Matatiele Municipality is a Local Municipality, category B. It is within the within the Alfred Nzo District Municipality, nestled in betweenKwa-Zulu Natal, Lesotho and the Eastern Cape. It adjoins Lesotho to the North, Elundini to the South-West, Greater Kokstad to the East, with Free State Province to the West. Matatiele, is a charming Town with a rich History. The Town invites you to explore its best-kept secret, the Matatiele Museum. This Museum is housed in a converted Dutch Reformed Church. This sandstone gem showcases an impressive collection, from vintage photos chronicling the Town of Matatiele, with its transformation from antique household items, to post boxes, and an array of fossils. Step inside and embark on a Historical journey, uncovering the past of Matatiele and its neighbouring Regions, as well as the cultures of the Xhosa,Sotho, San, and Zulu peoples.

This Provincial Heritage Site and National Monument, offer a captivating experience for History enthusiasts and the curious minded alike!

It is the largest of four Municipalities in the District, making up almost half of its geographical Area. The Matatiele Municipal Area is composed of the commercial Farmlands surrounding the Town of Matatiele, the Town of Cedarville and the R293 leads to the  Township of Maluti. The Municipality is predominantly rural in nature. Matatiele Town serves as the main economic hub for Matatiele Municipality and beyond. The Settlement pattern is characterised by dispersed rural Settlements surrounded by Subsistence Farmlands, in the former Transkei region. The R56 road is a major arterial and trade route running through the Municipality in an East-West direction, linking Matatiele with Kokstad to the East and Mount Fletcher to the West. It links the Municipality with KwaZulu-Natal and parts of the Eastern Cape which are located South of Matatiele Municipality. The Western parts of the Area are mainly Commercial Agricultural Farms. They form part of the high production potential land stretching from Matatiele and Kokstad in the South, through to the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands to the North-Western parts of KwaZulu-Natal. 

As this Area is located at the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains. It adjoins this World Heritage Site, along its Western boundary and was included in the Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation and Development Project (MDTP). The latter was a collaborative initiative between South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho, to protect the exceptional biodiversity of the Drakensberg and Maloti Mountains. This is done through: Conservation of sustainable Resources and Land using Development planning. On the 6 December 2023, Matatiele Township changed its name to Willie Jones. 103 Geographical name changes have occurred in the Eastern Cape since 2019. 

PC, as Jones was affectionately known, was the right-hand man of Struggle icon and father of Black Consciousness Movement, Steve Bantu Biko. Jones was an unassuming freedom fighter who, at the height of apartheid repression in the late 1960's and throughout the 1970's, he was a prominent and a constant thorn in the side of the white minority regime.

Witwatersrand, ridge of gold-bearing rock mostly in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Its name means “Ridge of White Waters, in Afrikaans.” The highland, which forms the watershed between the Vaal and Limpopo rivers, is about 100 km long and 37 km wide; its average elevation is about 1,700 meters. Its rich gold deposits, occurring in conglomerate beds known as reefs, were discovered in 1886. A heavy in-migration of miners followed, and the city of Johannesburg grew near the centre of the Witwatersrand. The tailing dumps of the gold mines stretch the entire length of the ridge, and chains of lakes created by water pumped from the mines occupy adjoining valleys. Two major theories-the placer model and the hydrothermal model-attempt to account for the origin of gold in the Witwatersrand basin. The placer model holds that gold was eroded from a pre-existing source and transported into the basin with other sediments forming the conglomerate strata. The first recorded discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand was made by Jan Gerrit Bantjes in June 1884, on the farm Vogelstruisfontein, and was followed soon thereafter, in September, by the Struben brothers who uncovered the Confidence Reef on the farm 'Wilgespruit', near present-day Roodepoort.The Witwatersrand Gold Rush initiated South Africa’s domination of World gold production. Although legends of a South African: “El Dorado”, existed among the natives of the Area, it was not until 1886, when a poor Australian prospector named: 'George Harrison', staked the first claim, that the vast riches of the “Rand” were discovered. It took very little time for the local village of Ferreira’s Camp to transform into the Ferreira Township, as miners settled in the region hoping to strike gold. The Witwatersrand Basin still produces most of South Africa's gold and much of the total World output.These operations have weakened geological strata, disrupted natural drainage patterns and altered ecological habitat. The original semi-arid grasslands ecology is now converted to an urban forest, and sediment from mining waste has blocked natural waterways, unexpectedly creating wetlands with rich bird habitat. Massive mine dumps, many upwards of 30 meters tall, have become landmarks of Johannesburg — or "eGoli"-the place of gold, in Zulu. In the 1970's the gold mines moved from Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni to the rural areas of the Witwatersrand, and informal settlements began to occupy the vacant mining lands in the heart of the city.

The end of apartheid, in 1994, brought a large influx of rural residents — mostly blacks or foreign Africans — seeking opportunities in Johannesburg and joining family and friends in existing informal settlements along the mining belt. Currently 25 percent of the population in Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni live in informal settlements, and approximately a quarter of them — 400,000 people — are in the mining belt. The settlements range from 100 to 40,000 people, with the largest communities in Ekurhuleni, where the mining companies have expended fewer resources to police the land.

