Gaikas

Gaikas (Ama-Ngqika), a branch of the Ama-Xosa Kafirs, being descended through Ngqika (ob. 1828) and Khakhabe from Palo (ob. 1780), tenth in descent from Xosa, reputed founder of the famous Ama-Xosa Confederacy, about the year 1500. In 1817, Lord Charles Somerset, Governor of Cape Colony, recognised Ngqika as paramount chief of the Confederacy, thus setting aside the legitimate claim of Hinza, who, as grandson of Galeka, elder brother of Khakhabe, represented the senior branch of the House of Xosa. The mistake led to the long series of Kafir wars, which resulted, (1877) in the deposition of the paramount chief, Kreli, and the removal of the few surviving Gaikas to the Transkei District between the Kei and Bashi rivers. The Gaikas are now nearly extinct, but the name survives in the Gaikas Kop, a mountain nearly 7,000 feet high, between the Kat river and the Amatola range.