On 25 December 1820, during his imprisonment on Robben Island, Makhanda drowned as he attempted to escape along with 30 other prisoners. The other prisoners survived, who were mostly Xhosa and Khoisan prisoners of war from the Eastern frontier. Since he had promised his people he would never abandon them, they continued to hope for his return for another 50 years before his funeral rites were observed.
Makhanda (also called Makana), who was also known as Nxele (“the left-handed”), was a prophet of mixed Khoi and Xhosa descent. Makhanda was born near the coast around 1780 in the Uitenhage area of the Eastern Cape. His father was a Xhosa named Gwala of the amaCwerha clan and his mother was a Khoi of the Gqunukhwebe clan.
After Makhanda’s father died, while he was still a young boy, he was brought up by his mother, strongly influenced by her people’s Gqunukhwebe traditions. His mother was a spiritual diviner and medicine woman. Makhanda was later recognised as an “Inyanga”, which seemed rooted in the early guidance of his mother and her traditions.
The Xhosa also particularly held the Khoi and San spiritual guides in high esteem. His mother took him and his siblings to the Great Fish River Valley, where they lived with his foster father Balala. Makhanda encountered the Christian Missionary Dr James van der Kemp, who had established a mission station in Bethelsdorp in 1799, and Makhanda became a lay preacher.
During his days as an itinerant preacher, he wa
