Komga is a town in Amatole District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of

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 located north of East London and east of

Stutterheim Stutterheim is a town with a population of 46,730 in South Africa, situated in the Border region of the Eastern Cape province. It is named after Richard Von Stutterheim. History The area's earliest human population were Bushmen. Khoikhoi groups ...

. It was founded as a farming centre in 1877 on the site of a military camp established in 1854, and acquired municipal status in 1904. Of

Khoekhoen Khoekhoen (singular Khoekhoe) (or Khoikhoi in the former orthography; formerly also '' Hottentots''"Hottentot, n. and adj." ''OED Online'', Oxford University Press, March 2018, www.oed.com/view/Entry/88829. Accessed 13 May 2018. Citing G. S. ...

origin, the name probably does not mean 'brown', as has been stated, but 'lots of clay', 'clayey'. It is also home to one of the oldest schools in the Eastern Cape, Komga Junior, as well as St. Paul's Anglican Church which is a national heritage site.

Service protest

In 2006, an angry group of residents allegedly torched the house of the mayor of Komga. Mandisa Kema's house was completely destroyed. Residents were complaining about poor services and their demands included the removal of Kema from office. Residents were extremely "dissatisfied" but later went home, it appeared the residents regrouped later that night and went to Kema's house. One person believed to be involved in the incident was arrested and questioned.

Demographics

Komga is a diverse town that includes a neighbouring township, the residents of which speak many languages. The most commonly spoken language is

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, followed by

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 ...

and English.

References

Populated places in the Great Kei Local Municipality {{EasternCape-geo-stub