Product Description
Maqoma was the most renowned Xhosa chief of South Africa’s 19th century Cape-Xhosa Wars and arguably one of Africa’s greatest resistance leaders of the colonial period.
Born in 1798, he was the Right Hand Son of Ngqika, King of the Rharhabe division of the Xhosa nation. He was a man of considerable intellect and eloquence, striving to maintain traditional social structures and the power of the Xhosa royalty in the face of colonial depredations and dispossession.
He led Xhosa resistance forces in three separate wars against the British-ruled Cape Colony. Maqoma used his skills as general and tactician to lead a guerrilla campaign in the forested mountains and valleys of the Waterkloof.
Evidence suggests that Maqoma made covert attempts to undermine the Nongqawuse Cattle Killing Prophecies of 1856-57 which brought devastation on the Xhosa nation.
Imprisoned on Robben Island for 12 years, Maqoma was paroled in 1869. When he attempted to resettle on his stolen land, however, he was re-banished to the infamous island prison, where he died under mysterious circumstances in 1873.
And yet his name lives on. In vivid prose the author records the life of a leader who had extraordinary tenacity, flexibility, political and martial skills, who tragically became the victim of colonial domination.
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FOREWORD – Nkosi Sango Phathekile Holomisa
As the future traditional leader of my clan, amaHegebe, which resorts under the Thembu kingdom, I was taught, very early in my life, how to honour and respect the position of being in the royal house and having a leadership responsibility towards my people. Along with that socialisation we picked up the humility of our own fathers towards their people, fathers, other kingdoms and their fore bearers. No living African traditional leader ever referred to the people over whom he ruled as his subjects – they were his late father’s or grandfather’s people. In my clan the traditional leader is the first among equals.
The story of Prince Maqoma (Ah! Jongumsobomvu) of amaJingqi of the Rharhabe section of the Xhosa nation convinced me that I did not have to be tribalistic in my role of tribal leader to be true to my vocation, but that I could use my position to contribute to a national project of developing, nurturing and protecting the nation as a whole. I looked up to Jongumsobomvu’s bravery and remarkable intellect as he kept the British invaders at bay for 40 years in his part of Xhosaland, thereby delaying the eventual colonisation of the rest of the natives of the Cape Province and the greater South Africa by many decades. The reader will recall that the majority of the nine wars of resistance fought by the Xhosa over a period of a hundred years were fought in Rharhabeland, and Jongumsobomvu was a leading light in those encounters.
Reading this book gave me what I was looking for, what a biography is supposed to do – give the reader a narrative of the life and times of the subject being written about. What I was not expecting, which the rich research of the book depicts so beautifully, was a narrative of how Xhosa land was stolen, piece by piece, with dates and accounts of who died in which battle or war, while the marauding bands of British invaders expanded the border from one river to the next, annexing land and resources so vitally important in the economic, social and spiritual life of the Xhosa, such as the cattle.
Further, in this book, you learn of the various Xhosa chiefdoms, their original traditional leaders and who took over from who, when and why? The book will teach you of Xhosa traditions and customs in detail, like the reason why Maqoma did not qualify to be the heir of the Rharhabe kingdom but his brother Sandile (Ah! Mgolombane), 22 years his junior. In other words, you learn about Maqoma but you learn more about yourself.
There has been some loose talk about the bible having been brought to the Xhosa in the same period as the nine Xhosa wars of resistance to “weaken” African minds and steal the land. Well, read this book and you get a new perspective about the original missionaries, sent here by the Glasgow Mission Society and the London Mission Society, to establish churches in Africa and light the lamp of the new form of civilisation. The book records a very complicated role they played in these wars, with some having been requested by Jongumsobomvu himself to come and settle in his land – for his own ends.
I enjoyed the book and my first comment to the author when I had opportunity to speak to him was that if we were so intrigued by the motion picture “Shaka Zulu”, the material in this book lands itself into a feature film about Maqoma 10 times more.
Maqoma is my all-time hero and “mentor” so much so that I named my son and successor by his royal praise name, Jongumsobomvu. I commend it to all who value the centuries of struggle waged by Africans against European colonial and racial oppression.
Nkosi Sango Phathekile Holomisa (Ah! Dilizintaba) MP
Deputy Minister of Labour
Ngqungqu Village
Mqanduli
Eastern Cape Province
May 2016