Katie Malubisi Mannya Makanya

Katie Makanya in London, 1891.

Katie Makanya was born in 1873 eBhofolo (Fort Beaufort) in what is now the Eastern Cape. Her father, John Kgope Mannya was a roads foreman and her mother, Anna Manci was a teacher. Katie only completed standard six and could not continue with her studies because of eye problems. In Margaret McCord's The Calling of Katie Makanya she retells how she could not see the board and how she suffered from headaches. Katie moved from eTinarha (Uitenhage) where her family lived to attend Edwards' Memorial School eBhayi (Port Elizabeth) On one Sunday morning, she sat next to Mr and Mrs Xiniwe. Mr Xiniwe was the headmaster of her school and the choir director. As she sang along to the church hymns, Mr Xiniwe asked her to join his choir, where she honed her talent. 

Very soon, her family moved to Kimberly because of better opportunities. In Kimberly, Katie was a part of a church choir that was gathered by Mr Simon Sinamela to sing in front of white people's houses during Christmas. The choir was invited to sing in England and this is where Katie, would spend the next few years- singing with the Jubilee African Choir. 

After two years and three months in England, Katie longed to go back home, despite attempts to have her stay. She went back to South Africa and she lived in Ramokgopa with her family. Unlike Uitenhage, Port Elizabeth and Kimberly, the community she lived in was not christian, a "heathen" people as she remarked in her memoir. Her paternal grandfather was highly respected and he often spoke to Katie about his African traditional beliefs. A strong Christian girl, she struggled to reconcile her Christian upbringing and the beliefs of her people, in Ramakgopa. Adament to find a good Christian husband, she left for Johannesburg in search of work. 

Katie found a job as a nurse girl with Mrs Heights. Charlie, Mrs Heights' the cook taught her how to act around their boss. He demonstrated this to Katie by dropping his shoulders low to make himself seem small and looked down. "The mistress will not like you if you act proud." Mrs Heights once asked Katie a question all black people have been asked before "why do you speak such good English?". Katie had to act small, hiding that she had gone to England and was smart, so that she could keep her job. 

Katie had been given a little holiday by Mrs Heights so she went home, to her aunt's house. As she approached her aunt's house she heard people singing. She was introduced to John Knox Bokwe, a journalist, Presbyterian minister, hymn writer and musician. She told him that in England they had sung his "Vuka Deborah" and that the Queen liked it very much. Bokwe had brought along with him Enoch Sontonga, a celebrated composer. It is here, in her aunt's living room that Enoch Sontonga shared that he was busy with a song that was in his head but not quite right. He sang "Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika" and everyone joined in, including Katie. 

In 1895, Katie agreed to marry Ndeya Makanya. In the height of the Anglo-Boer War, the Makanyas together with thousands of other people moved to Amanzimtoti in Kwa-Zulu Natal. This is where she met the McCords. Mrs McCord approached Katie to interpret for her husband, Dr McCord who would come to be a doctor for the Zulu people. She developed a good relationship with the doctor and in addition to being an interpreter she worked in the dispensary and did ad-hock tasks as well. 

Dr McCord's work grew and he and Katie moved to Durban, where they would have a greater impact. She moved into the Native Women's Hostel, a boarding house run by the Native Affairs Department. It was there that Katie came to know a group of younger, educated women. One of them, Sibusisiwe Makanya, who was related to Ndeya and Katie had known her since she was a young girl. Sibusisiwe had studied in America, and had come back home. She was working as a social worker in Durban. It was at this hostel that Katie's politics grew. She engaged with the younger women who were reading newspapers, organising and were making connections between South Africa and the struggle in America. Katie was drawn into the Industrial and Commercial Worker's Union led by Mr Champion and Mr Kadalie. Katie, together with Mrs McCord led hundreds of women to the Town Hall in a march of defiance against passes. However, Katie soon grew disillusioned with the ICU. 

Katie's children, Sagila and Samuel studied at John Dube's Industrial School in Ohlange and because they had interacted before, John Dube went down to the McCord hospital to ask Katie to read his newspaper, Ilanga lase Natal out loud to the patients. Ilanga lase Natal was the first Zulu language newspaper. 

Katie, was also involved in the Temperance Movement in order to "educate people about the evils of the drink". Charlotte Maxeke, her sister, who was studying in America had told her about the Temperance Movement and she became a part of it in South Africa. I remember when my grandmother, Rachel Christina Notana Bikitsha passed away in 2015, members of iTempile stood at her funeral and spoke about this movement that they were a part of. Mr Lavisa said their motto was "We only take tea". I had never known about this movement that my grandmother, like Katie Makanya was a part of. It is amazing to see the transfer of ideas between South Africa and America and the role played by women like Katie Makanya, my grandmother and many others who are a part of the Temperance Movement in speaking out against alcohol abuse in their communities.

What draws me to Katie Makanya is not that she is Charlotte Maxeke's sister, but it is because she was present in such important moments in our country's history. She was there when Enoch Sontonga was composing the national anthem. She also read Ilanga lase Natal, a black owned newspaper that would have been very important in the early 20th century in educating black people about the politics of the day. She was also an important person in the McCord hospital, working not only as an interpreter but as a dispenser and assistant. During her time in England, Katie meets Miss Steele, a West African women who was a university student. She asked a questions that I too have often asked myself in a post-apartheid South Africa, "I want to know why God had made some of us black and some white?" she continued, "I need to know. I don't want to believe that I come from the seed of Ham" something a minister in Leeds had told the black South African choir members. Miss Steele explained the blackness in Katie's skin was to protect her from the sun and that white people did not have "this special blackness." Katie had someone to not only affirm her blackness, but her Christianity; something that she would hold on to until her death. 

In thinking about Katie Makanya's life and other women that I have since come to know. I am reminded by Athambile Masola's words when she writes about Charlotte Maxeke and Pixley ka Isaka Seme, she says: "What if women were included- even recognised as being present- when writing about South Africa's foundational moments?" 

One of the wards in the McCord Hospital was named after her.

Katie passed away in 1955 at the age of 83. But before she passed away she asked Maragret McCord to relate the story of her life. I am so glad she did. 

Bibliography: 

• McCord, M. (1995) The calling of Katie Makanya.  David Phillip Publishers: Cape Town.