The Eastern Cape (Xhosa: iMpuma-Kapa; Afrikaans: Oos-Kaap[ˈuəs.kɑːp]) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. Due to its climate and nineteenth century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also known for being home to many anti-apartheid activists, the most famous being Nelson Mandela hailing from the province.
The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after the Northern Cape, it was formed in 1994 out of the Xhosa homelands or bantustans of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province. The central and eastern part of the province is the traditional home of the indigenous Xhosa people. In 1820 this area, which was known as the Xhosa Kingdom, began to be settled by Europeans who originally came from England, Scotland and Ireland.
The Eastern Cape as a South African Province came into existence in 1994, and incorporated areas from the former Xhosa homelands of the Transkei and Ciskei, together with what was previously part of the Cape Province. This resulted in several anomalies, including the fact that the Province has four supreme courts (in Grahamstown (Makhanda), Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), Bhisho and Mthatha, and had enclaves of KwaZulu-Natal in the province. The latter anomaly has fallen away with amendments to municipal and provincial boundaries.
The Xhosa Kingdom was one of the most powerful kingdoms in Africa, and had all states in the Eastern Cape as tributaries. Any group, people, or tribe that recognised the Xhosa Kingdom as Paramouncy became Xhosa, practiced Xhosa culture and used isiXhosa as their main language. Some of the tribes that fall under the category of Xhosa people include: AmaMpondo, AbaThembu, AmaMpondomise, AmaHlubi, AmaBhaca, AmaXesibe, AmaBomvana and more.[original research?]
In the late 18th century the Dutch Cape Colony slowly expanded eastwards from its original centre around Cape Town. This led to the establishment in 1786 of the Dutch settlement of Graaff-Reinet – named for the Governor of the Cape ColonyCornelius Jacob van de Graaff (in office: 1785–1791) and for his wife Hester Cornelia van de Graaff (née Reynet). Later, during the Napoleonic wars of 1803–1815, Britain took control of the Cape Colony (1806) and encouraged British citizens to migrate there as a means to boost the British population[citation needed] in the area.
The first premier was Raymond Mhlaba and the current premier is Oscar Mabuyane, both of the African National Congress. The province is served by the capital of Bhisho next to King William's Town. The parliament and other important government buildings are situated in the precinct. The High Court that is superior to all courts in the region is situated in Grahamstown and has local seats in Port Elizabeth, East London, and Bhisho.
The Eastern Cape gets progressively wetter from west to east. The west is mostly semiarid Karoo, except in the far south, which is temperate rainforest in the Tsitsikamma region. The coast is generally rugged with interspersed beaches. Most of the province is hilly to very mountainous between Graaff-Reinet and Rhodes including the Sneeuberge (English: Snow Mountains), Stormberge, Winterberge and Drakensberg (English: Dragon Mountains). The highest point in the province is Ben Macdhui at 3001 m. The east from East London and Queenstown towards the KwaZulu-Natal border – a region known previously as Transkei – is lush grassland on rolling hills, punctuated by deep gorges with intermittent forest.
Eastern Cape has a coast on its east which lines southward, creating shores leading to the south Indian Ocean. In the northeast, it borders the following districts of Lesotho:
Climate is highly varied. The west is dry with sparse rain during winter or summer, with frosty winters and hot summers. The area Tsitsikamma to Grahamstown receives more precipitation, which is also relatively evenly distributed and temperatures are mild. Further east, rainfall becomes more plentiful and humidity increases, becoming more subtropical along the coast with summer rainfall. The interior can become very cold in winter, with heavy snowfalls occasionally occurring in the mountainous regions between Molteno and Rhodes.
Gqeberha: Jan Max: 25 °C, Min: 18 °C; Jul Max: 20 °C, Min: 9 °C
Molteno & Barkly East: Jan Max 28 °C, Min 11 °C; Jul Max: 14 °C, Min: -7 °C
Tourism
Aloe ferox on the R61 route between Cofimvaba and Ngcobo.
The landscape is extremely diverse. The western interior is largely arid Karoo, while the east is well-watered and green. The Eastern Cape offers a wide array of attractions, including 800 kilometres (500 mi) of untouched and pristine coastline along with beaches, and big-five game viewing in a malaria-free environment.
The Addo Elephant National Park, situated 73 kilometres (45 mi) from Port Elizabeth, was proclaimed in 1931. Its 743 square kilometres (287 sq mi) offers sanctuary to 170 elephants, 400 Cape buffalo and 21 black rhino of the very scarce Kenyan sub-species.
The province is the location of Tiffindell, South Africa's only snow skiing resort, which is situated near the hamlet of Rhodes in the Southern Drakensberg. It is on the slopes of Ben Macdhui, the highest mountain peak in the Eastern Cape 3,001 metres (9,846 ft).
The National Arts Festival, held annually in Grahamstown, is Africa's largest cultural event,[citation needed] offering a choice of both indigenous and imported talent. Every year for eleven days the town's population almost doubles, as over 50,000 people flock to the region for a feast of arts, crafts, music and entertainment.
Jeffreys Bay is an area with wild coastline, which is backed by sub-tropical rainforest. The waters here are noted for having good waves for surfing.
King William's Town, Alice, Queenstown, Grahamstown, Cradock and Fort Beaufort offer some of the best colonial architecture of the 19th century in the province. The two major cities lining the coast are East London and Port Elizabeth.
