Kathu is a town located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is recognized as the iron ore capital of the region.
The name Kathu translates to "town under the trees," referring to the Camel Thorn forest in which it is situated. While the phrase was officially coined by an engineer in the early 1990s as part of a tourist marketing drive, local anecdote suggests the word may also refer to a porridge brewed from powder found in the pods of the Camel Thorn trees.