Mfengu land claim not historically accurate

Certainly the amaMfengu are entitled to parcels of land across the Eastern Cape, from Butterworth in the east to Clarkson in the Tsitsikamma.

But for a variety of reasons the sweeping claims made by Bantu “Mthimkhulu” Ntuntwana are nothing short of ludicrous (“Tribal leader stakes claim to big sections of land on Gqeberha”, January 30).

In the first place, the Mfengu

are not a tribe in the sense that the amaXhosa, the AbaThembu, the AmaZulu or the Bapedi are.

They are the descendants of fugitives from a variety of clans who lived south of the Thukela River until they fled the murderous attacks of Shaka’s armies.

They first arrived in Gcalekaland about 200 years ago.

The AmaGcaleka permitted them to settle the Gcuwa River valley on the humiliating condition that they could not keep cattle.

Their leadership is made up of representatives of each of the clans they belong to.

They have no chiefly or “royal” house.

Groups of Mfengu lived temporarily in the village of Port Elizabeth in 1820 when the British settlers arrived, but they took their earnings as longshoremen and purchased land elsewhere.

Later some black people lived on the land that became Mill Park.

But they were not there under any tribal authority, and were removed from there due to the presence of bubonic plague in their settlement.

In short, the Mfengu have little or no claim on any part of what is now called Gqeberha.

A final note of silliness appeared in Derrick Nesbit’s cartoon of January 31, in which Ntuntwana is shown demanding 300 years’ rent.

The only indigenous people living near Algoa Bay that far back were Khoekhoen and Bushmen.