Makhanda, South Africa

Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town[lower-alpha 1] of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about 110 kilometres (70 mi) northeast of Gqeberha and 130 kilometres (80 mi) southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Municipality, and the seat of the municipal council. It also hosts Rhodes University, the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, the South African Library for the Blind (SALB), a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, and 6 South African Infantry Battalion. Furthermore, located approximately 3 km south-east of the town lies the world renowned Waterloo Farm, the only estuarine fossil site in the world from 360 million years ago with exceptional soft-tissue preservation.[4]

"Grahamstown" redirects here. For other uses, see Grahamstown (disambiguation).
This article is about the town in South Africa. For the prophet after whom the town has been renamed, see Makhanda (prophet).

Makhanda
Grahamstown
Town
Makhanda seen from Fort Selwyn
Makhanda seen from Fort Selwyn
Flag of Makhanda
Flag
Makhanda is located in Eastern Cape
Makhanda
Makhanda
Makhanda is located in South Africa
Makhanda
Makhanda
Makhanda is located in Africa
Makhanda
Makhanda
Coordinates: 33°18′36″S 26°31′36″E
Country South Africa
ProvinceEastern Cape
DistrictSarah Baartman
MunicipalityMakana
Established1812[1]
Area
[2]
 • Total65.1 km2 (25.1 sq mi)
Elevation
580 m (1,900 ft)
Population
 (2011)[2]
 • Total67,264
 • Density1,000/km2 (2,700/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
[2]
 • Black African78.9%
 • Coloured11.3%
 • Indian/Asian South African|Asian0.7%
 • White8.4%
 • Other0.6%
First languages (2011)
[2]
 • Xhosa72.2%
 • Afrikaans13.7%
 • English10.8%
 • Other3.4%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
6139
PO box
6140
Area code046

The town's name-change from Grahamstown to Makhanda was officially gazetted on 29 June 2018.[5][6] The town was officially renamed to Makhanda in memory of Xhosa warrior and prophet Makhanda ka Nxele.[7]

History

Founding
Wesleyan Mission Premises, Graham's Town, South Africa (1846)[8]
Fort Selwyn

Grahamstown was founded in 1812 after the Fourth Xhosa War as a military outpost by Lieutenant-Colonel John Graham as part of a campaign to secure the Eastern frontier of the Cape Colony. Initially Colonel Graham decided to establish his headquarters on the loan farm Noutoe, now known as Table Farm, but at the recommendation of Ensign Andries Stockenstrom it was moved to the homestead of the loan farm De Rietfontein, belonging to Lucas Meyer.[9] Construction on the new headquarters, located on the site of the present Church Square, thus began in June 1812.[9]

As part of the campaign, Graham was ordered to clear 20,000 Xhosa living in the region led by Ndlambe ka Rharhabe from the Zuurveld. During the campaign, which formed part of the Xhosa Wars, Graham ordered the adoption of numerous scorched earth tactics, which included the burnings of Xhosa farms. By 1812, Graham had completed his assignment, and transformed Grahamstown into the central military outpost in the region.[10][11]

Battle of Grahamstown
Main article: Battle of Grahamstown

On 22 April 1819, a large number of Xhosa warriors, under the leadership of Nxele (or the Xhosa prophet Makhanda), launched an attack against the British garrison stationed at Grahamstown. The Xhosas had warned Colonel Willshire, the commanding officer, of their planned attack on the settlement.[12] It was one of countless attacks launched on the nascent colony by the Xhosas. During the course of the battle, the British were running low on ammunition. The Xhosas, with a force of 10,000 troops under the overall command of Ndlambe's warrior son, Mdushane, were unable to overpower the garrison of some 300 men. Nxele surrendered and was taken captive and imprisoned on Robben Island. On Christmas Day in 1819, he tried to escape but drowned in the attempt.

