Leeu-Gamka is a small town in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

province of

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 ...

, located north-east of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in the

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...

History

The town of Leeu-Gamka owes its existence to the route chosen by Prime Minister

John Molteno Sir John Charles Molteno (; 5 June 1814 – 1 September 1886) was a politician and businessman who served as the first Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1872 to 1878. Early life Born in London into a large Anglo-Italian family, Molten ...

for the

Cape Government Railways The Cape Government Railways (CGR) was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways (SAR) in 1910. History Private railways The first railways at the Cape were privately ow ...

's western main line, from

towards the diamond fields at

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

. The railway line reached the meeting-point of the Leeu and Gamka rivers in 1879, and on 11 August of that year a station was opened on that location. It was initially named "Fraserburg Road", because it was the closest station to the town of

Fraserburg Fraserburg is a town in the Karoo region of South Africa's Northern Cape province. It is located in the Karoo Hoogland Local Municipality. The town has some of the coldest winters in South Africa. The nearest towns are Williston, Northern Cape, W ...

, to the north-west over the Nuweveld Mountains. A small town grew around this station, with a church and school opening in 1896, and a hotel in 1898. In 1950 the station and town were renamed to "Leeu-Gamka".

Geography

Leeu-Gamka is located where the Leeu River enters the

Gamka River Gamka River () is a river located in the Western Cape, South Africa. The name '' means 'Lion' and was probably named so by the San people (Bushmen). The river originates north of Beaufort West, generally flowing southwest towards the Gamkapoor ...

; both rivers are intermittent in this region. "Leeu" and "Gamka" both mean "Lion", in

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 ...

and ǀXam respectively. The town lies at an elevation of 552 m, in the southern

; to the north are the Nuweveld Mountains, and to the south the

Swartberg The Swartberg mountains (''black mountain'' in English language, English) are a mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is composed of two main mountain chains running roughly east–west along the northern edge of the sem ...

e. It is situated on the N1 national road and the Cape Town–Kimberley railway, between Laingsburg and

Beaufort West Beaufort West (Afrikaans: ''Beaufort-Wes''; Xhosa: ''eBhobhofolo'') is a town in the Western Cape province in South Africa. It is the largest town in the arid Great Karoo region, and is known as the "Capital of the Karoo". It forms part of the ...

; the travel distance from

is by road and by rail. From Leeu-Gamka the R353 road runs north-west to Fraserburg and Williston.

Demographics

The 2011 Census reported that, of the population of 2,727, some 91% described themselves as "

Coloured Coloureds () are multiracial people in South Africa, Namibia and, to a smaller extent, Zimbabwe and Zambia. Their ancestry descends from the interracial mixing that occurred between Europeans, Africans and Asians. Interracial mixing in South ...

" and 95% spoke Afrikaans.

Government and Infrastructure

Leeu-Gamka falls within the

Prince Albert Local Municipality Prince Albert Municipality () is a local municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. History At the end of the apartheid era, the area that is today the Prince Albert Local Municipality formed part of the Central Karoo Regi ...

, which is part of the

Central Karoo District Municipality The Central Karoo District Municipality () is a district municipality located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its municipality code is DC5. Geography The Central Karoo District Municipality is divided into three local municipalities ...

. It has a primary school and a police station, and was served by a mobile clinic. Recently, Leeu-Gamka established a new emergency medical services station in conjunction with the Western Cape Provincial Health Department to render support services to accident victims on the N1 en route to Cape Town and Johannesburg. Furthermore, a permanent community health center was erected, doing away with the previously used mobile clinic. The community also has a library and a new dam for domestic

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

supply. Leeu Gamka is mainly a community surrounded by farms and many of the citizens are dependent on work from these farms, with maintenance work by civil contracting engineering companies who subcontract for SANRAL.

References

{{Central Karoo District Municipality Populated places in the Prince Albert Local Municipality Populated places established in 1879