Lesseyton is a town in

Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality is a local municipality of South Africa. It was established after the August 2016 local elections by the merging of Tsolwana, Inkwanca, Lukhanji local municipalities. Politics The municipal council consists o ...

in 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 ...

province of South Africa, located northwest of Queenstown. Almost all residents are Xhosa speakers. Lesseyton has two schools: Lesseyton Primary School and Ndlovukazi Public High School. Lesseyton was established as a mission station of the

Wesleyan Missionary Society Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminianism, Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a Christian theology, theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the Christian ministry, ministry of the 18th-century eva ...

in 1847. The people were all

Thembu The Thembu Kingdom (''abaThembu ababhuzu-bhuzu, abanisi bemvula ilanga libalele'') was a Xhosa-state in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. According to Xhosa oral tradition, the AbaThembu migrated along the east coast of Southern Africa ...

, who mostly retained their customary cultural and religious beliefs. In 1851, a war broke out between the Xhosas and the Cape colonial authorities, and many Thembus joined the hostilities against the colonial government. The Thembus at Lesseyton, however, remained loyal to the British, and fought the rebellion as part of the "Lesseyton Volunteers".

References

Populated places in the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality Populated places established in 1847 1847 establishments in the Cape Colony {{EasternCape-geo-stub