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Chief Maqoma's Grave
Ntaba kaNdoda, Dimbaza district, Eastern Cape
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Click to view large map Coordinates: | "Without question Maqoma was the most renowned Xhosa chief in South Africa's 19th-century frontier wars. Born in 1798, he was the Right Hand Son of Ngqika, King of the Rharhabe division of the Xhosa nation. Implacably opposed to his father's ceding of the land between the Fish and Keiskamma Rivers to the Cape Colony, Maqoma became committed to regaining his ancestral home. Moving west from Ngqika's kraals, he slipped back into the so-called Neutral Zone in 1822 to found a new chiefdom on the banks of the Kat River. Despite taking every effort to placate the Whites from his position, Maqoma was hounded continually by colonial raids and expelled from his territory in 1829, the year Ngqika died." Xhosa hero Maqoma dies on Robben Island Date: 9 September, 1873 Xhosa war hero and regent of the AmaNgqika (Gaika) Xhosa clan during the youth of Sandile, Maqoma (also spelled Makoma or Macoma), died on Robben Island. He was captured in 1858 after the Cattle Killings, ranging from August 1856 to February 1857. The slaughter of cattle was incited by Nongqawuse's vision on the banks of the Gxarha River. She shared her vision with her uncle, Mhlakaza, a very powerful man who then ordered the killing of all AmaNgqika cattle and issued an instruction that crops should not be planted in a millenarian Xhosa offensive against the encroaching British rule. Maqoma was captured during the ensuing famine and looting and convicted of having been a party to the murder of a tribal chief who had refused to destroy his cattle. Maqoma and his wife Katyi were banished to Robben Island for twenty-one years. In 1869 they were released but he was sent back to Robben Island in 1871 after being found guilty of incitement, this time without his wife. See also: ____________________ Chief Maqoma's grave is located on the south east periphery of the site of the Ntaba kaNdoda National Monument. In January 2013, the Amathole District Municipality requested quotations for the “Erection of the tombstone, Site Clearing, Fencing, Signage, Interpretation Board and Unveiling of the Grave Site of Chief Maqoma”. (Amathole District Municipality - accessed 2014 09 28) One of the quotations was presumably accepted and the work was duly completed. A rectangular area was demarcated around the grave. This area was defined with a low face brick wall topped by small piers which in turn supported welded metal panels. A small welded metal gate allowed access into the grave area through the west side of the wall. A low rectangular base for the memorial was constructed in face-brick over the grave itself, capped with a concrete slab. The base was in turn surmounted by a low rectangular face brick plinth also capped with a concrete slab. A linear grey granite memorial - comprising three rectangular granite panels - was mounted on top of the plinth. A gabled top panel inscribed CHIEF MAQOMA completed the assembly. The three inscribed panels (the centre one including an image of Chief Maqoma) and the gabled top all face towards the east. The memorial was presumably funded by the Amathole District Municipality and the Amahlathi Municipality, as their respective Municipal crests appear on the central panel. The structural integrity of the memorial is clearly inadequate as by September 2014 major deflection of both concrete slabs was visible. This movement will in turn clearly affect the long term stability of the granite memorial. (William MARTINSON 2014) ____________________ Transcription of left hand panel: THE MIRROR OF NOTHONTO !! Transcription of right hand panel: PHALO (1715-1775) All truncated references not fully cited below are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon. |