By Aphiwe Ngowaphi
Students from the University of Michigan toured the Makhanda Loxion last week as part of the University of Michigan-Inkululeko programme, which aims to encourage cross-cultural learning, academic development, and meaningful community involvement through a carefully planned mix of activities. Imbumba Yeemboni, a registered non-profit company, hosted the group.
The tour included a detailed visit to important local landmarks in the townships and areas surrounding Makhanda. Noziphiwo Zumani, Sipho Mabhoza, and Ntsikelelo Maholo, all members of Imbumba Yeemboni, served as guides.
The first stop was eGazini (“the place of bloodshed”) in Fingo Village. Here, the guides led the students to a field offering views of the 1820 Settlers Monument and Fort England Hospital. The Battle of eGazini, also known as the Battle of Grahamstown, took place on 22 April 1819. During this battle, between 6 000 and 10 000 Xhosa warriors and a small number of British soldiers were killed. The Xhosa warriors, led by Makana, Makhanda, or Nxele, were shot and killed at eGazini by British soldiers firing from their fort, which is now Fort England Hospital.
The second stop was at the uNcedo taxi rank (eGazini), where participants saw a stone statue commemorating Chief Makhanda and the Xhosa warriors who fought in the Battle of Grahamstown at eGazini. Sadly, the statue had been vandalised and its original plaque was missing. Also, there was too much litter in front of it for the students to approach closely, highlighting the need for conservation efforts.
The tour then proceeded to eGulfini, an open area looking across the city to the 1820 Settlers Monument. Historically, Xhosa warriors gathered here during the Battle of Grahamstown in 1819. The land was later intended for development, but those plans fell through. Much of the unfinished construction has been removed, and the area is now a dumping ground. Today, it is used as a site for initiates during initiation season, adding a unique and complex dimension to the tour.
The fourth stop was at the eGazini Indoor Sports Centre in Extension Six, where the students were introduced to a pottery studio, Siyaphakama Traditional Vessels Producers, managed by Laura Malgas and Zwelinzima Fulani. During the apartheid era, the centre was a site of torture, where Amagundwana (black informants who later became policemen after apartheid) brutally tortured and killed fellow black citizens.
The final stop was at the Dakawa Art Centre where the guide, Khanyisa Ntamo, explained the centre’s origins, current projects, and its role in promoting artistic expression and community development.
Gabrielle Kiminyo, a student in the University of Michigan’s Michigan Community Scholars Program, said, “As a young black woman, I found the tour enlightening as I learned about Makhanda’s cultural and geographical history, which is intertwined with colonialism and indigenous practices.” Kiminyo added that seeing and hearing about Makhanda’s past at the battle site, the sacred prayer site, and the former torture facility, now an art-making centre, allowed them to draw “a thorough line from a painful past to an exciting future for the people of Makhanda”.
Zuko Gqadavama Ka Somfiyane, the deputy CEO of Inkululeko, concluded by saying that the students reflected on the tour by sharing how it allowed them to see the inequalities created by the legacies of colonialism and apartheid. The students also appreciated that the tour began with the dark and difficult history but ended at the Dakawa Art Centre, where the restoration and revitalisation of the Makhanda community is a tangible reality.
