Маканда: История и современность южноафриканского города

the town in South Africa

of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. 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 the world renowned Waterloo Farm, the only estuarine fossil 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.

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. 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.

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. On Christmas Day in 1819, he tried to escape but drowned in the attempt.

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'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. 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.

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 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.

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". 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.

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.

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

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.

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. 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).

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. 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.

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. 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.

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.