Mfengu Oath, phantsi komthi woMqwashu

On the 14th day of May (EyoCanzibe (month of Canopus)),1835 .. amaMfengu gathered under the milkwood tree (umthi womMqwashu) in Peddie district (Eastern Cape, South Africa) in the presence of Rev. John Ayliff and swore a great oath to 1) obey the Queen (of England), 2) to accept Christianity, and 3) to educate their children. 

This oath was to have momentous consequences. 

The Mfengu fought alongside the Colonial forces in all the Frontier Wars and were rewarded by extensive tracts of Rharhabe land. As the better-educated and more European-oriented group, they naturally secured the bulk of elite positions as clerks, teachers, peasants, and petty traders that were available to blacks in an elective system based on merit and achievement, as opposed to the pre-colonial Xhosa pattern of strong hereditary chiefs. 

They viewed themselves as the bearers of a great universal Christian Civilization, and tended to regard the Rharhabe and other Xhosa as backward and uncivilized. 

Every 14th May since 1907 has been celebrated as "Fingo Emancipation Day", with a ceremony held under an old milkwood tree where the Mfengu oath was sworn.


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Emqwasheni, or the place of Milkwood Tree, is a National Monument located beside the R345 and near the base of a hill. 

The R345 is part of the Makana Route that connects various historical sites of the area. These sites relate to the interactions between early colonists and the Mfengu, amongst others, in the early to mid-19th century. The monument consists of the old Milkwood, an open interpretative centre, and a building/church (fig. 52). 

The tree is believed to be the location where the Mfengu came from north of the Kei River area, on 14 May 1835, and converted to Christianity, and agreed to be ruled by the British Queen, in the presence of Rev. John Ayliff (from the plaque at the monument). The Mfengu are believed to have originated from Zululand, and had fled Shaka during the Mfecane.