Makhanda, hero of the amaXhosa, drowns in Big Bay, Blouberg

On a dark August night in 1819, a group of prisoners escaped from Robben Island, stole three whaleboats, and made for the nearest part of the mainland, which happens to be Bloubergstrand. Amongst them was the amaXhosa mystic and warrior named Makhanda. He was also known as Mahala, Nxele (left-handed) and Lynx (possibly from ‘links’, the Afrikaans word for ‘left’, or after the wildcat of that name).

Only one boat made it through the breakers and reached the beach at Big Bay; the other two capsized in the surf and most of the escapees drowned. Makhanda, who was either unable to swim or was badly injured, grabbed hold of a rock in the bay and his deep sonorous voice could be heard loudly encouraging those who were struggling to shore. Eventually, though, he was swept away and drowned.

Makhanda is said to have been born somewhere along the Qhagqiwa River (Swartkops River) near to Uitenhage. His father was an amaXhosa man of lowly rank named Gwala, from the amaCwerha clan, and his mother was a Khoena (Khoi) woman, reputed to be a spiritual diviner and healer. His father died soon after Makhanda’s birth, so his mother took him to live with his foster father, Balala, a member of the amaNdlambe clan, who at that time were living in the Fish River valley, near what was to become Glenmore.

His mother is said to have neglected the infant, leaving him alone in a hut and only approaching to suckle him. As he grew, the lad continued to spend much of his time alone. Solitary and mystical, he appears to have come under the influence of British missionaries. After undergoing initiation rites at the age of about 14, Makhanda went to live in the home of the Cape Regiment’s chaplain in the newly established village of Grahamstown, which was also the British military headquarters.

Frontier Grahamstown

By the time he returned to Xhosa territory, Makhanda had grown into a young man of impressive physique with a charismatic personality to match. He had also become a convert to Christianity and courageously reprimanded the powerful chief Ndlambe for practising polygamy. Far from being offended by the young man’s effrontery, Ndlambe appointed Makhanda one of his personal advisers and, despite the young man’s lowly birth, allowed him to build his own Great Place, an honour usually reserved for the nobility.

The missionary John Campbell described Makhanda as “a fine figure of a man, measuring six feet and two inches in height” with “many marks of old cuts, or wounds, on different parts of his body, especially behind his shoulders. He had a kind of tattooing in the form of a cross, under his breast.” The writer Charles Lennox Stretch described him as “adorned with bracelets made of coarse hair which hung from his arms, but he especially valued his ivory arm-band, the insignia of a very great man amongst the amaXhosa.” Stretch also estimated Makhanda’s height to be six foot and four inches.

Over time, Makhanda’s attitude towards the missionaries and to whites in general changed as he saw how his people were mistreated by white people, and his theology adapted accordingly. He embraced tribal tradition and became a polygamist himself. He abandoned the Judeo-Christian concept of a single divine being, declaring the existence of two gods, one for Englishmen (Thixo) and one for Africans (Mdalidiphu). He also became more politically conscious, calling on his people to drive the colonists off the lands which they had seized from the amaNdlambe. He called for the destruction of all dun-coloured cattle – the symbolism is obvious – and, in a theme later to recur in the prophecy of Nongqawuse and the Cattle-Killing movement, claimed that they would be replaced by vast herds which would rise from the sea, accompanied by tribal ancestors, armed and ready to do battle against the British. As his speech became more warlike and the destruction of the whites became a recurrent theme, he began to attract a considerable following.

In 1818, at the Battle of Amalinde, Makhanda fought alongside a combined force of the amaXhosa when they defeated Chief Ngqika, who was seen as selling out his people in return for personal gain as an ally of the British forces. When a British-led force seized 23 000 head of cattle from Ndlambe’s people in retaliation, Makhanda urged all the amaXhosa to unite to drive the whites out once and for all. One of those to heed his call was Mdushane, Chief Ndlambe’s warrior son, who prepared to attack and seize Grahamstown. Spies were sent into the village to gather information, but Mdushane also relied on the experience of Makhanda, who had lived there. Although Mdushane did all the planning and preparations for the attack and led the 10 000 warriors as they swept down on the village on 22 April 1819, the attack and its aftermath are still known as Makana’s War and many historians mistakenly attribute its leadership to the Inyanga (healer) and Itola (diviner or prophet).

