Chief Mqalo
Encyclopedia
Chief Mbuso Alphin Mqalo (10 October 1916 – 1 August 2008) was the chief of the Amakhuze Tribe in Alice, South Africa and the oldest chief of the Rharhabe Kingdom. His reign was from the early 1960s to 2006.
In 1973, he became a member of the Ciskei
National Assembly (Parliament) as a member of the ruling party, the Ciskei National Independent Party (CNIP). On the 17 May 1976, he became a member of the Ciskei
cabinet for the position of Minister of Justice. In 1977, he was elected to Minister of Health and after 1978, when Ciskei
became a one-party state, he the became the Whip of the CNIP. During his term as Minister of Health he was prominent in the renaming of the Mdantsane Hospital to the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, to commemorate Cecilia Makiwane, the first Black nurse in South Africa. In 1978 he was a director of CTC Bus Company Ltd.
to escape the Mfecane
under the leadership of their chief, Chief Jama. Jama settled with Hintsa, the then king of the Xhosa but Mqalo, Jama's son, split from Jama's group and crossed the Great Kei River and moved to Port Elizabeth, Fort Beaufort and in 1870 to Makhuzeni Location, Alice in the Tyume River valley. The area has become their tribal area and is still called this. During
their migration, migrants of other clans and tribes joined them in their search
for a place to settle.
This migration followed the expulsion of the Ngqika under paramount Chief
Sandile after the 1850-1853 Frontier War. The British cleared
the Tyume valley of Xhosa who had settled there before
Upon arrival, Chief Mqalo began to allocate land to different groups in
different parts of the landscape which explains the occurrence of the villages: Gilton, Guquka, Sompondo and Mpundu, Kwezana etc.
In 1973, he became a member of the Ciskei
Ciskei
Ciskei was a Bantustan in the south east of South Africa. It covered an area of 2,970 square miles , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean....
National Assembly (Parliament) as a member of the ruling party, the Ciskei National Independent Party (CNIP). On the 17 May 1976, he became a member of the Ciskei
Ciskei
Ciskei was a Bantustan in the south east of South Africa. It covered an area of 2,970 square miles , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean....
cabinet for the position of Minister of Justice. In 1977, he was elected to Minister of Health and after 1978, when Ciskei
Ciskei
Ciskei was a Bantustan in the south east of South Africa. It covered an area of 2,970 square miles , almost entirely surrounded by what was then the Cape Province, and possessed a small coastline along the shore of the Indian Ocean....
became a one-party state, he the became the Whip of the CNIP. During his term as Minister of Health he was prominent in the renaming of the Mdantsane Hospital to the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, to commemorate Cecilia Makiwane, the first Black nurse in South Africa. In 1978 he was a director of CTC Bus Company Ltd.
History of the Amakhuze
The Amakhuze Tribe originated from Zulu land but in 1834 they escaped and went westward to the TranskeiTranskei
The Transkei , officially the Republic of Transkei , was a Bantustan—an area set aside for members of a specific ethnicity—and nominal parliamentary democracy in the southeastern region of South Africa...
to escape the Mfecane
Mfecane
Mfecane , also known by the Sesotho name Difaqane or Lifaqane, was a period of widespread chaos and warfare among indigenous tribes in southern Africa during the period between 1815 to about 1840....
under the leadership of their chief, Chief Jama. Jama settled with Hintsa, the then king of the Xhosa but Mqalo, Jama's son, split from Jama's group and crossed the Great Kei River and moved to Port Elizabeth, Fort Beaufort and in 1870 to Makhuzeni Location, Alice in the Tyume River valley. The area has become their tribal area and is still called this. During
their migration, migrants of other clans and tribes joined them in their search
for a place to settle.
This migration followed the expulsion of the Ngqika under paramount Chief
Sandile after the 1850-1853 Frontier War. The British cleared
the Tyume valley of Xhosa who had settled there before
Upon arrival, Chief Mqalo began to allocate land to different groups in
different parts of the landscape which explains the occurrence of the villages: Gilton, Guquka, Sompondo and Mpundu, Kwezana etc.