The story of how the Mpondo kingship transferred from Qiya to Gangata

Qiya, the Great House Son and heir to the Mponde king, Cabe, fell out with his younger brother, Gangata. In the fighting that ensued he was forced to retreat across the Mtata River. Qiya settled on the western bank, but his Great Wife refused to move to the new country with him. She was taken to wife by her husband’s rival, Gangata, and the son that she bore him was then acknowledged as the Great Son or heir, and so it came about that the kingship of the Mpondo passed from Qiya’s line to that of his younger brother.

• Crampton, Hazel. ‘The Sunburnt Queen’. Johannesburg: Jacana. 2004. Print. p 32 Contact Sharon Doubell

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Both Applicant and the Fourth Respondent testified before the Commission that in the 1700s, King Cabe’s line of succession did not follow his first born son in the Great house, Qhiya, but his youngest, Gangatha – although their interpretations of this development differed somewhat.33 This was despite the fact that Cabe’s first born son from the Great house was alive at the time of Cabe’s death. in Contested claim for the leadership of amaMpondo ase Qawukeni (“amaMpondo”). Amicus Curiae Heads of Argument-20508.