Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, situated at the intersection of the N2 National Route, the R67 Provincial Route, and the R350 Regional Route.
Makhanda is situated approximately 160 km south-west of East London and 125 km northeast of Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth).
Grahamstown (officially renamed Makhanda) falls within the Makana Local Municipality and the Sarah Baartman District Municipality. It is the largest and main town in the Makana Local Municipality, and the administrative centre/seat of the Municipality.
The town is home to 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 the 6 South African Infantry Battalion.
Approximately 3 km south-east of Makhanda is the Waterloo Farm, the only estuarine fossil site in the world from 360 million years ago with exceptional soft-tissue preservation.
The city’s official name-change from Grahamstown to Makhanda was officially announced on 29 June 2018. The new name of Makhanda was chosen in memory of Xhosa warrior and prophet Makhanda ka Nxele.
In 2025, the city was listed as South Africa’s worst-performing municipality, with levels of infrastructural collapse, and the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) began investigating service delivery failures in the ANC-run municipality.
History
Founding
Grahamstown was founded in 1812 after the 4th 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.
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, Graham ordered the adoption of numerous scorched-earth tactics, which included the burning 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. On Christmas Day in 1819, he tried to escape but drowned in the attempt.