Growth

Grahamstown grew during the 1820s, as many 1820 Settlers and their families left farming to establish themselves in more secure trades. In 1833, Grahamstown was described as having "two or three English merchants of considerable wealth, but scarcely any society in the ordinary sense of the word. The Public Library is a wretched affair".[13] As of 1833, it was estimated that the population of Grahamstown was approximately 6,000.[14] In a few decades it became the Cape Colony's largest town after Cape Town. It became a bishopric in 1852. It was traditionally the capital and cultural centre of the Albany area, a district that was traditionally English-speaking and had a distinctive local culture.

In 1872, the Cape Government Railways began construction of the railway line linking Grahamstown to Port Alfred on the coast and to the developing national railway network inland. It was completed and opened on 3 September 1879.[15]

Grahamstown grew rapidly to become the second-largest city in South Africa after Cape Town until 1930. The early 1860s saw the development of more schools, the botanical gardens, and the Eastern District Supreme Court was established. In 1864, a full parliamentary session was held in Grahamstown, instead of Cape Town. There was talk of making Grahamstown the capital of the Cape Colony because of its central position. Grahamstown was the location of the testing of the first diamond find by Henry Carter Galpin.

In 1904, Rhodes University College was established in Grahamstown through a grant from the Rhodes Trust.[16] In 1951 it became a fully-fledged University, Rhodes University.

Name change

The name "Grahamstown" originated from the Cape Hottentot Corps in the Zuurveld's Commander of the Regiment, Colonel John Graham, who, in June 1812, oversaw the construction on the corps' new headquarters, located on the site of the present Church Square.[9] Grahamstown went on to become a religious, military, administrative, judicial, and educational centre for the surrounding region of Albany.

Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa announced the name change from Grahamstown in the Government Gazette No. 641 of 29 June 2018. The purpose of gazetting was to publicise the minister's decision for objections or comments by 28 July 2018.[17]

Prompted by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendation that geographic features, including geographical names, be renamed as a "symbolic reparation to address an unjust past", a proposal was for the town to be renamed after Makhanda, in recognition of his failed attack against the settlement's garrison in 1819. On 2 October 2018, Grahamstown was officially renamed Makhanda in the memory of Makhanda.[7]

Religion
A view of St Michael and St George Cathedral in Church street
The interior of St Michael and St George Cathedral

St. Michael and St. George Cathedral is the seat of the Anglican Diocese of Grahamstown. The town also has Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Ethiopian Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Pinkster Protestante, Dutch Reformed (Nederduits Gereformeerde Kerk), Charismatic, Apostolic and Pentecostal churches. There are also meeting places for Hindus, Scientologists, Quakers, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Muslims.

The city is home to more than forty religious buildings and is nicknamed the "City of Saints". According to one story recorded by H. V. Morton, The town earned its nickname from Royal Engineers stationed in Grahamstown in 1846 who were in need of building tools. They sent a message to Cape Town requesting a vice to be forwarded to them from the Ordnance Stores. A reply came back, 'Buy vice locally'. The response was, "No vice in Grahamstown".[18]

Demographics

According to the 2011 census the population of the town was 67,264, of whom 78.9% described themselves as "Black African", 11.3% as "Coloured" and 8.4% as "White".[2] Since 1994, there has been a considerable influx of black people from the former Ciskei Xhosa homeland, which lies just to the east. The first language of 72.2% of the population is Xhosa, while 13.7% speak Afrikaans and 10.8% speak English.[2]

Education, arts and culture

The town is home to Rhodes University, the South African National Library for the Blind, the National English Literary Museum, the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (formerly the JLB Smith Institute), the International Library of African Music (ILAM), the Albany Museum, and the Institute for the Study of English in Africa. A number of palaeontological discoveries made from Waterloo Farm in the past two decades have sparked a global interest in the fossils of the Eastern Cape Province and this has resulted in numerous international collaborations.[19] These discoveries and collaborations have been made possible by the persistent work of Robert W. Gess of the Devonian Ecosystem Laboratory, Albany Museum, who has dedicated most of his life excavating and studying blocks of black shale that he, with later support from the South African Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) has rescued from road cuttings from back in the mid- 1980s.[4]

The legacy of disparate education during Apartheid still echoes in the provision of secondary education in this former frontier town, where significant discrepancies in matric pass rates and general quality of education exist. Addressing this problem is one of the town's greatest challenges.

