Maqoma (1798-1873) – Xhosa

Chief Maqoma (Jongumsobomvu) is the most renowned Xhosa chief and arguably one of Africa’s greatest military leaders of the 19th Century.

Young Xhosa warrior in the Maqoma-era

Credit: G. F. Williams

He was the Right-Hand Son of Ngqika, ruler of the Rharhabe Kingdom of the Xhosa nation (what was known as the Ciskei). He was a man of considerable intellect and eloquence, striving to maintain traditional social structures and the power of the Xhosa royalty. Faced with an escalating level of military pressure from the Cape, Maqoma and his half-brother Tyali took up arms in a series of Frontier Wars.

In the War of Mlanjeni (1850-53), Maqoma used his skills as a general to lead a guerrilla campaign in the forested Amatola mountains and valleys of Waterkloof. His unconventional tactics frustrated even the most skilled of soldiers.
Maqoma led Xhosa forces in three separate Frontier Wars, fought mostly on Rharhabeland.

He was later captured and imprisoned on Robben Island twice. The first time he was imprisoned with his wife Katyi for 12 years. In 1869 they were released, however only two years later he was sent back to Robben Island after being found guilty of encouraging rebellion among his people. This time, he was imprisoned without his wife, dying two years later in 1873.

More than a century later he was reburied in 1978 in the Ciskei Mngqesha Great Place of the Xhosa kings; commissioned by his descendant, his great great grandson, Chief Lent Maqoma. To most Xhosa, many of whom had attended Steven Biko’s funeral the previous year, it represented the return of an exceptional leader who had ultimately sacrificed his life for the cause of his people. This remains Maqoma’s legacy.

Battle Ready: Statue of a battle ready Maqoma

Credit: National Heritage Monument

Maqoma’s greatest victory is perhaps the battle for Waterkloof in the Amatola Mountains (1851), when the Xhosa allied with the Khoekhoen gave the British a terrible time in hand-to-hand combat in the steep, densely forested mountains.
More British officers lost their lives during that action than anywhere else on the frontier. He is praised as being “the leopard of Fordyce” in Xhosa oral tradition. This is because the highest-ranking British officer to die in these frontier wars, Lieutenant Colonel John Fordyce, was killed in the Waterkloof battles.


The battles to relieve Governor Sir Harry Smith, who was trapped in Fort Cox by the Xhosa, were the biggest battles ever recorded in South Africa before the Battle of Isandlwana. The battles took place from Christmas Eve to New Year’s Eve of 1850, forming part of the Eighth Frontier War (1850-1853). This is according to the historian Rob Speirs, who specialises in battle tours along the Eastern Cape. These battles had the highest death toll and was the most protracted war until the 2nd Anglo-Boer War.

A comment from a contemporary chief and descendent, Chief Island Siqithi Maqoma, puts things in perspective when he commented:
“Small wonder that the Eastern Cape has more forts than any other place in Africa — because it was here that the British fought longest and hardest to conquer a people”

The Khoekhoen and Sotho may be pleased to learn that Maqoma had both these extractions running through his blood. His mother Nothonto, was the daughter of Nxiya, who was both of Sotho and Khoekhoen ancestry.

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