• King Sabata Dalindyebo (in the eastern part)
• Ngcobo (to the western part)
• Mnquma (to the south)
• Ntsika Yethu (in the South-Western)

Mbhashe has earned the name from the beautiful river called Mbhashe which flows from the banks of Ngcobo flowing through Idutywa, Gatyana (Willowvale) and Xhora (Elliotdale). Mbhashe is comprising of the three towns of Idutywa, Gatyana, Xhora and numerous rural settlements. The area also boats the head offices of the AmaXhosa Kingdom at Nqadu Great Place.

Mbhashe is 3030.47 km2 in area and consist of 26 wards and 51 councillors. The vision of the municipality a “vibrant institution able to provide quality and accessibe services to all its communities ina socio economic manner, with the aim of benefiting her people”. Four clusters of key development priorities are identies i.e. LED and Enviroment, Social Needs, Infrastructure and Institutional and Finance clusters.

Mbhashe is predominatly rural, with high levels of uneployment, poverty and dependency. The dependency rario is set to increase if employment opportunities are mot created for the large and youthful population. Mbhashe’s location on the  Wild Coast providesthe key for potential economic growth as the area is said to be one of the most sought after coastal tourism destinations in the Eastern Cape. The municipality is in the process of developing its own official LED strategy with the assistance of the assistance of Teba Development and is presently using the Amathole District Strategy and is investigating means to exploit the Wild Coast’s potential, and will make use of the Amathole District’s plans and focus on the development and expansion of Agriculture, Forestry, Minning, Tourism. The road networks are severely under-maintained with with few roads that are tarred, which adds to the economic challenges experienced by the local population as many rural areas and basic services, such as school are inaccessible.