Despite its colonial past, the Eastern Cape remains the home of the Xhosa-speaking people of South Africa. With its almost seven million people, the Eastern Cape has the third-largest provincial population, living on about 169,600 km² of land. The majority of the people speak isiXhosa, followed by Afrikaans and English.
The province has a number of higher education institutions, including the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, the University of Fort Hare and the Walter Sisulu University of Technology. Despite the high quality of education facilities, 22,8% of the population aged 20 years or older have never received any schooling, while 6,3% have completed some form of higher education (Census 2001).
In 2005, the unemployment rate of the province stood at 27,1% (Labour Force Survey, March 2005). The dominant productive sectors in the province at current prices are manufacturing (17,3% of GDPR), finance/ real estate/ business services (18,6% of GDPR), and wholesale/ retail/ trade/ hotels and restaurants (13,11% of GDPR). The province’s GDPR in 2003 represented just over 8,1% of national GDP, while the province’s share of the national population was around 15,5%
The Xhosa tend to dominate politics in South Africa and many cabinet members come from the Eastern Cape, which is, but one of the nine provinces in South Africa. Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki of the new democratic South Africa come from the Eastern Cape and are Xhosa speaking.
Perhaps it should be seen as just reward for it was upon the Xhosa that the longest struggle and main burden of resistance to white penetration of the South African interior fell. With the meeting of the advancing Xhosa and with white settlers, and the establishment of the Fish River as the boundary between black and white, a century of war was unavoidable although peace inevitably followed.
With the influence of the missionaries and subsequent ever-increasing contact with western society, much of the rich heritage of the Xhosa people is gradually disappearing. Traditionally the Xhosa men fulfilled the role of warrior, hunter and stockman looking after their cattle while the women looked after the land, the crops and homes.
Lack of land, cattle and the move to urbanization led to many migrating to work in the Gold mines or in other major cities like Cape Town. Today what are known as the Xhosa, make up the second biggest group after the Zulu.
| Capital: | Bisho | |
| Principal languages: | isiXhosa | 83,4% |
| Afrikaans | 9,3% | |
| English | 3,6% | |
| Population: | 7 039 300 (Mid-Year Estimates, 2005) | |
| Area (km2): | 169 580 | |
| % of total area: | 13,9% | |
| GDPR at current prices (2003): | R88 032 million | |
| % of total GDP: | 8,1 % | |