In March 1984, the City of Grahamstown adopted a flag, one of six designs prepared by heraldic expert Prof. Hugh Smith, of Rhodes University.[20]

Part of the analemma that amateur astronomer Galpin inscribed on the floor of the Meridian Room

Clock towers in the town

The following is a list of tower clocks in the town, with their location and if they are in working order:

Festivals

Two large festivals take place annually in the town: the National Arts Festival in June/July and SciFest Africa in the first term of the year and attracts some 50,000 people. The National Arts Festival is the largest Arts festival in Africa and sees some of the leading talent on the South African and international art scene arriving in the town for a celebration of culture and artistic expression. South Africa's National Science Festival, was established in 1996 to promote the public awareness, understanding and appreciation of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and innovation. The town is also host to the Puku Story Festival since 2013 presented by the Puku Children's Literature Foundation. The festival was created in partnership with the National Arts Festival and the African Studies Department at Rhodes University with the aim to facilitate access to literature and educational/recreational materials in Xhosa.[21]

Schools
School Year Founded Denomination Language Grades Gender Private/Public
St Andrew's College 1855 Anglican English 8–12 Single sex male Private
Graeme College (known variously before 1939 as Victoria Boys' High School and the Grahamstown Public School) 1873 Non-denominational English 0–12 Single sex male Public
Diocesan School for Girls (D.S.G.) 1874 Anglican English 4–12 Single sex female Private
St Aidan's College 1876 (closed 1973) Jesuit English  ?–12 Single sex male Private
St. Andrew's Preparatory School 1885 Anglican English 0–7 Single sex male (Co-ed. until Gr.4) Private
Good Shepherd School 1884 Anglican English 1–7 co-educational Private/public partnership
Kingswood College 1894 Methodist English 0–12 Co-educational Private
Victoria Girls' High School 1897 Non-denominational English 8–12 Single sex female Public
Victoria Girls' Primary 1945 Non-denominational English 0–7 Single sex female Public
Oatlands Preparatory 1949 Non-denominational English 0–7 Co-educational Public
P.J. Olivier 1956 Non-denominational Afrikaans 0–12 Co-educational Public

Press
Thomas Henry Grocott 1838 to 1912 - founder and original owner Grocott's Mail standing in front of the Grocott's Mail newspaper offices

The town is home to the oldest surviving independent newspaper in South Africa. Grocott's Mail was founded in 1870 by the Grocott family, and bought out a newspaper called the Grahamstown Journal, which was founded in 1831.[22] Robert Godlonton, a previous owner of the Journal had used it and his other papers to oppose Andries Stockenström's treaty system and advocated seizing more land from the Xhosa.[23] It is now a local newspaper operated by the Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies, and still retains its name.

As a major centre for journalism training, Rhodes University also hosts two student newspapers, Activate, established in 1947, and The Oppidan Press, a student initiative launched in 2007 that caters mainly to the student population living off-campus.

Government

With the establishment of the Union of South Africa the Grahamstown High Court became a Local Division of the newly formed Supreme Court of South Africa (under Cape Town). On 28 June 1957, the Eastern Districts Court, under the name Eastern Cape Division, became a provincial division.[24] In certain other areas of provincial government Grahamstown similarly served as a centre for the Eastern Cape.

In 1994, Grahamstown became part of the newly established Eastern Cape Province, while Bhisho was chosen as the provincial capital.

It is the seat of the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court, as well as the Magistrate's Court for the Albany District. As a result of the presence of a High Court, several other related organs of state such as a Masters Office and a Director of Public Prosecutions are present in the town. A few other Government (mostly provincial) departments maintain branches or other offices in the town.

Grahamstown was the only settlement outside Cape Town to host a sitting of the Cape Colony legislature (a move to defuse a call for the creation of a separate colony).

Municipal government

Grahamstown had its own municipality until 2000. Since then, it has expanded into the Makana Local Municipality in the Cacadu District.

