Minister Nathi Mthethwa announces renaming of Grahamstown to Makhanda
2 Jul 2018
Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa gazettes the renaming of Grahamstown to Makhanda
The Minister of Arts and Culture, Hon Nathi Mthethwa wishes to announce that on Friday 29 June 2018 the Government Gazette has published the changing of the name of the town of “Grahamstown” to “Makhanda”.

Name changes is an internationally accepted practice fully supported and endorsed by the United Nations that (i) countries have the sovereign right to standardize names and (ii) can decide what name to give for each feature in that country should be or how it should be spelt. In this instance, there has a been a call for almost 20 years to change the name of the town, and those who have pushed for this name to be changed have been informed chiefly by what Colonel Graham epitomises, and the painfully bitter memories his name evokes.
In South Africa, it has been standard practice to change names which are not in line with the letter and spirit of the Constitution.

Minister Nathi Mthethwa

“Makhanda” who was also known as Nxele was a Xhosa warrior, philosopher, prophet and military man who fought against colonialism- in battles that include one where he led an attack against the British garrison at Grahamstown in 1819.

Minister Nathi Mthethwa fulfills all legal obligations to finalise renaming of “Grahamstown” to “Makhanda”
2 Oct 2018
Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa fulfills all legal obligations to finalise the renaming of “Grahamstown” to “Makhanda”
Minister Nathi Mthethwa wishes to advise members of the press that he has made a final determination concerning the gazetted name change of Grahamstown to Makhanda.

The sequence of events that have culminated in the finalisation of this process is as follows:

On 29 June 2018 the Minister of Arts and Culture published in the Government Gazette No 41738 the approval of “Grahamstown” to “Makhanda” after receiving recommendation from the South African Geographical Names Council (SAGNC).

For now please refer to the Grahamstown page while we redo this page