Kokstad | |
|---|---|
._Also_Memorial_to_Cape_Mounted_Riflemen_%26_Volunteers,_East_Griqualand._1899_-1902._03.jpg) Kokstad City Hall and Victorian Bandstand. Also visible is the Memorial to Cape Mounted Riflemen & Volunteers, East Griqualand. | |
  Kokstad  Kokstad  Kokstad | |
| Coordinates: 30°33′14″S 29°25′37″E / 30.55389°S 29.42694°E | |
| Country |  South Africa |
| Province |  KwaZulu-Natal |
| District | Harry Gwala |
| Municipality | Greater Kokstad |
| Area | |
• Total | 51.57 km2 (19.91 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,302 m (4,272 ft) |
| Population (2011)[1] | |
• Total | 51,561 |
| • Density | 1,000/km2 (2,600/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| • Black African | 84.2% |
| • Coloured | 5.9% |
| • Indian/Asian | 3.8% |
| • White | 5.8% |
| • Other | 0.3% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| • Xhosa | 72.9% |
| • English | 9.1% |
| • Afrikaans | 6.8% |
| • Zulu | 5.8% |
| • Other | 5.5% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |
| Postal code (street) | 4700 |
| PO box | 4700 |
| Area code | 039 |
Kokstad is a town in the Harry Gwala District Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Kokstad is named after the Griqua chief Adam Kok III who settled here in 1863. Kokstad is the capital town of the East Griqualand region, as it is also the biggest town in this region. It was built around Mount Currie, a local mountain range, by the town’s founder Adam Kok III, for whom the town is named. Stad is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for "city".
The town is built on the outer slopes of the Drakensberg and is 1,302 m above sea level. Behind it Mount Currie rises to a height of 2,224 m.
It is a centre for cheese and other dairy products.
Kokstad has the N2 Highway south of the town's CBD. The R56 leads from Kokstad to Cedarville (45 km), Matatiele (68 km) and Maluti leading to the border of Lesotho. The R617 is also a bisecting route leading from Kokstad to Underberg (109 km), Swartberg (41 km) and Bulwer (147 km).
The N2, the national route, leads from Kokstad to the east to Port Shepstone (175 km), Durban (380 km) and to the south Mount Ayliff (57 km), Mthatha (180 km), East London (419 km) and Qonce (447 km).
Kokstad is 10 km from the Eastern Cape border on the N2.
The majority of residents can speak IsiXhosa as well as IsiZulu.
Kokstad has no rural villages to date. It is a farming community with majority of its countryside land being cattle farms or residential farms.
- ^ a b c d "Main Place Kokstad". Census 2011.