is under administration, one of 32 in the country, and three in the Eastern Cape where the provincial executive has intervened due to maladministration^[4]