| Sandile's grave is an interesting historical monument
about 16 kilometres from Stutterheim at the foot of Mount
Kemp (Isidenge Mountain) on the King William's Town road.
A bronze plaque erected at the grave site in 1941 reads
as follows: SANDILE
Chief of the Gaikas. Born about 1820
Killed in the Ninth Kaffir War 1877/1878
and buried here on 9.6.1878
A tombstone in memory of the chief was
laid by Paramount Chief A.M. Sandile in 1972. Sandile was
buried between the graves of Troopers A.Dicks and
F.Hillier, who were killed in the same war. Sandile (A.A.
Mgolombane) was the son of the famous Paramount Chief
Ngqika Gaika, founder of the Ngqika or Gaika Tribe.
Ngqika died in 1829 when Sandile was still a minor and in
1840 Sandile became Chief of the Ngqika tribe. He was
captured during the War of the Axe in 1847 and on his
release he was granted land in "British
Kaffraria" for his tribe. He later supported Kreli
in a war with the Cape Colony.
On 29 may 1878 Sandile was mortally
wounded in a skirmish with a detachment of Fingo troops
under the command of Captain Massey-Hicks. He died a few
days later and his body was brought to a nearby military
camp. he was given a military funeral at which his body
was carried on eight rifles by Fingo pall-bearers. It is
said that he was buried with a British soldier on either
side to convince his followers that his spirit would not
roam.
|