Rharhabe

The name Rharhabe recalls a branch of the Xhosa royal house in the eastern Cape. Rharhabe, a son of the paramount chief Phalo, moved west of the Great Kei River with his followers in the eighteenth century. He and his son Mlawu were killed in fighting with the Thembu around 1782. Mlawu's son Ngqika was still a child, so Rharhabe's younger son Ndlambe acted as regent. Their followers became known as the amaRharhabe, among the Xhosa communities west of the Kei.