Heritage Month brings with it celebrations of our unique yet diverse inheritance from the past. The recent renaming of Grahamstown as Makhanda is a case in point.
As South Africans we should embrace this new name proudly.
Renaming Grahamstown is part of government’s ongoing drive to decolonise and reconfigure our heritage landscape. Although some citizens preferred the name Rhini, it became clear that, for sound reasons, the name Makhanda carried more weight.
Makhanda, or Makana, also known as Nxele, was a revered Xhosa prophet and preacher. He believed in the blending of the best of African and European religious belief systems, going beyond the local vision that characterised the African societies of his time. He was what would later be called a Pan Africanist, as well as an African doctor, a gallant and fearless warrior and adviser to Chief Ndlambe. Makhanda remained steadfastly opposed to the British colonisation of the Eastern Cape which culminated in the eight frontier wars from 1779 to 1879.
Leading Ndlambe’s warriors on the fateful attack on the British at Grahamstown on April 22 1819, Makhanda hoped to drive the colonialists from the land once and for all. The Xhosa under Ndlambe realised that they had to resist as the colonialists continued to occupy their land.
The land question remains a thorny issue to this day in SA and Makhanda’s story is testimony to the importance of this old but burning issue.
Although the Xhosa lost the Fifth Frontier War and were defeated at the Battle of Grahamstown, resulting in Makhanda’s imprisonment on the notorious Robben Island, his name and bravery remained etched in the hearts and minds of the people.
His deeds and significance have also been commemorated in works such as Rebellion and Uproar: Makhanda and the Great Escape from Robben Island and The Return of Makhanda: Exploring the Legend by historian Julia Wells – required reading for those who want to immerse themselves in knowledge about this hero.
It comes as no surprise that the cross-section of struggle heroes from various liberation movements who were imprisoned on Robben Island from the early 1960s, referred to it as the Island of Makana. No doubt, they were inspired by his courage.
Ironically, although the revered Makhanda engaged the colonisers in the fierce Battle of Grahamstown, it was the name of an oppressor, Colonel John Graham, that carried the name of the town deep into post-apartheid SA. Graham was one of the most vicious and unforgiving of British colonial army officers whose “proper degree of terror” left the land of the Xhosa devastated and dispossessed them of land and cattle.
This historical irony comes as no surprise, considering the more than 350 years of racial oppression and subjugation in SA. However, the dawn of democracy in 1994 meant the reversal of colonial and apartheid symbols. This includes decolonising our heritage landscape, restoring, amongst other things, Makhanda’s name to its rightful place.
There may be those, only a few I would argue, who feel that renaming towns and cities like Makhanda leaves them inconvenienced and confused, requiring them to reprint letterheads and update maps; that tourists may not recognise the name of Makhanda; that it will be strange to refer to the annual celebration of the arts as the Makhanda Arts Festival and that old names should be kept simply because they are old.
In truth, monetary value can never be attached to name changes. The process is about restoring the history, identity and dignity of our people, virtually taken away by colonial and apartheid masters. Changing names in an appropriate way is immeasurable in value and is in no way aimed at offending fellow citizens.
Names such as Grahamstown are offensive, associated with oppression and subjugation of black people. They have tormented our psyche for decades. They were imposed on us, demonstrating to the oppressed and the marginalised that they had been defeated and were now powerless, stripped of their dignity and identity.
Name changes should not be viewed as uniquely South African. It is a worldwide phenomenon as other countries find themselves shaking off a distasteful past. For example, the dismantling of Stalin’s legacy required that even the city of Stalingrad in southwest Russia revert to its original name of Volgograd. In Germany, the names of streets, bridges, stadiums and other public spaces honouring the German dictator Adolf Hitler, were changed after World War 2. No German government then wanted to be associated with nazism.
In Germany, symbols of nazism such as the swastika were banned. It is along these lines that we should view SA before 1994, a neo-Nazi state, whose symbols such as the old apartheid flag and names like Grahamstown are associated with oppression and discrimination. Such symbols, and names of towns, cities and streets, have no place in non-racial and democratic SA.
Advocate Sonwabile Mancotwya is the CEO of the National Heritage Council..