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