Uitenhage

Enoch Mankayi Sontonga was born in Uitenhage, Eastern Province (now Eastern Cape) around 1873 as a member of the Xhosa-speaking Mpinga clan of the Tembu tribe. He trained as a teacher at the Lovedale Mission Training College, after which he was sent to a Methodist mission school (unnamed) in Nancefield, near Johannesburg in 1896. He taught here for nearly eight years.

Sontonga was the choirmaster at his school, as well as an amateur photographer. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika was composed by him in 1897. He based the melody on the hymn tune 'Aberystwyth', by Joseph Parry. Sontonga originally composed the hymn in B-flat major with a four-part harmony supporting a repetitive melody characteristic of both Western hymn composition and indigenous South African melodies. The words of the first stanza and chorus were originally written in Xhosa as a hymn.

Enoch Sontonga (via City of Johannesburg)

It was one of many songs he composed, and he was apparently a keen singer who even wrote songs for his pupils. Most of Sontonga’s compositions were sad, witnessing the suffering of African people in Johannesburg, but they were popular and, after his death in 1905, choirs used to borrow them from his wife.

In 1927, Samuel Mqhayi, the famous Xhosa poet, added seven additional Xhosa stanzas to Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika. 

In 1901 it was taken up by the choir of the Methodist-founded...

We are honoured to publish this wonderful archive piece on the early history of Uitenhage. It was compiled by well known heritage practitioner Albrecht Herholdt and apperared in the 1988 edition of Restorica, the journal of the Simon van der Stel Foundation (today the Heritage Association of South Africa). Thank you to the University of Pretoria (copyright holders) for giving us permission to publish.

Uitenhage developed from 1804 to 1910 from a settlement with a typical Dutch Layout popular in the Cape Colony at the time of the founding of Uitenhage - of broad streets, water culverts and widely spaced thatched houses situated on the street edge, with all the official buildings located in a narrow stretch in one street, to a semi-industrialised town, densely developed in places, the streets lined with trees, dominated architecturally by British trends, with the public buildings and shops more evenly spread out and the skyline punctuated by the Victoria Tower and a number of church spires. 

Victoria Tower (sketch by Kobus du Preez)

Uitenhage is the second oldest town in the Eastern Districts of the Cape Colony. Its founding was only surpassed by that of Graaff-Reinet 18 years earlier. For easier reference, the history of Uitenhage from 1804 to 1910 is divided into 3 phases. The three divisions are 1804...

Below is a piece that helps to answer the question 'What are the oldest towns in South Africa?'. It appeared in the book Town Planning in South Africa written by T.B. Floyd in 1960. It is important to note that the piece is limited as it does not mention pre-colonial African settlements. This is a gap that would be wonderful to fill so please do get in touch if you would like to contribute an article.

The first settlement (what would become Cape Town) comprised a fort in which all the settlers lived and large gardens near the fort in which fresh produce was grown. A little town began to spring up near the fort when buildings were erected by the free burghers (individuals permitted to establish themselves as farmers and tradesmen).

With the expansion of the Colony it became necessary to decentralise administration and in 1679 Governor Simon van der Stel established a further settlement and town which was named Stellenbosch. Here a Landdrost was appointed and a drostdy established. This resulted in a local court and a form of local government being set up for the new district.

The change from cultivation to stockfarming by a section of the population resulted in rapid expansion of the colony and further decentralisation. After Stellenbosch, Swellendam was established in October 1746 and later, in 1786, Graaff Reinet was laid out.

[[{"fid":"311","view_mode":"media_adaptive","fields":{"format":"media_adaptive","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Old Map of Graaff Reinet - Drostdy Hotel"},"type":"media","link_text":null,"field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"media_adaptive","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":"Old Map of Graaff Reinet - Drostdy Hotel"}},"attributes":{"title":"Old Map of Graaff Reinet - Drostdy Hotel","height":832,"width":992,"style":"width: 500px; height: 419px...