Jamestown is a town on the N6 national road 58 km south of

Aliwal North Aliwal North (officially Maletswai) is a town in central South Africa on the banks of the Orange River, Eastern Cape Province. It is a medium-sized commercial centre in the northernmost part of the Eastern Cape. History Sir Harry Smith, then ...

and 105 km north of

Komani Queenstown, officially Komani, is a town in the middle of the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, roughly halfway between the smaller towns of Cathcart and Sterkstroom on the N6 National Route. The town was established in 1853 and is curr ...

(formerly Queenstown) in the

Joe Gqabi District Municipality Joe Gqabi District Municipality is one of the seven districts of Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The seat of Joe Gqabi is Barkly East. The majority of its 349,768 people speak IsiXhosa ( 2011 census). Before 1 February 2010 it was known a ...

of the Eastern Cape,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. 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. It was named after James Wagenaar, original owner of the farm on which the town was laid out. The Jamestown Hospital, which was previously provincially aided, has since January 2011 been fully operated by the Eastern Cape Department of Health. There are two public schools: 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 Balthazar Johannes "B. J." Vorster (; also known as John Vorster; 13 December 1915 – 10 September 1983) was a South African apartheid politician who served as the prime minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and the fourth state presiden ...

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 Hendrik Bernardus Thom (13 December 1905 – 4 November 1983) was a British professor and former Rector of the Stellenbosch University. Life and career Thom was born in Jamestown, Cape Colony, and grew up in Burgersdorp, South Africa. B ...

– Rector and later Chancellor of

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

, 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 his ...

–

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

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 {{EasternCape-geo-stub