[5] The settlement existed in the 1870s as a buffer-zone, in response to reported tensions between Mpondo and neighbouring Thembu groups, and in 1875 a magistrate's office was opened.

The town became the headquarters of the Transkeian Territories General Council (known as the Bunga), and the building which served as a parliament was erected in 1903.

[5][8] In 1973, a summit meeting of the black homeland leaders was held at Umtata, when they decided to federate their respective states after independence.

On 21 May 2012, the airport was formally handed over to Lindiwe Sisulu, then Minister of Defence, by Noxolo Kiviet, then Premier of the Eastern Cape.

After the end of apartheid, some sections of the African business and professional community migrated to traditionally white areas of economic activity, and this has been widely cited as a cause of economic recession in the municipality, but a number of construction projects offer hope for renewal.

Many of South Africa's black leaders – including Walter Sisulu, Sabelo Phama, Bantu Holomisa and Nelson Mandela — come from this area, and the retired Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela lived in his home village of Qunu a few kilometres south of Mthatha.

Spread across three sites, they collect, interpret and exhibit key aspects of the story of the life and times of Nelson Mandela.

In the Bunga Building is the story of the Long Walk to Freedom and an exhibition of the many gifts received by Nelson Mandela.

[11] In 2006, it was reported the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality was owed R250 million by residents in unpaid service fees.

It's widely reported that the general decline into dysfunction and societal fragility is caused by endemic political corruption, municipal incompetence and widespread criminality.

Despite all that, a new dawn is beckoning for Mthatha with the construction of infrastructure like BT Ngebs Mall and Mayfair Hotel.