Muir College in Uitenhage was renamed in September to honour the South African national anthem composer Enoch Sontonga. He was born in Uitenhage in 1873 and composed Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika in 1897 while he was a teacher at a Methodist mission school in Johannesburg. The first stanza was written in Xhosa. Over the years the song has been translated to different languages. In 1923, one of the founding members of the ANC, Sol Plaatjie, recorded the song for the first time in England. On 20 April 1994, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem became the national anthem of South Africa.
Sontonga died on 18 April 1905 and his grave was declared a national monument in September 1996. He received the gold Order of Meritorious Service posthumously, which was presented to his granddaughter, Ida Rabotape His great-grandson, Winston Rabotape, travelled to Uitenhage from Pretoria for the college renaming.
The western district of the Eastern Cape department of education moved into the three-storey old Muir College building in 1997. It was built in 1952. In 1987, the new Muir College was constructed and the old building was taken over by the education department.