Komga is a town in

Amatole District Municipality The Amathole District Municipality () is one of the 7 districts of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The seat is East London. As of 2011, over 90% of its 892,637 inhabitants spoke isiXhosa. The district code is DC12. ''Amathole'' means ...

in 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 ...

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 ...

. It is located north of

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

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 Khoikhoi ( /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/ ''KOY-koy'') (or Khoekhoe in Namibian orthography) are the traditionally nomadic pastoralist indigenous population of South Africa. They are often grouped with the hunter-gatherer San (literally "foragers") peop ...

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 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 English.

References

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