Madzikane was the founder and a King of the Bhaca people. Before him his father's tribe was known as AbakwaZelemu but after Madzikane had united many multitudes of different people and different tribes his nation was known as amaBhaca consisting of many tribes including amazulu akwaZelemu amaWushe, amaNqolo, amaNzelu, amaZizi, amaNjilo, abaseNhlwangini, amaQwabe, abaThembu, etc. etc. Madzikane's father was Khalimesh. His firstborn was crown prince SONYANGWE followed by prince NCAPAI. However because of the mfecane wars Sonyangwe the crown prince was burnt to death at night in his hut by traitors from the Memela who were vassals of the amaBhele of uMdingi who were subjects of King Madzikane while King Madzikane was still reigning. Therefore prince sonyangwe died at Rode before he became King of amaBhaca. Soon after Sonyangwes death King Madzikane died, but before he died he split the Kingdom of the Bhacas between his deceased crown prince and his ever alive mighty warrior son prince Ncaphayi. Therefore on the death of King Madzikane, prince Ncaphayi was crowned King of all amaBhaca but because his elder brother Sonyangwe had left behind two sons in natal i.e. prince Mdutyane and prince Thiba King Ncaphayi was obliged to share the throne with Sonyangwes heir. When prince Mdutyane was only 21 king Ncaphayi died in a war againstt he amaMpondo King Faku. The crown prince Mdutyane was crowned King of all the amaBhaca tribes and hence became the supreme ruler of the whole amaBhaca nation consisting of more than forty four different tribes scattered all over from southern natal to beyond the Umzimvubu River. the young King Mdutyana had huge feet to fill and disliked war and therefore took a huge fraction of the tribe and went back to umzimkhulu where he had been raised. He left the House of king Ncaphayi i.e. prince Diko, prince Makaula etc. to reign independently from him as was ordered by the great king Madzikane. King Mdutyana became the king over all the tribes in the umzimkhulu, Harding, Bulwer, Underberg and IXopo districts while King Ncaphayis heirs became the supreme rulers in the whole mountfrere district and over other minor clans beyond the mountfree border.
King Mdutyana took many wives and had many sons and daughters. The great and senior house Indlu Enkulu gave birth to crown prince Cijisiwe who was not favoured by king Mdutyane to succeed the throne, Xaxaza and Maqaba are all sons of maNgwandlu the great wife. Then from the second wife (Indlu yekunene) was prince Nomtsheketshe who was hand picked by king Mdutyane as the crown prince to the amaBhaca nation, then from the third wife (Iqadi lendlu enkulu) was prince Msingapantsi. king Mdutyane sent prince nomtsheketshe to mountfrere to live with his brother makaula for protection from witchcraft of the great wife. King Mdutyne died suddenly before the age of 40 while all his sons were young and while there was still a dispute regarding his heir therefore his brother prince Thiba became Regent King of the amaBhaca nation of umzimkhulu and natal. Regent King Thiba made the Bhacas very powerful and defeated all the neighbouring native tribes in umzimkhulu and natal including the troublesome nhlangwins of Fodo kaNombewu. Thiba was as ruthless as his uncle King Ncapai had been. When nomtsheketshe had become of age he returned to umzimkhulu, Thiba seemed to favour Cijisiwe to be the King whereas some tribes under the bhacas favoured prince Nomtsheketshe therefore a war broke out between the sons of Mdutyane. Thiba and Cijisiwe formed an army against Nomtsheketshe and Msingapants however Thiba and Cijisiwe were defeated and sent into exile by Nomtsheketshe and Msingapantsi in association with the griquas. Therefore prince Nomtsheketshe became the King of the amaBhaca nation but it was not for long because new laws had come into existence in bhacaland or in the bhaca kingdom which had now been formally recognised by the English as Griqualand East. King Nomtsheketshe burnt one of his subjects to death for practising witchcraft and was exiled from Bhacaland/ Griqualand East by the English Governors for refusing to be tried in a court of law. In his absence King Nomtsheketshe abdicated the throne and crowned his ally and brother prince msingapantsi of Iqadi leNdlu enkulu as King of the umzimkhulu Bhacas and King of the great house of King Madzikane, it is worth noting that according to customary law in the event of the great house being absent the son of iqadi assumes the throne, Till this day the house of King Mdutyana is separated and there is ill will between the amaBhaca of natal and the amaBhaca of umzimkhulu. King Nomtsheketshe went into exile in pondoland but was later accommodated by his uncles King Makaula and Diko in mountfrere where he was given land to settle with his five sons and followers. King Shaka of the amaZulu nation was born by the wife of iqadi to the great house and took a spear and killed the son born by the great wife of king Senzangakhona so it is no different with the amaBhaca nation of Africa.
King Ncapayi had many wives. The great and senior house (FIRST WIFE and Indlu Enkulu)of Ncapayi gave birth to DIKO and SOGONI, from the second wife (Indlu yekunene) was Makaula, the third wife (Iqadi lendlu enkulu) was Dabula. The Kingdom of Bhacas is currently being revived by the great house of Ncapayi, Inkosi Madzikane II Thandisizwe Diko. The home of the Bhacas and the Kingdom is in Mount Frere, KwaBhaca in the Eastern Cape.
Ncapayi is said to have been a fearless freebooter, a diplomat of note who showed even more intelligence than his father.
According to Rev. Soga, during the same year in which Ncapayi’s father – Madzikane – was killed, Ncaphayi entered Tembuland to avenge his father’s death. The Thembus under King Ngubengcuka made an ineffectual stand and the Bhacas swept away a large number of cattle (Soga, p. 443)
Before King Madzikane died and because of the relationship he had with King Faku, he advised his son to temporarily be a tributary King in Pondoland. He indeed did that and Faku at this time welcomed the Bhacas as this also coincided with the arrival of Nqetho, a Chief of the Qwabes who had moved from Natal running away from King Tshaka’s army because he could not serve under King Dingane. When he entered Pondoland and tried to secure land by violence, Faku was anxious to rid him out and therefore secure assistance from Ncaphayi to eject Nqetho. AmaBhaca drove them away back into Natal and Dingane issued an instruction to kill Nqetho (Soga, p. 443).
The Thembus defeat by the Bhacas discussed above, also led to Faku making an arrangement with Ncapayi when Pondos wanted to attack the Thembus. They entered Thembuland on three successive occasions and each time their raid was a success. Ncapayi is said to have been a fearless freebooter that was respected by many nations (Soga, p. 444)
Soga asserts that cupidity is said to have been the force that brought Faku and Ncapayi to work together. It is also cupidity that is said to have destroyed their good working relationship. Because they were both strong, it became difficult to know which one more powerful that the other. The freebooter attacked Nyanda, the Right Hand section of the Phondos under Ndamase, the son of Faku. He raided Nyanda successfully. Meanwhile the alarm had been raised with Faku and therefore Faku assembled a powerful army and this came up with the Bhacas and attacked them on all sides. Faku drove the Bhacas before him on the ridge kuNowalala. Ncaphayi was wounded and forced over the rock, falling on to a ledge some distance from the Bottom. He was in helpless condition with both arms broken, besides a severe assegai wound. He laid there for days, persuading those who came to look at him to put an end to his misery and kill him. No one could do this until Faku gave orders that he must be killed. Thus the death of Madzikane’s son, king Ncapayi in 1845.