Bizana, also known by its official name Mbizana (since 2013), is a town in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is the seat of the Winnie Madikizela-Mandela Local Municipality. Winnie Mandela, ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, was born here in 1936. Oliver Reginald Tambo (popularly known as OR Tambo which the international airport in Johannesburg is named after) was also born and grew up in this town. The town has many surrounding villages.

Entertainment and nature

The Wild Coast Sun casino and hotel by Sun international group is in the Bizana District, situated 56,6 kilometres from the town. The Wild Coast Sun hosted Idols SA theatre week in 2016 and 2017. Bizana is in the Wild coast area and has beautiful beaches. One of them is Silver Beach, a beautiful and peaceful beach in the Xholobeni area, where a hotel complex is located. The controversial Xolobeni mine has been proposed to mine the area's titanium reserves. Bizana is on the border between

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

and the

. The population is predominantly Xhosa.

Hospitals

Bizana has a provincial hospital, the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Regional Hospital. The Greenville hospital, in the eTyeni area of Imizizi Administrative area, was originally developed by the Roman Catholic church in 1900. Greenville has been the subject of community protests after years of neglect.

1986 bombing

On 18 April 1986, two people were killed and several others injured when a bomb, set by Phumzile Mayaphi, exploded at the Wild Coast Casino near Bizana. Mayaphi, an MK operative, was charged and convicted of murder and sabotage, and was sentenced to death (some sources say to 18 years) on 12 May 1989. Mayaphi was released as a political prisoner in 1990.https://www.dailydispatch.co.za/politics/2018-09-26-former-umkhonto-wesizwe-operative-left-his-mark-on-sa/}

Culture

* Mbizana Cultural Village

Transport

The R61 is the major route running through Mbizana, bypassing the town to the south. It runs roughly SE to S from Port Edward in

to Flagstaff.

Notable people

* Babalo Madikizela – Eastern Cape MEC for Public Works * Nandipha Magudumana – celebrity doctor * Oliver Tambo – Anti-Apartheid Movement activist & President of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

* Siphosakhe Ntiya-Ntiya – footballer * Winnie Madikizela-Mandela – Anti-Apartheid Movement activist, president of the African National Congress Women's League & former wife of Nelson Mandela

References

External links

{{Alfred Nzo District Municipality Populated places in the Mbizana Local Municipality