The Chris Hani municipal region lies at the heart of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the second largest of the Eastern Cape province, district municipalities and it covers an area of 37 111km². It has a population of about 823 000 giving it a low population density of 22 per square kilometre.
The region is named after assassinated freedom fighter Chris Hani and the district is characterised by a changing landscape that slopes down from the southern Drakensberg Mountains and crosses the eastern grasslands to the Karoo.
The majority of its people speak isiXhosa.
The Cape Fold Mountains of the Western Cape create the great divide that separates the temperate region of the Garden Route from its drier inland counterpart, the Little Karoo.
Kranshoek is a settlement in Eden District Municipality. Kranshoek was founded in the early years of the 20th century by a group of Griqua trekkers under the leadership of Abraham le Fleur who had been displaced from their land in Kokstad. Le Fleur also founded the Griqua National Conference in 1904 and the Griqua Independent Church. A local monument, erected in 1942, celebrates the early Griqua pioneers. The Kranshoek area is now a diverse area with different cultures.
The Kranshoek e-Centre is managed by John Koopman and officially started operations on 7 April 2015.
Sutherland can be found in a relatively remote part of the country. Situated in the Northern Cape, this Karoo town is not on any major highway. It is however a little more than 100km from the N1 and merely a: “sho’t left”, at Matjiesfontein.
Mthatha, founded in 1879, was declared the Capital of the Transkei, the homeland of the Xhosa during the Apartheid era. The former Transkei is now part of the Eastern Cape province, previously known as Umtata.
Mthatha is the colourful and lively centre of the region. The city stands on the banks of the Mtata River - the name derives from the word 'thatha' (taker), owing to the damage and fatalities caused by the flooding River. At a Village near the Town, Mvezo, President Nelson Mandela was born into the Madiba Clan of the Them-bu Royal Family.
Additional Date: January 18, 2020
On 18 January 2020, Peter “Terror” Mathebula South Africa’s first black world champion boxer died. Mathebula was born on 3 July 1952, in Transvaal (now Gauteng). A flyweight division boxer, Mathebula made his professional boxing debut on 10 July 1971 against compatriot Sydwell Mhlongo in Rabosotho Hall, Tembisa, Transvaal. On 13 December 1980, Mathebula became South Africa’s first black world champion when he dethroned South Korea’s Tae-Shik Kim in Los Angeles, California, USA. Mathebula lost his title as world champion in the flyweight division in 1981 against Argentina’s Santos Laciar. Throughout his career, Mathebula won 36 matches, inflicting 17 KOs on his opponents, and lost 9 matches, suffering 5 KOs. Mathebula retired from boxing in 1983.
Peter “Terror” Mathebula died on 18 January 2020, in Leratong Hospital, Krugersdorp, Johannesburg, after suffering from an undisclosed illness. Mathebula is to be buried at Heroes Acre located in Pretoria.
The Cederberg Region is only two hours from Cape Town and yet the landscape is completely different. With much wilder, warmer with a raw, dramatic beauty. Clanwilliam and Citrusdal with its towering Mountains, brilliant purple and orange sunsets, laden with the scent of orange blossoms in the Spring.
About 30 kilometres from Hogsback and close on two hours from East London, the little town of Katberg lies in enviable countryside. Citrus orchards, green lucerne fields, clear rivers and soft green valleys with forested ravines - this part of the world is clearly beautiful. People here speak about going up the Katberg, although its grassy summits are really regarded as a section of the Winterberg Mountains.
Robberg Nature Reserve, situated 8 km south of Plettenberg Bay on the Garden Route, is not only a nature reserve, but also a National Monument.
Personal Information
Norman Pietersen
Born:
1966
in Paarl, Western Cape
Died:
March 31, 1987
in New Crossroads, Cape Town
(Murdered)
Norman Pietersen (also known as Billy Holiday) was born in 1966 in Paarl, Western Cape. In 1982, he was recruited by uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veterans and became an MK guerrilla. At the time of his recruitment, Pietersen was 15-years-old and the youngest member of his MK unit led by former MK commander Patrick Ricketts, which consisted of 35 members in total, the biggest in the Western Cape.