Tourism & Heritage

Nestled in the rolling hills of the former Transkei in the Eastern Cape, Nqamakwe is a rural town in the  Amatole District Municipality . It was established in the 1876, after a number of Mfengu clans were resettled in the area around from a decade before.

The area is rich in culturally significant history and is close to iconic destinations for those wishing to learn more about South Africa’s enthralling past. As refugees from the Mfacane wars further north,the Mfengu clans who settled in the area soon came under the guidance of European missionaries. Nqamakwe is the birthplace of South African activists Govan Mbeki, Annie Silinga and Dora Tamana as well as cardiologist and professor Bongani Mayosi. It is also home to the renowned Blythswood Collegewas established in 1877 on a site located a short distance outside Nqamakwe.

It was named Blythswood after Captain Matthew Blyth, the Government Agent to Fingoland for the government of the Cape Colony. A leisurely drive through the surrounding area can unearth the facinating history of the amaXhosa and other Kingdoms of the Eastern Cape. One can also find the hidden origins of the country’s most iconic citizens through the generations.

Hintsa ka Khawuta also known asGreat or King Hintsa, was the 13th king of the amaXhosa nation from his great ancestor, King Xhosa. Born in 1780, he ruled from 1820 until his death in 1835. His territory stretched from Mbhashe River, south of Mthatha to the Gamtoos River in the Southern Cape. In his reign as king he had 11 sub-chieftaincies. Hintsa was the son of Khawuta ka Gcaleka. His father was the eldest son of Gcaleka ka Phalo. His mother Nobutho is said to be a daughter of Tshatshu whose father was Xhoba and grandfather was Thukwa of Thembulan. Around 100 kilometers from Hintsa’s final resting place, Hintsa led the Gcaleka people into the Battle of Amalinde in 1818. The battle was between two Rharhabe chiefs, namely: Chief Ngqika and his paternal uncle Ndlambe. Ndlambe’s army was led by his son, Mdushane and they were supported by the Gcaleka.

Sithembele Zokwe was a member of uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK), the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Born near Butterworth in 1955, the MK operative who was arrested on 11 June 1988 and later shot dead by members of the Transkei Security Branch at Cegcuwana administrative area, Butterworth. About 17 years later, the two Transkei Security Branch operatives were found were found guilty of the crime in the Butterworth High Court in 2005, after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had earlier refused them amnesty for the killing.

The legendary Blythswood caves are situated near the village of Nqamakwe, a former mission station and place of historical significance for the amaMfengu people.

The are was named after Captain Matthew Blyth a government agent of the Cape Colony to the area formerly known as Fingoland. The Blythswood River Caves are situated at near a village known as Emaxelegwini.

Former President Thabo Mbeki became the second democratically elected president of South Africa in 1999, following the iconic term of his predecessor, Nelson Mandela.

Born in Idutywa in the former Transkei, the “ I am an African’ author was exposed to politics by his father Govan Mbeki, who was a leader in the Eastern Cape African National Congress (ANC).

He is credited as a leader in African critical thought and has led many diplomatic peace efforts in other African countries.

He recently founded the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs and the Thabo Mbeki African leadership Institute at the University of South Africa (UNISA).

A prominent historical figure for communist scholarship and activism in South Africa, Govan Archibald Mvuyelwa Mbeki was a South African politician who to eminence in the struggle against black oppression in the 1950s after he joined the South African Communist Party.He was the son of Chief Sikelewu Mbeki and Johanna Mahala and was also the father of the former South African president Thabo Mbeki and political economist Moeletsi Mbeki

Thembelihle Chris Hani was Chief of Staff of uMhonto Wesizwe and General Secretary of the South African Communist Party. He was born in village of Sabalele, in the Cofimvaba region of the former Transkei.

He became a staunch marxist scholar in the 1950s before and was trained in the Soviet Union before he returned to South Africa in 1967 to take an active role in the Rhodesian bush war, acting as a Political Commissar in the Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA). He became involved in several political events which furthered the struggle against Apartheid.

He was assassinated in outside his home in Dawn Park Soweto, in 1993. The assassination was later tied to members of the Conservative Party.

Former President Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He was elected in 1994, just five years after he was released from a 27-year prison sentence and is the most prominent of the Rivonia Trial defendants who included Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Dennis Goldberg , Ahmed Kathrada and Andrew Mlangeni. His famous speech which he gave during trial proceedings is forever etched into the collective memory of modern South Africa.