From 2012, the Makana Local Municipality was unable to reliably provide water to its citizens.[25] The crisis continued to grow during 2013.[26]

In 2013, South Africa's minister of water Edna Molewa was tasked with restoring the water supply of Grahamstown following protests over a nine-day water outage. Causes for the outage include financial mismanagement, with under-spending on infrastructure.[27] The task force established by Molewa had not solved the problem by 2014.[28] A 2021 auditor-general's report found that the municipality’s liabilities exceeded its assets by R813 million (equivalent to US$ 54.2 million) and that it has failed to keep full and proper records.[29] By 2022 senior management was the subject of a criminal investigation and provincial government had to make quarterly reports to the Supreme Court of Appeal on the municipality's financial recovery.[29]

Social issues

In October 2015, more than 500 people were displaced and more than 300 shops looted during a wave of xenophobic violence.[30][31][32][33]

Some people use traditional African medicine because it is believed to be effective. There are some plants which are popular with the indigenous people of the area.[34]

Coat of arms

Municipality (1) — The first arms were assumed in September 1862. They quartered an incorrect version of the arms of Graham of Fintry with those of Jan van Riebeeck (in incorrect colours), with an ostrich as a crest. The supporters were a leopard and a giraffe, and the motto was Virtute et opera.

Municipality (2) — In response to a call by the Cape Provincial Administration for municipalities to have their coats of arms checked and, if necessary, re-designed, the city council had a new coat of arms designed by Ivan Mitford-Barberton and H. Ellis Tomlinson in 1950. It was granted by the College of Arms on 20 July 1950, and registered at the Bureau of Heraldry in September 1994.[35]

The new arms were : Or, on a pile Gules, three annulets placed 2 and 1 Or; on a chief Sable, three escallops Or (in layman's terms : a golden shield displaying, from top to bottom, three golden scallop shells on a black horizontal stripe, and three golden rings on a red triangle). The crest was changed to a plume of ostrich feathers issuing from a golden mural crown, and the supporters were differenced by placing an escallop on each shoulder.

Social movements

In 2017, Makana Revive! an independent civil society organisation was formed. During the first quarter of 2018, Makana Revive made national news when it spearheaded an initiative to repair failing infrastructure and improve the security and hygiene in the CBD. Donations were received from both local and international citizens and alumni.[36]

The South African Unemployed Peoples' Movement has a strong presence in Makhanda.[37][38][39][33]

