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Pondoland after Faku The End of Independence Faku died at a time when colonial dominance was closing in on the Mpondo state. Less than six months later, in early March 1868, the Reverend Jenkins, advisor to the late Mpondo king for nearly thirty years, also passed away. This left Mqikela, now thirty-seven, without the benefit of an experienced missionary with contacts in the colonial governments of both the Cape and Natal. Although Mqikela seems to have become the new Mpondo king without any opposition, in effect he was only the ruler east of the Mzimvubu River, as Ndamase, now in his sixties, had long established his power over Western Pondoland. Soon after inheriting power, Mqikela launched a major military offensive against the Bhaca, who had defeated him badly in 1866, possibly to bring them back into the orbit of the Mpondo state. This attack was repelled at the cost of many Mpondo warriors. Observing that the Mpondo could no longer depend upon their superior numbers to win battles, Mqikela began to transform his army by acquiring large numbers of firearms from European traders. This was also important considering the persistent conflict with the Griqua, who had extensive expertise with firearms, and the continued colonial interest in gaining more Mpondo land. From 1873 to 1878, all the African groups in the Transkei, except the Mpondo, signed treaties with the Cape and accepted white magistrates. While Pondoland itself had become somewhat peripheral to colonial interests, which were now centred on diamond fields in the interior, the British became determined to control all the ports along the South Afterword 131 Notes to the Afterword are on pp. 185-86. 132 / Faku: Rulership and Colonialism in the Mpondo Kingdom African coast, including the Mzimvubu mouth. Ndamase, Faku’s eldest son, died in 1876 leaving his heir, Nqwiliso, as the ruler of Western Pondoland. In 1878 Sir Bartle Frere, the British High Commissioner for South Africa, offered to purchase Port St. John’s from Mqikela, but as in 1867, he refused. Frere then officially “deposed ” Mqikela, which only meant that his one-hundred-pound annual subsidy, inherited from Faku, was discontinued. In turn, Frere officially recognized Nqwiliso, ruler of the Mpondo west of the Mzimvubu River, as a completely independent king in exchange for the sale of the Mzimvubu mouth (Port St. John’s) for one thousand pounds. This gave Nqwiliso formal independence as ruler of Western Pondoland and provided him with enough money to buy firearms. Despite Mqikela’s objections, Port St. John’s finally came under British control. During this crisis, Mary Jenkins, widow of the Reverend Jenkins, tried to champion Mpondo interests by writing letters to the colonial administration, but this was ineffective. Two years later, during the rebellion of the Mpondomise against colonial taxation in 1880, Nqwiliso endeared himself to the colonial government by sending an Mpondo army north to relieve the besieged colonial town of Tsolo. Obtaining colonial support was probably not Nqwiliso’s only objective in siding against the Mpondomise rebels, as their main leader, Mhlontlo, had been involved in bitter struggles with the western Mpondo in the 1860s. In the early 1880s, Mqikela began drinking heavily, and Mhlangaso, one of the king’s councillors who had been educated at the Lovedale mission in the Cape and was determined to preserve Mpondo independence , became the dominant personality at the Qawukeni great place. Making an alliance with local European traders who did not want to pay duties to the British government, Mhlangaso, in 1884, imposed tariffs on goods entering Eastern Pondoland from Port St. John’s, which made it a less desirable port of commerce. Mhlangaso and his trader allies planned to establish an independent Port Grosvenor on the Eastern Pondoland coastline and entered into negotiations with German agents for support against the British. With the possible involvement of a rival colonial power, the British, in 1886, annexed the entire Pondoland coast and forbade any ships to land at the new port. Mhlangaso mobilized an army of 15,000 which was quickly disbanded when it became obvious that the British were actually preparing to invade Pondoland. The chiefs of Eastern Pondoland accepted the annexation of Port St. John’s as well as the territory of the Xesibe, formerly a rebellious vassal state, and sold the British the portion of the Cape/Natal road that passed through their land. With Mqikela’s death in 1887, Mhlangaso’s dominance began to be questioned. Although Mqikela died without a recognized heir, Sigcau...

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