Nqwiliso
South African History Online has short records (citing the Dictionary of South African Biography, vol. 3) that call Nqwiliso “tribal chief of Western Pondoland and eldest son of Ndamase”, and call Ndamase, son of Faku, the first paramount chief of Western Pondoland. None of its records for Nqwiliso gives a birth or death date on the page.
1878
The Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims, in its determination on the amaMpondo aseNyandeni, records that Nqwiliso, “the son and successor to Ndamase”, was elevated to paramount chief in 1878 because Mqikela, who succeeded Faku, did not co-operate with the colonialists, and that Pondoland was thereby divided into Eastern and Western Pondoland and the powers of Mqikela were curtailed. It found that Nqwiliso was recognised by the Cape Colony as paramount chief of Western Pondoland through the intervention of the colonialists, contrary to Mpondo custom, because the son of the great house is senior to the son of the right-hand house, and that this created a dual kingship. The SAHO records give a different title: they say Nqwiliso signed a treaty with H. G. Elliott, ceding sovereign rights and shipping in the mouth of the Umzimvubu River to the Cape, which his father had refused to do, and was recognised as an independent ruler and promised protection. SAHO’s record says he sold 10,000 acres at the river mouth on 30 September 1878; the treaty record gives no date on the page.
Port St Johns
SAHO says two British officers, Thesiger and Sullivan, raised the flag and named the mountains on each side of the river mouth, which later became Port St Johns, that the port was formally annexed to the Cape in 1884 and governed as a white enclave outside the Transkeian territories, and that in 1976 the South African government handed it to Paramount Chief K. D. Matanzima to secure his agreement to Transkei “independence”. That record gives general sources for these statements and no detail for the 1884 and 1976 dates.
What we have not read
We have not read the Dictionary of South African Biography, Stapleton, or anything written by the Ndamase royal house, and the Commission page concerns the later paramountcy and the 1878 elevation, not Nqwiliso’s life. We could not find a Wikipedia article on him, and we do not know the year of his death. The Commission and SAHO disagree on whether he was a paramount chief; we report both.
Izithakazelo and totem
We found no recorded praises or totem for Nqwiliso, so we are printing none. If you belong to the Ndamase royal house and recite its izibongo, we would like to record them, with your permission and credited to you.
Sources and further reading
- Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Determination on the position of the paramount chief of amaMpondo aseNyandeni
- South African History Online: Nqwiliso cedes land to the Cape government
- South African History Online: Nqwiliso dies
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