Maitland is a suburb of
Cape Town
Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
,
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 ...
.
Maitland is situated along a number of important transport networks connecting the Cape Town
city bowl to the rest of the city. The most important being the
railway line that runs through the middle of the suburb and the
N1 that is situated on its northern boundary. The area has always been an important transport hub for the city.
In 1845 one of the first roads from
Stellenbosch
Stellenbosch (; )[A Universal Pronouncing Gazetteer.](_blank)
Thomas Baldwin ...
through the Maitland area was completed.
This effectively connected Cape Town to the rest of Africa as at the time the dunes of the Cape Flats prevented much traffic between the two locations. The suburb is named after
Sir Peregrine Maitland who was governor of the Cape in the mid 1840s.
Geography
Maitland lies to the north of
Pinelands, south of
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
, east of
Salt River
History
During the
Second Anglo-Boer War Maitland was the site of a major British cavalry camp, where troops and horses recovered from the voyage from Britain.
Demography
The 2011 census recorded the population of Maitland as consisting of 9,782 people. 49.9% described themselves as "Coloured", 1.9% as "Indian or Asian", 41.1% as "Black African", 2.6% as "White" and 4.0% as "Other". 58.0% spoke English as their first language, 16.5% spoke Afrikaans, 3.8% spoke Xhosa, 1.0% spoke Zulu and 20.7% .
Local schools
* Maitland High School
* Holy Cross High School
* Koeberg Primary school
In popular culture
The
Standard Hotel located in Maitland was featured in the 2012 film
Safe House. It features as one of the "seedy hotels" that the main protagonists seek refuge in.
The shrine of a well known Muslim Sufi saint i.e. Hazarat Khawaja Sayed Mehboob Ali Sha (R.A) is situated at the Maitland Cemetery gate 4A is also a source of blessings and unity of many communities. The shrine that still attracts thousands of devotees from all around the world.
Maitland Cemetery is also home to South Africa's only
alkaline hydrolysis facility, where Archbishop
Desmond Tutu
Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...
's remains were famously liquefied following a state funeral.
Desmond Tutu: Body of South African hero to be aquamated
/ref>
References
{{Cape Town suburbs
Suburbs of Cape Town