190 years on, Hintsa remembered for his legendary leadership in the face of death

Monday marks 190 years since  the legendary amaXhosa monarch, King Hintsa, was assassinated by British troops on his land on the banks of Nqabarha, not far from where the Nqadu Great Place, the present amaXhosa kingdom headquarters, are located near Willowvale.

King Hintsa, the fourth king of the amaXhosa nation, ruled from 1820 until his death in 1835.

He died while commanding the Xhosa battalions on May 12 1835, during the Ninth Frontier War. He was 45.

King Hintsa was shot in the head by Lieutenant George Southey. The British dismembered his body and his severed head is believed to have been shipped to Britain.

Zanzolo, Hintsa’s praise name, was renowned for his ability to unite his people and marshal them in the internecine wars, and later against the colonial invasion by the British.

The University of the Free State on Thursday celebrated Ancestor Day with the theme “Ancestor, Memory and Democracy”, honouring Hintsa at the event.

Historian and writer Dr Jongi Klaas,  author of Triangle of One Hundred Years Wars and Thandazwe Heritage executive director, delivered the King Hintsa Memorial Lecture at the university.

Describing him as a decisive royal leader ahead of his time, Klaas’s talk dwelled on the 1835 War of Hintsa.

“King Hintsa believed that the best strategy to neutralise the threat of colonial encroachment was to maintain unity among amaXhosa and build alliances with neighbouring tribes.

“Interestingly, the fall of King Hintsa had far-reaching implications in the reshaping of the demographics of what we call SA today,” Klaas said.

King Hintsa remained one of the highly revered royal leaders in Africa because of his remarkable leadership qualities

“King Hintsa remained one of the highly revered royal leaders in Africa because of his remarkable leadership qualities and the extraordinary courage to sacrifice his life to save his nation.

“As we remember him, let us draw strength and motivation from his noble values to serve Africa to the best of our abilities,” Klaas said.

Hintsa lived between 1790 and 1835. He ascended to the throne in 1818, after the death of his father, King Khawuta, grandson of King Phalo.

In 1819, Hintsa married Princess Nomsa of AmaBomvana.

The war of King Hintsa was an important historical marker and his legacy needed to be kept alive, Klaas said.

In March 1996, Nicholas Tilana Gcaleka of Centane claimed that his ancestors had sent him to Scotland to dig up and bring home Hintsa’s skull.

But the skull was analysed by leading palaeoanthropologists who said it belonged to a middle-aged European woman.

Daily Dispatch