This may be because Makhanda organised the sacrificial ceremony (ukukafula) before the attack, at which he harangued Mdushane’s forces with prophecies of victory and fortified them with the flesh of the sacrificial cattle and various battle-charms. Their ancestors were with them, he assured the assembled warriors, and would strike down the English like lightning. The enemy guns would fire only hot water, he declared, and such was the respect he commanded that the warriors believed him.

Makhanda commanded one of the three divisions and attacked the East Barracks, which were set a little apart from the village. Despite their overwhelming numerical advantage, the warriors’ assegais were no match for the enemy muskets and guns, and they were decimated. Their defeat was also due, in part, to their over-confidence in Makhanda’s mystical powers.

In the aftershock, while the British gathered their forces to pursue the retreating survivors, the amaNdlambe withdrew to the safety of the dense Fish River bush. The British adopted a scorched earth policy, burning, shooting and destroying as they went, which resulted in widespread famine among the fugitives. Makana’s War carried on for five months after the battle for Grahamstown and was fought bitterly with heavy losses on both sides. In August 1819, a couple of days after the decisive defeat of Ndlambe in a major battle in the Fish River valley, Makhanda decided to offer himself up as a hostage. “People say that I occasioned the war,” he said. “Let me see whether my delivering myself up to the conquerors will restore peace to my country.” In an act of incredible bravery, he strolled unarmed and alone into the camp of Andries Stockenström, then commander of the Graaff-Reinet commando.

Makhanda was taken under escort to Grahamstown. Mdushane and his father, Ndlambe, petitioned the British authorities, offering to surrender if Makhanda were set free, but it was too late. Under heavy guard, he had already been sent to Algoa Bay (now Port Elizabeth), where he was put aboard a Navy sloop and taken to Cape Town. Without facing trial, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island. He was, however, treated with great respect by his captors, being given private accommodation with furniture and being served meals. His first two attempts to escape failed and he was recaptured, but he succeeded on his third attempt.

Makhanda and other amaXhosa prisoners in captivity on Robben Island

The victory of the British at Grahamstown was decisive in the 40-year struggle of the amaXhosa to hold on to the Zuurveld. The frontier would be pushed back effectively to the Keiskamma River, with the territory between the Fish River and Keiskamma River becoming a ‘neutral’ British-regulated territory. Four more major frontier wars would ensue over another 60 years before the amaXhosa were finally defeated.

Despite his failings, Makhanda’s reputation remained strong, even after his death. He is viewed as one of the first black resistance leaders and his name has been immortalised: the city of Grahamstown has recently been renamed Makana; its surrounding district is named the Makana Local Municipality; the heights above the town, from which the amaXhosa warriors swept down, are known as Makana Kop; the SA Navy named one of its strike craft the SAS Makhanda; and political prisoners on Robben Island, including Nelson Mandela, called for the island to be renamed the Isle of Makana. A statue of Makhanda the Itola, sculpted by Johan Moolman, now forms part of the striking Long Walk to Freedom Memorial at Century City, near Milnerton.

I find it strange that Makhanda should be so honoured and commemorated. After all, he was largely responsible for the defeat of the amaXhosa at Grahamstown after they had put all their faith in his empty promises, and he must also be held at least partly accountable for the subsequent decimation and starvation of his people as they lost their land. But this is the New South Africa, where failed leaders like Robert Mugabe and Jacob Zuma are held in high regard, precisely because they were once courageous freedom fighters.

The following anecdote reveals just how much esteem South Africa’s freedom fighters bestowed on Makhanda: In 1980, at an ANC guerrilla camp of Umkhonto we Sizwe at Quibaxe in war-torn Angola, an MK guerrilla soldier, Barry Gilder (alias Jimmy Wilson), guitar in hand, belted out a popular song and the other combatants sang along with the chorus:

                    “Two centuries before this one, in Africa’s southern lands,
                    A war was just beginning that would put blood on many hands.
                    Every struggle has its heroes – this song is about just one –
                    Makana of the Xhosa, who drowned off Bloubergstrand.

                    Swim Makana, swim Makana, swim Makana, swim!
                    On the shore where we wait, our children now grow thin.
                    Come Makana, come Makana, come Makana, come!

                    ‘I hear you,’ said Makana, to the voices in his head.

                    ‘But the water’s growing higher now, I am as good as dead.’
                    The waves crashed all around him and beat about his head.

                               ‘New men will come to lead you, and many more will die
                               Before the spirit of Makana will at last be home and dry.’”