Economy
The Eastern Cape is the poorest province in South Africa and has the highest expanded and official unemployment rate in the country.[6][7][8] Subsistence agriculture predominates in the former homelands, resulting in widespread poverty. A multi billion Rand industrial development zone and deep water port are being developed in Coega to boost investment in export-oriented industries.[9] Overall the province only contributes 8% to the national GDP despite making 13.5% of the population. The real GDP of Eastern Cape stands at an estimated R230.3billion in 2017, making the province the fourth largest regional economy in SA ahead of Limpopo and Mpumalanga.[10]
Agriculture
There is much fertile land in the Eastern Cape, and agriculture remains important. The fertile Langkloof Valley in the southwest has large deciduous fruit orchards. In the Karoo there is widespread sheep farming.
The Alexandria-Makhanda area produces pineapples, chicory and dairy products, while coffee and tea are cultivated at Magwa. People in the former Transkei region are dependent on cattle, maize and sorghum-farming. An olive nursery has been developed in collaboration with the University of Fort Hare to form a nucleus of olive production in the Eastern Cape.
Domestic stock farming is slowly giving way to game farming on large scale. Eco-tourism is resulting in economic benefits, and there is lower risk needed to protect wild, native game against drought, and the natural elements. Habitat loss and poaching pose the greatest problems.
The area around Stutterheim is being cultivated extensively with timber plantations.
The basis of the province's fishing industry is squid, some recreational and commercial fishing for line fish, the collection of marine resources, and access to line-catches of hake.
Industry
With three import/export harbours and three airports offering direct flights to the main centres, and an excellent road and rail infrastructure,[citation needed] the province has been earmarked as a key area for growth and economic development in modern South Africa.[citation needed]
The two major industrial centres, Port Elizabeth and East London have well-developed economies based on the automotive industry. General Motors and Volkswagen both have major assembly lines in the Port Elizabeth area, while East London is dominated by the large DaimlerChrysler plant, now known as Mercedes-Benz South Africa.[11]
Environmental-friendly projects include the Fish River Spatial Development Initiative, the Wild Coast SDI, and two industrial development zones, the East London Industrial Development Zone and the Coega IDZ near Port Elizabeth. Coega is the largest infrastructure development in post-apartheid South Africa. The construction of the deepwater Port of Ngqura was completed and the first commercial ship anchored in October 2009.[12]
Other sectors include finance, real estate, business services, wholesale and retail trade, eco-tourism (nature reserves and game ranches) and hotels and restaurants.
Towns and cities
Map of Eastern Cape showing municipalities and districts
In the case of places that have been renamed, the traditional name is listed first followed by the new official name.
The Eastern Cape Department of Education has been roundly criticised for poor primary and secondary education[13] resulting from dysfunction,[14] special interests, and issues with the South Africa teachers union, SADTU.[15][16] The province struggles with a lack of schools; a lack of teachers leading to overcrowding; a lack of textbooks; a lack of basic facilities like toilets, electricity or water; and poor transport infrastructure which regularly absents and endangers learners. This is a huge problem faced in the former Transkei.[17]
By 2011, basic education had so deteriorated that the national Department of Basic Education intervened under section 100(1)(b) of the Constitution of South Africa, taking control of the province's educational administration.[16] The Eastern Cape has since been the worst-performing province educationally and especially in terms of matriculation;[17] matriculants' results averaged 51% in 2009,[18] 58.3% in 2011,[19] 64.9% in 2013,[20] 65.4% in 2014, and 56.8% in 2015.[21][22]
In the 2015/2016 financial year, the province failed to spend R 530 million of its allocated R 1.5 billion budget for education, most of it intended for infrastructure development.[23][24]
Equal Education's 2017 report, Planning to Fail, found a "systemic failure in Eastern Cape education".[25]
The province is served by big medical centres such as Cecilia Makiwane Hospital which is a large, government-funded hospital near the city of East London that also serves as a tertiary teaching hospital. Frere Hospital is another large, provincial government-funded hospital near East London which also serves as a tertiary teaching hospital. These hospitals offer many specialty departments such as an ARV clinic for HIV/AIDS in adults and children. Both hospitals are affiliated with Lilitha Nursing College and Walter Sisulu University.
While the Eastern Cape has many hospitals and private clinics, the province has some of the worst health outcomes and service indicators in South Africa. Some of this can be attributed to staff shortages, with a report indicating that 67% of the 27 monitored facilities have insufficient staff.[26]
Rural residents in the Eastern Cape face worse health outcomes than those who reside in the larger towns or cities. This is due to a number of conditions such as lack of healthcare resources, lack of means to access healthcare resources, high unemployment, and poverty. Illiteracy is also a problem in rural communities, which further limits positive health outcomes.[27]
HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis are also ongoing issues in the region. In 2017, the Eastern Cape had a TB incidence of 839/100,000 people, which was higher than South Africa's estimated prevalence of 737/100,000.[28] Additionally, the Eastern Cape has a high overall HIV prevalence rate (25.2%) as of 2017.[29] In 2018, HIV/AIDS was the second leading underlying natural cause of death in the Eastern Cape with a 5.9% prevalence rate.[30] Since 2017, there has been an increase in the level of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which disproportionately affects poorer communities. Furthermore, obesity and undiagnosed hypertension are major concerns in rural areas.[31]
The Eastern Cape is also known for its traditional Xhosa initiation schools, which perform coming-of-age ceremonies known as ulwaluko which involve circumcision. These ceremonies have been linked to numerous complications such as coma, illness and death.[32][33]
There have been numerous reports in South African newspapers investigating the poor practices which lead to the death of young men and boys during initiation rituals.[34][35][36] In one case, an 18-year-old man named Yongama Boya was sent to the hospital to be circumcised, as his parents believed this would be the safer option.[37] Then, he was sent to complete the rest of his initiation ritual in a traditional initiation school in the Qumbu area of the Transkei. There, the nurse refused to accept the validity of his prior circumcision at the hospital, and she circumcised him again, resulting in his death.
South Africa
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