Makhanda is regarded as one of the first Africans to attempt a cultural synthesis of African and European beliefs. "Dawn", the monthly journal of the "uMkhonto we Sizwe", credited his actions with having inspired the multiculturalism of the African National Congress (ANC) upon it's founding. Anti-apartheid political prisoners imprisoned on Robben island, including Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, later petitioned for the renaming of the island after Makhanda.