Finding out about Mthatha

I've never been to Mthatha before (or South Africa for that matter) so I've been doing my best to find out what I can from afar about the community I'm moving to.

Lonely Planet has this to say:

Chaotic Mthatha might come as a shock to your system. It's a scruffy, lively place with a fearsome but probably exaggerated reputation for crime.

Then I found a traveler's blog entry:

We miss the turn off for the Holiday Inn and ride through downtown Mthatha. I can only describe the scene as chaos as traffic and pedestrians intermingle through the streets. I was surprised chickens and goats weren’t part of the mix.

And another one:

There were piles of trash on many corners of the town, and the whole place appeared dirty and rundown. The place has a reputation for crime; the people at our hotel (the Windsor) were surprised to see whites there.

Can't wait to get there and find out for myself.