The Pondo or Phondo[1] are an ethnic group who have given their name to Pondoland, a sub-region comprising much of the northern seaboard of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. The Pondo comprises several tribal groups that are all defined as amaXhosa and speak the Xhosa language. Their territory was annexed peacefully to Cape Province in 1884: missionary work had already begun in 1873 on the initiative of Henry Callaway, Bishop of St John's Kaffraria.[2]
The Pondo Revolt (1960–1962) was the result of the resistance of the Pondo people against the implementation of the Bantu Authorities Act, part of the Apartheid legislation. Under the Apartheid idiology, separate development of the various ethnic groups of South Africa was proposed and part of this was to segregate black Africans into 'homelands' that were granted independence from South Africa. Transkei was the homeland that incorporated all of Pondoland and its people in addition to other Xhosa tribes in what used to be the eastern reaches of the then Cape Province.