Libode is situated in an area formerly known as
Pondoland. Mpondoland was annexed to the
Cape Colony in 1894. In 1903 the Transkeian Territories General Council was established, and in 1911 the district of Libode was incorporated into the council. In 1935 some land in the area of Libode was annexed by the Government of the Union of South Africa and the then
Transkei government to develop the town of Libode and expand it. It was declared a Village Management area. Further land was dispossessed when the government implemented the Native Trust and Land Act of 1936. This was the subject of a successful land claim in 2009. In 1940, some Catholic nuns from the Motherhouse St. Ursula in Brig, Switzerland were sent to Libode, which is currently the
Ursuline group's main station in the region. Today they still run a multi-racial boarding-school. On 15 December 1998 the City of Umtata was struck by a violent hail and thunderstorm that developed two tornado funnels that wreaked havoc across the city and surrounding rural areas. The tornado left 18 people dead, at least 184 injured and damage to property estimated at many millions of Rands. ... President Mandela declared the Libode Magisterial district to be a disaster area in terms of the Fund Raising Act 1978.
Nelson Mandela opened Mngazi School in Libode in 2002. == Tourism ==