Celebrating Makhanda’s Day!
On 25 December 1820, exactly 205 years ago, during his imprisonment on Robben Island, Makhanda drowned as he escaped along with 30 other prisoners. The escape boat that carried Makhanda capsized in the waves just off Bloubergstrand. According to legend, he clung to a rock until dragged under water, shouting encouragement to the other escapees that they should swim to freedom. The other prisoners managed to survive, 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 (aka “Makana”), who was also known as Nxele (“the left-handed”), was a prophet of mixed Khoi-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-Khoi of the Gqunukhwebe clan. After Makhanda’s father died, when 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 Khoikhoi and San spiritual guides in high esteem. His mother took him and his siblings to the Great F
