Fingo (Mfengu) leaders gathered at Peddie, Eastern Cape, in the presence of the Rev. John Ayliff to take the ‘Fingo Oath’, namely: To obey God and listen to the missionaries, to be loyal to the government, and to educate their children. They became the first Bantu in SA to use ploughs, demonstrated to them by the missionaries, and also the first to plant wheat. Several educational institutions, such as those at Lovedale, Healdtown and St Matthews followed these developments.

The Fingos, first Bantu society in South Africa to accept British protection, served with distinction in the Colonial forces during the Frontier Wars, for which they were rewarded with extra grants of land by the government.

Source:

Potgieter, D.J. et al. (eds)(1970). Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa, Cape Town: NASOU, v. 7, p. 382.