Matatiele, Eastern Cape

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Matatiele is a mid-sized town serving the farming and trading communities of East Griqualand in the foothills of the western Drakensberg, Eastern Cape, South Africa, 20 km from the southern border of Lesotho. Dairy farming is the principal activity. Good trout fishing is to be had in the numerous streams of the area. As a town, Matatiele is the reference point for all of the northern Transkei.

The name "Matatiele" is clearly a Sotho word, based on the Sesotho phrase "matata aile" meaning "the ducks have gone" (but this suggestion runs into the problem that the town's name is [matatiɛla] and not *[matatiilɛ]). In Phuthi, the town name is pronounced "Madadiyela". The common informal name for the town in any of the languages mentioned, including English, is "Matats".

The residents in and around Matatiele, as in most of the northern Transkei region, are generally bilingual in Xhosa and Sotho. Many speak some English. Some also speak as a home language (or as a language of heritage) Phuthi, especially residents in Tsitsong and Tšepisong.

Evidence of Stone Age inhabitants in the form of art adorning rocks are found throughout the area. In the early 1860s the Griquas settled here after migrating across the Drakensberg from Philippolis. The town was the centre of cattle rustling and gun-running and order was only restored in 1874 by the Cape Mounted Riflemen. The town became a municipality in 1904.