The Eastern Cape (Xhosa: iMpuma-Koloni, Afrikaans: Oos-Kaap) is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Port Elizabeth.
The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after 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 began to be settled by Europeans who originally came from England and some from Scotland and Ireland.
Quick Facts
- Area:Â 168,966 km2
- Population Est: 6,676,590
- Density:Â 39/km2
- Languages:
- Xhosa (78,8%)
- Afrikaans (10.6%)
- English (5.6%)
- Sotho (2.5%)
- Capital: Bhisho
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 Makhanda 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.
- Port Elizabeth: 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
The Eastern Cape is the poorest province in South Africa and has the highest expanded and official unemployment rate in the country. 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. 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.
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 Komani 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:
- Mohale’s Hoek District – west of Quthing
- Quthing District – between Mohale and Qacha’s Nek
- Qacha’s Nek District – east of Quthing
Domestically, it borders the following provinces:
- Western Cape – west
- Northern Cape – northwest
- Free State – north
- KwaZulu-Natal – far northeast
The population of Eastern Cape Province is 6,562,053, of whom 86.3% are Black, 8.3% are Coloureds, 4.7% are White and 0.4% are Indian/Asian. A large majority of people in the province are Xhosa, with 78.8% of residents in Eastern Cape identifying as Xhosa as of 2011.
Unlike most of South Africa the White population is overwhelmingly of British descent. Roughly 279,000 out of 310,000 White South Africans in Eastern Cape are English-speakers of British descent while only about 10% of Whites in the province are of Boer/Afrikaner ancestry.
Eastern Cape is one of only two provinces in South Africa where British descended Whites outnumber Boers/Afrikaners, the other being Kwazulu-Natal. Port Elizabeth/Gqeberha is the largest city in Eastern Cape Province.
Sports:
Boxing:
- Premier Boxing League
Checkers/Draughts:
- Mind Sports South Africa
eSports:
- Mind Sports South Africa
Football:
- Swallows FC (Alice, McFarlane)
- Blackburn Rovers (East London)
- Chippa United F.C. (Port Elizabeth)
Cricket:
- Chevrolet Warriors (Port Elizabeth)
Rugby:
- Eastern Province Elephants (Port Elizabeth)
- Border Bulldogs (East London)
- Dale High (Qonce)
- Davidson High (Alice)
- Hudson Park Boys (East London)
CUESPORT:
- Eastern Cape Pool Billiards (8 Ball Pool) – (Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage, Despatch, Jeffreys Bay, Humansdorp, St. Francis, East London)
- Eastern Cape Blackball Pool (Port Elizabeth, Queenstown)
- Eastern Cape Billiards and Snooker (Port Elizabeth, East London)
Most of the best schools in the province are situated in the suburbs and are known as former “model c” institutions. A large number of black children rather choose to be schooled in them than to attend local schools in their communities due to the standard of teaching and pass levels. The Eastern Cape Department of Education has been roundly criticised for poor primary and secondary education resulting from dysfunction, special interests, and issues with the South Africa teachers union, SADTU. 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.
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. The Eastern Cape has since been the worst-performing province educationally and especially in terms of matriculation; matriculants’ results averaged 51% in 2009, 58.3% in 2011, 64.9% in 2013, 65.4% in 2014, and 56.8% in 2015. In the 2015/2016 financial year, the province failed to spend R530 million of its allocated R1.5 billion budget for education, most of it intended for infrastructure development. Equal Education’s 2017 report, Planning to Fail, found a “systemic failure in Eastern Cape education”.
Universities:
- Rhodes University (Makhanda)
- Nelson Mandela University (Port Elizabeth)
- University of Fort Hare (main campus in Alice, satellite campuses in Bhisho and East London)
- Walter Sisulu University (campuses in Buffalo City, Gcuwa, Mthatha and Queenstown)
- Pearson Institute of Higher Education (campuses in East London and Port Elizabeth)
Other educational institutions:
- Lovedale College 1in Alice,1 in Qonce
- Buffalo City College, East London
- Queenstown College, Queenstown
- Port Elizabeth College, Port Elizabeth
- Ikhala College, Queenstown
- College of the Transfiguration, Makhanda
- Eastcape Midlands TVET College (6 campuses in Uitenhage, 1 in Makhanda, 1 in Graaff-Reinet, and 1 in Port Elizabeth)
- Various independent FET Colleges (Further Education and Training)