Not surprisingly, the settlements face a large number of difficulties or problems, typically faced at the same time. Local zoning laws prevent them from receiving Municipal services such as water, electricity and sanitation. Having no secure right to the land, the settlers construct homes from scrap metal and found wood; and despite such resourcefulness, they’ve encountered degraded environmental conditions that seriously hampered efforts to improve living standards and achieve formal municipal status. "Here is some history of the Witwatersrand Gold Style Ore Deposits as they related to South Africa since the arrival of the Dutch and the southernmost tip of the continent in 1652. The Dutch set up a small fort where Cape Town stands today and started Market Gardens as a place that the Dutch East India Company ships to shelter and to restock with freshwater and provisions on the long journey between Holland and East Indies. The East Indies was a vital spice trading destination for the Dutch. As time went on the tiny community expanded and some of the Dutch were allowed to move into the surrounding area to set up new farms on the condition that they still sell their produce to the Dutch East India Company to supply the expanding ship traffic. This arrangement although it was very successful only lasted for a fairly short time before these farmers or Boers as they became known became frustrated by the restrictions set by the company and they started breaking free of the bond and moving inland in their wagons with the Bible in one hand and the rifle in the other. Towards the end of the 1700’s the global influence of the Dutch began to fade and the British moved to fill the vacuum that they left. By 1815 British sovereignty of the Cape was recognized by other European Nations. The influx of British settlers and the imposition of British law infuriated the Boers and they began moving east to escape the British influence although much of the area that they moved into was pretty inhospitable there were still a tough group and they thrived there.

In 1820 the British began their settlement of the Eastern Cape initially as a way of providing a buffer between the advancing Dutch settlers and the indigenous groups to the East. This idea failed but the British were there to stay and they rapidly expanded up the East Coast and then inland. Hindered by the British to the West and the East and by the ocean to the South the Boers climbed into their wagons again and they headed North East seeking new horizons where they can live their lives free of the hated British. They crossed the Vaal rivers and setup two new Boer Republics; The Orange Free state and the Vaal Boer Republic electing their own presidents.-(This is according to Andrew Jackson an Economic Geologist.)

The earliest Title Deeds could not be found, but it is believed the Farm 'Dwarsvlei', was established in the middle of the 19th Century. The first Homestead, has original reed ceilings and still stands today, next to the new Homestead. There is an old wagon track believed to be the earliest road from Graaff Reinet passing through the Vlei where a rock, with names etched into the surface, marks the site of an outspan point.

Dwarsvlei Farm was bought by Henry Nourse, who was one of the few survivors of the very earliest pioneering days. He came of naval stock. His father was a naval officer and one of his uncles was at one-time commander of Simons Town, naval station. Henry Nourse was born on the 23rd April 1857 on the Farm 'Advice', in the Uitenhage. A District of the Eastern Cape. His father lived there after retiring from the navy. He is one of the World’s most noted horse breeders. Henry Nourse, was also a great sportsman, a fine soldier and a mining magnate. 'Nourse Mine' on the Witwatersrand still bares his name. He was chairman of the SA amateur athletic and cycling associate for 30 years, and chairman of the SA Olympic games council for more than 20 years.

Henry Nourse was also a thoroughbred breeder. At one time he is reputed to have had the largest thoroughbred stud in South Africa, and indeed in the Southern Hemisphere, and one of the largest in the World. With 700 horse spread over his three Farms: Dwarsvlei; Kalkfontein and Rietfontein', on the Orange River.' Rietfontein' now belongs to South African golf veteran, Gary Player. On: 'Dwarsvlei; alone there was stable for 200 brood mares. Henry Nourse also had merino sheep and jersey cattle studs and apparently purebred chickens. There was an extensive vegetable garden and fruit orchard from which he supplied Middelburg.

During the South African War Henry Nourse was closely associated with Colonel Ignatius Ferreria and involved in the second Sekukuni campaign. On the outbreak of the first South African war he was engaged in the defence of Pretoria. He raised a temporary irregular force, Nourse’s Horse, to which a Memorial plate was erected later in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral London. Being a military man, Henry Nourse built the main Homestead on Dwarsvlei as a venue to entertain his officer friends from Grootfontein where 7 000 British troops were stationed during the South African war, hence the grand proportions of the rooms and the sprung dance floor of the sitting room. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long used for this purpose, because the house was completed in 1910, the year of the Union of South Africa.

In 1944, on Henry Nours’s death, Dwarsvlei was bought by Nourbet Erleigh, also a mining man. Nourbet Erleigh along with several others became notoriously known for salting a gold mine, (To make a mine appear profitable by filling it with ore containing the desired material.) This resulted in him spending 5 years in prison.

Alfred John van Lingen, bought Dwarsvlei Farm from Nourbet Erleigh, in 1963. He has farmed it ever since. As both Nourse and Erleigh lived in Johannesburg, with managers on Dwarsvlei, John van Lingen and his family were the first to live on the Homestead. Dwarsvlei was farmed for 50 years by John van Lingen. He ran race horses for Nourbet Erleigh for 15 years after purchasing the Farm and he also ran a very successful merino stud. John was an astute farmer always willing to consider new opportunities. These properties ( Dwarsvlei and Temple Farm) are now farmed by Andrew and Matthew van Lingen (son and grandson to John van Lingen). They use water for irrigation from the Orange River. Through careful farming, with timed controlled grazing, by the 3 van Lingen generations who have worked the Farm, the ecosystem has improved greatly.

In an exciting new development, Dwarsvlei has been transformed into a venue for cycling and running events amongst others.