Qitsi Trading Store

In 1962, KD Matanzima held a meeting at the Qitsi trading store to introduce rehabilitation measures (‘the Trust’). Community members enquired that, if the Trust is such a good thing, why does he bring white police to enforce it? Those who asked the questions were arrested and banished, and Qitsi became a hotspot in the confrontation between amaDyakopu (the resisters) and amaNgcothoza (those who supported the authorities). Jonginamba Deliwe, the headman of Qitsi, pointed out that the Trust did not come from him, but a letter arrived signed by ‘Makhuluspan,’ saying he should expect ‘guests.’ Jonginamba was provided with bodyguards but eventually, during a rainy night, he was dragged away and hacked to death with pangas. This sad story is an example of the contradictions in which traditional leaders were placed owing to their duties under government.