There had been nine defence settlement plans before Sir George Cathcart’s (then Cape Governor) plan to settle white farmers in the area that is now Komani (Queenstown). The earlier plans had failed to curb incursions by the AbaThembu and AmaGcaleka.

Cathcart’s plan after the eighth War of Dispossession (1850-53) involved every white settler receiving 809ha-1214ha of land taken largely from AbaThembu. It was free of charge if assurance was given that the settler would undertake “defensive” services as and when needed...

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