HERITAGE SITE | GRAVE OF SHEIKH YUSUF MACASSAR

• Shaykh Yusuf was born in 1626 of noble birth in Goa in the East Indies. Due to his resistance to the Dutch occupation of his homeland, he was exiled first to Ceylon, Sri Lanka and then to the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town) ten years after his initial surrender. He arrived on board ‘De Voetboog’ on April 02, 1694 along with his family and friends and was royally welcomed by the Governor Simon van der Stel.

• He was housed together with his retinue on a farm in Zandvleit, a distance from Cape Town in an attempt to isolate him from the rest of the local Muslims. To the contrary, Zandvleit turned out to be the rallying point for ‘fugitive’ slaves and other exiles from the East. It was here that the first cohesive Muslim community in South Africa was established. 

• Since Sheikh Yusuf as well as many of his followers hailed from Macassar in Indonesia, the district around Zandvleit is still known today as Macassar.