Lemana College was erected by the Swiss Mission to provide teacher-training facilities for various communities in this part of the country. The Institution opened on 8 January 1906, using existing buildings on the nearby farm Rossback (old Lemana).
The name Lemana derived from ‘Lac Lemana’ (Lake Geneva) the region in Switzerland from which most of the missionaries came. In 1922 the Swiss mission decided to move the Institution to its present site. The first building was designed and constructed the same year.
A separate Domestic Science school was opened in 1927. In 1942 the Douglas Laing Smit Secondary School was established. The Government took over control of Lemana in 1954.
In 1969 the Secondary school was renamed Lemana High School. In 1976 the pupils at Lemana joined the nation wide opposition to ‘Bantu Education’. The first building (then being used as a hall). Immediately to the North of this memorial was burnt down as a form of protest.
Lemana has consistently provided for the educational and spirituals needs of the community with great success. The Institution has produced many leaders in the academic and business world who have excelled within and beyond the borders of the country. Their role in Nation building has been substantial.
Lemana was re-established as a College of Education in 1992 and rationalized in 1997. In 1998 the Institution was renamed Lemana Community College and it has now been declared a national monument.
The Lemana Alumni Association has also been established.
