A little bit about Makhanda

Makhanda is a city in the Eastern Cape Province of the Republic of South Africa and is the seat of the Makana Municipality.

Located some 130 km from Port Elizabeth and 180 km from East London, Makhanda is also the seat of Rhodes University, a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa and home to the College of the Transfiguration—the only residential provincial college of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa and a High Court.

You may like to learn about the various informally designated suburbs - Makanda / Grahamstown Suburbs.

Education, Arts and Culture

Makhanda is home to many schools as well as Rhodes University. It is also home to several institutes, most importantly the South African National Library for the Blind, the National English Literary Museum, the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (formerly the JLB Smith Institute), the International Library of African Music (ILAM), and the Institute for the Study of English in Africa. 

Festivals

Two large festivals take place annually in Makhanda: the National Arts Festival in June/July and SciFest Africa in the first term of the year - March April. The National Arts Festival is the largest Arts festival in Africa and sees some of the leading talent on the South African and international art scene arriving in Makhanda for a celebration of culture and artistic expression.

Schools

Makhanda is the only city in South Africa whose primary commerce sector is that of education and it has a remarkable number of schools per capita.