Matatiele

Matatiele is a small town serving the farming and trading communities of East Griqualand in the foothills of western Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Dairy farming is the principal activity. Matatiele's name is derived from the Sesotho expression "Madi-i-Yila" meaning "the ducks have flown."

Evidence of Stone Age inhabitants in the form of art addorning rocks are found throughout the area. In the early 1860s the Griquas settled here after migrating across the Drakensberg from Philippolis. The town was the centre of cattle rustling and gun-running and order was only restored in 1874 by the Cape Mounted Rifles . The town became a municipality in 1904.