Jamestown is a town on the
N6 national road 58 km south of
Aliwal North and 105 km north of
Komani (formerly
Queenstown) in the
Joe Gqabi District Municipality of the
Eastern Cape
The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha.
The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...
,
South Africa. It is at the centre of a fertile sheep, cattle and wheat-farming area and was the terminus of a branch railway line from
Molteno
Molteno (; lmo, label= Brianzöö, Mültée) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and a hill-top town in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it h ...
. It was named after James Wagenaar, original owner of the farm on which the town was laid out.
The
Jamestown Hospital
Jamestown Hospital is a small Provincial government funded hospital for the Maletswai Local Municipality area in Jamestown, Eastern Cape in South Africa. It used to be a (private) Provincially Aided Hospital.
The hospital departments include ...
, which was previously provincially aided, has since January 2011 been fully operated by the Eastern Cape Department of Health.
There are two
public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
s: Phambili Mzontsundu Senior Secondary School which is situated in town, and Phahameng Primary School which is situated in Masakhane Township. Next to Siyanda Nonkala's home
Notable people associated with Jamestown
* Prime Minister
John Vorster was born and raised in Jamestown
* Alexander James Kidwell, referred to as the "Father of Jamestown", a merchant, Special Justice of the Peace, and Methodist preacher. The sandstone Kidwell Memorial Church in the main street was named in his memory, as is the adjacent Kidwell Street. His grandparents – Alexander Kidwell and Phebe Tubb – were 1820 settlers.
*
H. B. Thom – Rector and later Chancellor of
Stellenbosch University, born in Jamestown.
*
Hennie Aucamp
Hennie Aucamp (20 January 1934 – 20 March 2014) was a South African Afrikaans poet, short story writer, cabaretist and academic. He grew up on a farm in the Stormberg highlands and matriculated at Jamestown, Eastern Cape before continuing ...
–
Afrikaans poet, writer, cabaretist and academic, educated and matriculated in Jamestown.
* Former Umhlobo Wenene FM Sport commentator, Zingisile Mathiso known by many as Ingxilimbela yaseMaXesibeni or Mbathane was born bred and buttered in Jamestown.
References
Populated places in the Walter Sisulu Local Municipality
Populated places established in 1874
1874 establishments in the Cape Colony
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