Chief Mqalo

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.

History of the Amakhuze

The Amakhuze Tribe originated from Zulu land but in 1834 they escaped and went westward to the Transkei 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.

Genealogy

The Mqalo family tree:

See also

• List of Xhosa Chiefs

References

• Ciskei Legislative Assembly (1976–1978). Debates of the session of the Ciskei Legislative Assembly.
• Hebinck, P. (2001). Evolution of Livelihoods Eastern Cape. Rural Livelihoods in the Eastern Cape .
• Vail, L. (1989). The Creation of Tribalism in Southern Africa. London Berkley: Currey.

External links

• Rharhabe Kings & Chiefs
• Mc Gregor Company Profiles
• Who's Who Southern Africa