Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people 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 situated about northeast of
Gqeberha and 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
Waterloo Farm, the only estuarine
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...
site in the world from 360 million years ago with exceptional soft-tissue preservation.
The town's name-change from Grahamstown to Makhanda was officially gazetted on 29 June 2018. The town was officially renamed to Makhanda in memory of
Xhosa warrior and prophet
Makhanda ka Nxele.
In 2025, the city was listed as th
country's worst-performing municipality,with levels of infrastructural collapse that "harms its citizens", and the South African Human Rights Commission began investigating service delivery failures in the ANC-run municipality.
History
Founding
Makhanda was founded as Grahamstown 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
The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...
. 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.
Construction on the new headquarters, located on the site of the present Church Square, thus began in June 1812.
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
The Xhosa Wars (also known as the Cape Frontier Wars or the Kaffir Wars) were a series of nine wars (from 1779 to 1879) between the Xhosa Kingdom and the British Empire as well as Trekboers from the Dutch colonial empire in what is now the ...
, Graham ordered the adoption of numerous
scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy of destroying everything that allows an enemy military force to be able to fight a war, including the deprivation and destruction of water, food, humans, animals, plants and any kind of tools and i ...
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.
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.
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
Robben Island () is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch language, Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrika ...
. On
Christmas Day
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A liturgical feast central to Christianity, Chri ...
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". As of 1833, it was estimated that the population of Grahamstown was approximately 6,000.
In a few decades it became the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...
's largest town after
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 ...
. It became a
bishopric
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
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.
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. 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.
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.
Prompted by a
Truth and Reconciliation Commission
A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...
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, The Prophet.
Religion
A view of St Michael and St George Cathedral in Church street
upThe 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
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
,
Presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...
, Ethiopian
Episcopal,
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
, 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
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
stationed in Grahamstown in 1846 who were in need of building tools. They sent a message to Cape Town requesting a
vice
A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...
to be forwarded to them from the Ordnance Stores. A reply came back, 'Buy vice locally'. The response was, "No vice in Grahamstown".
Demographics
According to the
2011
The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...
census the population of the town was 67,264, of whom 78.9% described themselves as "
Black African
Black is a racial classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and ofte ...
", 11.3% as "
Coloured" and 8.4% as "
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
".
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
A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...
of 72.2% of the population is
Xhosa, while 13.7% speak
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 10.8% speak
English.
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. 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.
The legacy of disparate education during
Apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
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.
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:
*
St Michael and St George Cathedral, in working order,
*City Hall, not in working order,
*
Rhodes University, in working order,
* High Court, not in working order,
* Dutch Reformed Church, in working order,
* Observatory Museum, not in working order,
*
St. Andrew's College, in working order,
*
Kingswood College chapel, 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.
Schools
Press

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.
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. 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 Union of South Africa (; , ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day South Africa, Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the British Cape Colony, Cape, Colony of Natal, Natal, Tra ...
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. 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
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 ...
, 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.
The crisis continued to grow during 2013.
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.
The task force established by Molewa had not solved the problem by 2014.
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.
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.
Social issues
In October 2015, more than 500 people were displaced and more than 300 shops looted during a wave of xenophobic violence.
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.
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
The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is a royal corporation consisting of professional Officer of Arms, officers of arms, with jurisdiction over England, Wales, Northern Ireland and some Commonwealth realms. The heralds are appointed by the ...
on 20 July 1950, and registered at the
Bureau of Heraldry in September 1994.
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.
The
South African Unemployed Peoples' Movement has a strong presence in Makhanda.
The Rebellion of the Poor Comes to Grahamstown
/ref>
Notable people
* Robert Armitage – cricketer
* William Guybon Atherstone
William Guybon Atherstone (; 1814–1898) was a medical practitioner, naturalist and geologist, one of the pioneers of South African geology and a member of the Cape Parliament.
Life
He arrived in South Africa with his parents as 1820 Sett ...
– medical doctor, naturalist, geologist, and member of the Cape Parliament.
* H. K. Ayliff – British theatre director
* Andre Brink – novelist and Rhodes University professor
* Allister Coetzee - South African Rugby Head Coach
* John 'Jack' Biddulph Dold – Union rugby player and international cricketer
* Elize du Toit – British actress
* Kingsley Fairbridge – founder of Fairbridge Schools
* Ernest Edward Galpin – botanist and banker
* Robert Godlonton - politician, author, owner of Grahamstown Journal
* James Henry Greathead – engineer renowned for his work on the London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England.
The Undergro ...
railway
* Nigel Harris – British actor
* Sir James Rose Innes – second Chief Justice of South Africa
* AJ Kerr – legal academic
* Johan Klopper - cricketer
* Harold Le Roith - architect
* Robert Jeremy Mansfield – radio host, television presenter and comedian
* Patrick Moran - Catholic bishop
* Lex Mpati - judge, retired president of the Supreme Court of Appeal and chancellor of Rhodes University.
* Charles Mullins – Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious decoration of the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British decorations system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British ...
recipient
* Norman Ogilvie Norton – cricketer (allrounder)
* Mike Pentz – physicist, born and educated in Grahamstown before moving to the United Kingdom
* Alfred Renfrew Richards – cricketer and rugby union player
* George Rowe, cricketer
* Basil Schonland – physicist, was born and educated in Grahamstown
* Selmar Schonland – botanist
* Ian Smith – Prime Minister of Rhodesia, student at Rhodes University
* William Smith – television science and mathematics presenter
* Josie Wood – founder, South African National Library for the Blind
Climate
See also
* Makana Local Municipality
* Albany, South Africa
* 1820 Settlers
Major organisations
* Diocese of Grahamstown
* Grocott's Mail
* International Library of African Music
* National Arts Festival
* National English Literary Museum
* Rhodes University
* South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity
* South African Library for the Blind
Notes and references
External links
*
Historical pictures of Grahamstown
National Arts Festival
Scifest Africa
{{Authority control
Cities in South Africa
Populated places in the Makana Local Municipality
Populated places established in 1812
1820 establishments in the Cape Colony