Notable people

See also

Major organisations

Notes and references
  1. Some consider Makhanda to be a city as it has a diocesan cathedral, a high court and a university, and in years past, it was officially the City of Grahamstown[3]
  1. Robson, Linda Gillian (2011). "Annexure A" (PDF). The Royal Engineers and settlement planning in the Cape Colony 1806–1872: Approach, methodology and impact (PhD thesis). University of Pretoria. pp. xlv–lii. hdl:2263/26503.
  2. Sum of the Main Places Rhini and Grahamstown from Census 2011.
  3. "DISA - Letter from the Town Clerk of the City of Grahamstown to the Secretary of the National Council of African Women". disa.ukzn.ac.za. 26 September 1952. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  4. Gess, Robert W. (2002). "The Palaeoecology of a coastal Lagoon of the Witpoort Formation (Upper Devonian, Famennian) in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa". Fort Hare University, South Africa. 1: 1–14.
  5. Chabalala, Jeanette (29 June 2018). "Grahamstown to be renamed Makhanda after Xhosa warrior". News24. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  6. Kubheka, Thando. "Grahamstown to be renamed after late Xhosa warrior & philosopher Makhanda". EWN Eyewitness News. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  7. "Here's why Grahamstown has been renamed Makhanda". IOL. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  8. "Wesleyan Mission Premises, Graham's Town, South Africa". Wesleyan Juvenile Offering. III: 86. August 1846. Retrieved 17 November 2015.
  9. "Grahamstown | South African History Online". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  10. Maclennan, Ben (1986). A Proper Degree of Terror: John Graham and the Cape's Eastern Frontier. Ravan Press. pp. 103–125. ISBN 978-0-86975-235-7.
  11. "General South African History Timeline: 1800s". Archived from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  12. Couzens, Tim (2004). Battles of South Africa. New Africa Books. pp. 71–. ISBN 978-0-86486-621-9.
  13. Littell, Eliakim; Walsh, Robert; Smith, John Jay (1834). "Wild Sports in the Cape of Good Hope". The Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art. Vol. 25. Philadelphia: E. Littell & T. Holden.
  14. Roberts, Edmund (1837). Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam, and Muscat. New York: Harper & Brothers. p. 388.
  15. Burman, Jose (1984). Early Railways at the Cape. Cape Town: Human & Rousseau. p. 71. ISBN 0-7981-1760-5.
  16. Currey, Ronald Fairbridge (1970). Rhodes University 1904–1970: a chronicle. Grahamstown. p. 8.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. "Grahamstown to be renamed Makhanda after Xhosa warrior". News24. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  18. Morton, H.V., 1948. In Search of South Africa. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd. p. 161.
  19. Gess, Robert W.; Whitfield, Alan K. (2020). "Estuarine fish and tetrapod evolution: insights from a Late Devonian (Famennian) Gondwanan estuarine lake and a southern African Holocene equivalent". Biological Reviews. 95 (4): 865–888. doi:10.1111/brv.12590. ISSN 1464-7931. PMID 32059074. S2CID 211122587.
  20. Bakker, Jarig (7 March 2001). "Grahamstown (South Africa)". Flags of the World. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  21. Van Schalkwyk, Gilda (30 May 2006). "Arts, crafts and laughter". Daily News. Archived from the original on 31 August 2006. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  22. "About us". grocotts.co.za.
  23. "A Quest for a Treaty Stockenstrom, Godlonton And Bowker". New History of South Africa. 2010. Archived from the original on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
  24. Kahn, Ellison (1967), "The Rules of Precedent Applied in South African Courts", South African Law Journal, 84: 308
  25. Dyongman, Loyiso; Lang, Steven (20 April 2012). "Water crisis continues in Grahamstown". Grocott's Mail. Archived from the original on 8 August 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  26. "Rhodes University faces closure due to water shortage". SABC. 15 August 2013. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  27. Troye Lund (10 October 2013). "Protests unlikely to dent ANC support at polls". Financial Mail. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  28. "Grahamstown not clear of water worries yet". The Oppidan Press. 24 January 2014. Archived from the original on 9 August 2016. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  29. Ellis, Estelle (14 March 2022). "MAKHANDA CRISIS: Judge to oversee the financial recovery of 'failed' Makana Municipality". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  30. Van Rensburg, K. J.; Erskog, M.; Mthonti, F. (29 October 2015). "Xenophobia in Grahamstown: 'We are not leaving!'". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  31. O'Halloran, Paddy (27 October 2015). "Where poverty meets xenophobia: Grahamstown, a city in crisis". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 30 October 2015.
  32. Pillay, Deneesha (10 July 2015). "Play unmasks Grahamstown water crisis". HeraldLIVE. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  33. OHalloran, P. (2016). "Contested Space and Citizenship in Grahamstown, South Africa". Journal of Asian and African Studies. 53: 20–33. doi:10.1177/0021909616664920. ISSN 0021-9096. S2CID 151789387.
  34. Dold, A. P.; Cocks, M. L. (September 2000). "The medicinal use of some weeds, problem and alien plants in the Grahamstown and Peddie districts of the Eastern Cape, South Africa" (PDF). South African Journal of Science. 96: 467–473.
  35. "Grahamstown - Heraldry of the World". ngw.nl. Retrieved 4 January 2016.
  36. MacLennan, Sue (13 February 2018). "Shattercat boosts pothole repair fund". grocotts.co.za. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
  37. The Rebellion of the Poor Comes to Grahamstown
  38. Tabensky, Pedro Alexis (21 February 2011). "The Flames of Phaphamani". libcom.org. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  39. Thabo Jijana (10 February 2011). "Bullets fly as township erupts". Grocott's Mail. Archived from the original on 29 January 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
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