Jamestown, officially James Calata, is a town on the N6 national road 58 km south of

Aliwal North Maletswai (previously Aliwal North) 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. The Dutch Reformed Church was b ...

and 105 km north of

Komani Komani may refer to: * Official name of Queenstown, South Africa, Eastern Cape * Komani River, a river in South Africa * Lake Komani, a reservoir in Albania ** Komani Hydro Power Plant * Norman Komani, Zimbabwean football player See also

* Co ...

in the

Joe Gqabi District Municipality The Joe Gqabi District Municipality (; ) is one of the seven districts of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The seat is Barkly East. As of 2011, the majority of its 349,768 inhabitants spoke isiXhosa. Before 1 February 2010, it was ...

of the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. 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 (; ) is a (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 had a population of 3,206 and an area of .Al ...

. 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 (; 13 December 1915 – 10 September 1983), better known as John Vorster, was a South African politician who served as the prime minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and the fourth state president of So ...

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 an Afrikaner 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 ...

– Rector and later Chancellor of

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) 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 university in Sub-Sahara ...

, 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 h ...

–

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

poet, writer, cabaretist and academic, educated and matriculated 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