The OR Tambo District Municipality (ORTDM) occupies the Eastern Coastal portion of the Eastern Cape Province, bordered by KwaZulu-Natal and by the Eastern Cape Districts of Amatole, Chris Hani, uKhahlamba and Alfred Nzo. The District extends over 12,141 km2 and occupies 9.52% of Provincial Land. The District includes moderate and high rainfall Areas, along its sub-tropical Coast, but also in pockets of Mountainous Areas. There is a diversity of Vegetation, from Grasslands and Thicket to Forests and Bushveld. The District is considered to have the richest Natural Resources and the most fertile Areas in the Country with good soils and climatic conditions. 
The District includes the bulk of the Wild Coast and is home to Luchaba Nature Reserve, next to Umtata Dam and a string of coastal Nature Reserves including Mkambati, Silaka, and Hluleka and Indigenous Forest Reserves, like MT Thesiger,  Mt. Sullivan, Ntlopeni, Lotana, Mbotyi, Egosa, Ntsubane as well as a proclaimed Marine Reserve: 'Mkambati Marine Protected Area'.
The District has an Area covering 12 141 square kilometers. The main Economic Sectors are: 'Community Services; Trade; Finance; Agriculture; Transport; Manufacturing; Construction and Tourism.

The OR Tambo District is named after Oliver Reginald Kaizana Tambo (27 October 1917 – 24 April 1993), who was a South African anti-apartheid politician and revolutionary who served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1967 to 1991. The District covers about 80% of the former Transkei Magisterial Districts, the Homeland of the Xhosa during the Apartheid era which had Mthatha as the Capital. The District is also host to the Village of Mvezo, where the late former President Nelson Mandela was born into the Madiba clan of the Thembu royal family. The Nelson Mandela National Museum is situated in Mthatha.

The OR Tambo District Municipality, is formed by five Local Municipalities:

* Ingquza Hill Local Municipality is characterized by limited coastal settlements and widely dispersed settlements in traditional rural villages. It derives its name from the Mountain Range of the same name which transverses the Municipality and was the scene of the 1950 – 1962 Mpondo Revolt. The Municipal Area is furthermore characterized by large Forest Areas which are in close proximity to the Coastline, with a total of ten Rivers flowing through it. The Mkambati Nature Reserve is situated within the Coastal zone. This Local Municipality is believed to hold significant Tourism. 
*King Sabata Dalindyebo (KSD) Local Municipality is named in tribute of the freedom fighter and King of the Aba Thembu nation who was forced to exile as result of his resistance to apartheid and the Bantustan mode of governance. He died in exile in 1986 and reburied at the Great Place of Bumbane outside Mthatha in 1989. 
* Nyandeni Local Municipality derives its name from the isiXhosa word “inyanda”, which is a bundle of wood that is carried by Pondo women on their heads for making a cooking fire. The Municipality derives its name from an old story of how the King of Eastern Pondoland, Ndamase, crossed the great Umzimvubu River.
* Port St Johns Local Municipality derives its name from Portuguese Sao Joao, presumably named either after a ship which was shipwrecked near Port Edward, 21 of the 600 soldiers survived eventually finding their way to Mozambique through the coastline. Prior to shipwrecking the ship has coasted via the Area with its Mountain which also coincidentally has an outline of the face of an apostle. The Area was settled in about 1884. 
* Mhlontlo Local Municipality is named in honour of a chief of the Pondomise people who was stripped of his chieftainship by the Government of the time because the Pondomise people killed the magistrate of Qumbu. The Municipality lies on the North-East side of the Eastern Cape Provincial Boundary alongside the N2 route between Mthatha and Mt Frere, and the R396 between Tsolo and Maclear. It shares Boundaries with the Umzimvubu Local Municipality to the North,
King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality to the South, Nyandeni Local Municipality to the East and Elundini Local Municipality to the West. At 2 880 km2 it makes up a quarter of the District’s Geographical Area.

A small Town in the Eastern Free State, close to the Border to Lesotho. The start of the Town was made by a number of enterprising inhabitants who felt that a Town and a Church are needed. The Farm: 'Groenfontein', was bought from: 'Christoffel Gerhardus Fourie', for £5000. A surveyor was then called, to measure out the future Town. That was at the beginning of 1891, the first stand was sold on the 6 October 1891 for £2750. All this happened without Government approval, that only came on 1 June 1893 when the Volksraad (parliament) proclaimed the Town after being informed that the new Town had already been established.

Building of a Church commenced at the same time. The people of the Area were mostly part of the Ficksburg Congregation. They collected money so that a small Church could be build. A tender to build it for £ 2000 was accepted. The Church Council in Ficksburg only became aware of this after the event. The corner stone for the Church was laid on 31 December 1892. The congregation separated from Ficksburg in 1894. The first preacher was Michiel Heyns who served the congregation from 1894 to 1906. He had to retire because of ill health and died 1907. His remains are buried at the local cemetery. The clockwork was supplied by E. Burmester from Cape Town, 1909. These clockworks are also found in other Churches like: Bethlehem and Vrede. This new Congregation is not the Anglican Church any more, it is called the United Church of Fouriesberg. This is a multi denominational Church of English speakers, they do get preachers from different religions: Anglican; Methodist and Catholic to conduct the service, every Sunday.  There was an influx of English speaking people into the Area since the 1860's. This is the origin of family names such as: Middleton; Reid; Morkel and others. It was the start of an Anglican congregation. With a collection money, of which Mr Middleton was the major donor, a Church was build. His wife had the honour of laying the corner stone.

Fouriesburg was the Provisional Capital of the Free State, after Bloemfontein had been occupied by the British in March 1900. Pushing further they trapped the major Boer forces in the Brandwater Basin and with it also the Government. Some of the Boer forces made a run for it to escape the encirclement. The major group was under Christiaan de Wet, who took about 3500 men over 'Slabbertsnek' into the direction of Bethlehem on the 15 July 1900. With him was President Steyn and some of his government. The appeal court and some of the personnel, as well as the wife of the president, stayed behind in the Town and were captured by the British when they occupied the place on the 26 July 1900.

A remnant from those days is the block house situated in the Church Ground. In 1980 it was moved to there. It was one of the types used by the British army. Also in the Church Grounds is the Burger Monument of the men who lost their lives during the Anglo Boer War.

The Railway Station is about 10km out of Town. The trains are still running, judging by the shininess of the rails, although not very frequently. Construction of the Rail Link from Bloemfontein through to Bethlehem via Ficksburg was started soon after the end of the Anglo Boer war in 1902. The stretch from Ficksburg to Fouriesberg on to Bethlehem was completed in 1907. In the Local Cemetery is the grave of the first preacher of the NG Church, Michiel Heyns and British War Grave of F.H. Owen (It is surprising that there is only one British War Grave, as there was a fair amount of the Anglo-Boer War fought, in this Area.) Although its is only 1.8 km long, the beautiful little 'Poort'- (Afrikaans for narrow path through the mountain), packs 10 corners into its short length as it sinuously tracks the course of the Little Caledon River through a deep canyon. The Poort terminates at the Caledonspoort Border Control Post, which manages access in to and out of Lesotho. This route can get very busy, particularly on Friday and Sunday afternoons, so avoid it during these times if you can. The road surface is good for the most part, but there are a couple of sections where the tar has broken up.

"It is a real pity that the Poort is so close to the border post, as the sheer stunning beauty of the surrounding area is not really noticed by most people as they rush through it in preparation for the border crossing!"